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
Simplicity shows respect for the viewer. You don’t give them more than what the mind needs, nor less than what the eye deserves.
R.O. Blechman
R.O. (Bob) Blechman, born in 1930, has done just about everything an artist might aspire to. The Norman Rockwell Museum describes him as "a celebrated illustrator, animator, children’s book author, graphic novelist, and editorial cartoonist."
Blechman elegantly expresses the balance cartoonists try to achieve. Here at Bizarro Studios, the gag itself is always the reason for the panel to exist, but we also throw in some of our Secret Symbols, those little Easter eggs that many of our readers have come to expect.
It's easy to get carried away with superfluous details, which can distract readers from the joke, but the art must contain enough visual information to make the setup recognizable.
Sometimes I think I've hit the mark, but just as often, I worry I've gone too far in one direction or the other. Second-guessing is probably integral to the artist's psyche, and all we can do is try our best every day.
Thankfully, we have deadlines, so we can't fuss over a gag too awfully long.
Regarding Mr. Blechman, you may not know his name, but you've likely seen his work in some form His animated Christmas greeting for CBS Television has remained popular since it was first aired in 1966, and in a 2018 interview with J.J. Sedelmaier, Blechman said, "People introduce me as the guy who did the [1967] Alka-Seltzer spot, isn't that interesting?"
Hats off to R.O. Blechman for his long and influential career and his many well-deserved awards.
Today's pipe pic, found online, is a vintage print advertisement for Old Briar tobacco.
The ad makes not-so-subtle suggestive claims about the product. If the copy doesn't get their point across, the before-and-after photos make the message clear.
I sincerely hope that the latest Bizarro gags give your mind what it needs and your eyes what they deserve.
A few readers told me that the Disney characters Dopey and Goofy were originally named Deafy and Dippy Dawg. There's plenty of confirmation available about Dippy, but the Deafy claim is mistaken.
In 2016, The Guardian reported on an auction of Disney art featuring proposed character sketches for Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. The animation team had brainstormed around fifty names, and the art included a Deafy, but there was also a Dopey. They were two separate characters, one of which was rejected. AI search results hallucinate the "originally named" story.
Some other rejected names were Jumpy, Dizzey, Hickey, Wheezy, Baldy, Gabby, Nifty, Sniffy, Swift, Lazy, Puffy, Stuffy, Tubby, Shorty, and Burpy.
Remember, you can't always trust AI's answers. Don't be like Hasty (another rejected dwarf).
Remember, you can't always trust AI's answers. Don't be like Hasty (another rejected dwarf).
I usually don't add human features to inanimate objects, but I broke my rule with this skeptical sausage.
"But we'd have to split the money four ways."
Some gags almost write themselves.
Friday's panel depicts a small, but very real subset of collector culture.
One of the Secret Symbols in this panel is difficult to recognize, so if you only find four, you may still give yourself a score of a hundred percent.
Thanks for checking in. See you in a week with more kooky quadrilaterals.
Bonus Track
Ringo Starr & Herb Alpert:
"When You Wish Upon a Star"
from Stay Awake
A&M Records, 1988
A&M Records, 1988
A Whole Lot of Bizarro Hooey
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