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
We humanists try to behave as decently, as fairly, and as honestly as we can without any expectation of rewards or punishments in the afterlife. The Creator of the Universe has been to us unknowable so far. We serve as best we can the only abstraction with which we have some understanding, which is ‘Community.’
Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.
In olden times, the Book of Face had a "religious views" profile item. I entered "secular humorist" as a pun on secular humanism, which was a bit of a joke, but a joke based on truth.
I'm well into my rereading of Vonnegut's novels, and one volume also included a timeline of his life. He was named Humanist of the Year by the American Humanist Association in 1992, and was invited to serve as Honorary President until his death. The quote came from his acceptance remarks.
Attempting to be decent, fair, and honest is how everyone ought to operate in the world, even though we all will fail in these areas during our lifetimes. Throughout human history, threats of punishment and promises of rewards in an afterlife have been an effective means of control, encouraging believers to look the other way when people (including themselves) are exploited, abused, or worse by those in power.
I'm taking a little detour from reading Vonnegut before diving back in, but I'm realizing that, while much of it was over my head in my younger years, it was possible to sense his wisdom, kindness, and basic humanity.
As with all great art, Vonnegut's work reveals more each time one encounters it, and I'm glad that it's still available to us.
I'm also grateful for our weird little cartoon community. Thanks for being part of it.
Today's tandem pipe pic comes to us courtesy of Thomas U, a Bizarro reader from Germany.
The puffing politicians are Herbert Wehner and Helmut Schmidt, in a shot taken sometime in the early 1970s.
Thomas wrote:
Herbert Wehner was caucus/faction leader of the Social Democrats in the German parliament Bundestag from 1969 to 1983, and was nicknamed "Uncle Herbert."Helmut Schmidt, Social Democrat, was German Chancellor from 1974 to 1982.Both smoked pipes and cigarettes during TV interviews and talk shows, so there are tons of pics of them with a pipe. Wehner owned more than 150 pipes.
I did a little searching and can confirm that there are indeed a great many photos of both Wehner and Schmidt smoking pipes.
Vielen Dank to Thomas for taking the time to send the photo and background info.
Recently, we featured a pipe image by cartoonist Roy Doty. Early this week, an LP cover by Doty popped up in one of my socials.
The latest Bizarro cartoons may or may not reward repeated readings. I'll let you be the judge of that.
The herd might disagree.
Tuesday's panel shows a rare example of common ground.
What message would you deliver to yourself as a small fry?
Architectural incompatibility should be nipped in the bud.
The modern art character was loosely based on Figures au Bord de la Mer (Figures on a Beach), one of several surreal and erotic paintings Picasso made in 1931.
The gag exemplifies something Dan Piraro described in 2011 when talking about our collaboration.
Our sense of humor depends for the most part on a realistic scene with realistic people where something strange is happening to them.
Nailed it.
We wrapped up the week with one for the Hive Mind.
Thanks for checking in with us. For a deeper dive into the mind of your cartoonist, visit my free Substack newsletter.
Groovy Gear
Bonus Track
Dave Brubeck: "Jeepers Creepers"
from Jazz at the Blackhawk
Fantasy Records LP, 1956
This recording was included on the album with the Roy Doty cover, which was released in 1957 by Jazztone, a mail-order outfit that compiled and repackaged material from other labels in addition to issuing some of their own stuff.
They may have been a budget operation, but you gotta love that Doty album cover.
A Bounteous Bunch of Bizarro Booty
If you like what we do and appreciate that it's still free, we encourage you to explore the following links.
Thanks for Jeepers Creepers. This and your weekly smorgasbord of offerings gave my morning a wonderful jump start.
ReplyDeleteThank you! I like Brubeck a lot, but his secret weapon was saxophonist Paul Desmond.
DeleteAgree with Wayno on this..
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ReplyDeleteBecause of a typo I had to correct.
DeleteI admire your commitment to perfection, my friend.
DeleteSpeaking of Kurt Vonnegut, religion, and secular humanism, this is one of my favorite Vonnegut quotes:
ReplyDeleteI am, incidentally, Honorary President of the American Humanist Association, having succeeded the late, great science fiction writer Isaac Asimov in that totally functionless capacity. We had a memorial service for Isaac a few years back, and I spoke and said at one point, "Isaac is up in heaven now." It was the funniest thing I could have said to an audience of humanists. I rolled them in the aisles. It was several minutes before order could be restored. And if I should ever die, God forbid, I hope you will say, "Kurt is up in heaven now." That's my favourite joke.
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That's a great story, Jeff. Thanks for sharing it!
DeleteSo your name is Wayno Hunter? Never knew that
ReplyDeleteNope. My signature is pretty much illegible.
DeleteBased on the postcard…!
ReplyDeleteThanks as always for your weekly artistic insights, flashbacks and musical suggestions. I shared your music selection from last week (Golems of the Red Planet) with a radio DJ friend who does a weekly Jewish music show and he was thrilled!
ReplyDeleteVery cool, Dave! I'll relay that to Harvey Gold of the Golems!
DeleteHi Dave. The Guitar Player here. Please thank your friend for us. If he needs anything from us, we’ve got facebook and insta as well as a website. Cheers!
DeleteThanks for your ongoing shout-outs to Kurt Vonnegut, one of literature's giants. His son, Mark, who is a pediatrician, is also a fine writer about life and circumstances. One of my favorite quotes from him about life: "We're here to get each other through this thing, whatever it is." Amen, as his dad might have said, as humorous punctuation.
ReplyDeleteAll the panels this week were a delight, but the bee gag took the cake. 😉
ReplyDelete"...and so it goes..."
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