This is the weekly dispatch from Bizarro Studios North, where I have been writing and drawing the Monday through Saturday Bizarro comics since 2018. My partner and friend, Dan Piraro, created Bizarro in the late twentieth century and continues to do the Sunday comic from Rancho Bizarro in Mexico.
Wayno
Some jokes are all joke.
James Booker (1939-1983)
With Mardi Gras coming up in a few days, my mind is on the people, food, culture, and music of New Orleans, America's finest example of the metaphorical melting pot.
James Booker was one of the city's quirkiest and most astounding musicians. I urge you to check out any of his recordings. Booker was the subject of a documentary, Bayou Maharajah, which is also worth seeing.
This week's blog will be a little briefer than usual, as I have some homework to do for a special project over the next several days. It'll have to remain hush-hush until the fall. It's not a huge thing, but it's important to me.
Bizarro field correspondent and blog reader Jim D. directed me to today's outdoorsy pipe pic. He saw it in a book and did a web search for the image, finding a postcard for sale on eBay.
The credit on the reverse side reads:
This dapper climber with pipe is climbing 8,906-foot Eagle Cliff Mountain in August 1963. Also attracted to the craggy outcroppings are eagles, falcons, kestrels, hawks, and turkey vultures. (Courtesy Rocky Mountain National Park, NPS.)
The unseen photographer's accomplishment is equally impressive.
Thanks to Jim D. for spotting this one!
I wonder what James Booker might have thought of this week's gags. Are the jokes all joke, or do some have more going on?
I wasn't the first to imagine a Disney/Kurosawa mashup, as I recently learned that a direct-to-video movie of the same title came out in 2024. It looks nothing like our version.
Some readers opined that there's not much difference between a good mime and a bad one, but I'm keeping quiet on the subject.
Fair warning: I may explore this angle again.
At Bizarro Studios, we're doing our part to make narcissism funny again.
It's generally advisable to eliminate unnecessary words from a cartoon's dialogue, but some gags call for verbosity.
I like the joke, but drawing this panel was much more challenging than I'd anticipated.
Thanks for looking at these boxes of words and pictures.
I wish you a happy Valentine's Day, a festive Mardi Gras, and, as the Year of the Horse arrives on Tuesday, twelve months of health, happiness, peace, and prosperity.
Bonus Track
Fats Domino: "So Swell When You're Well"
from Fats is Back Reprise Records, 1968
New Orleans legend Fats Domino recorded this James Booker composition, with Booker playing piano on the session. Aretha Franklin also did a great cover of "So Swell" on her 1973 album Hey Now Hey (The Other Side of the Sky).
Superabundant Bizarro Shenanigans
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