Showing posts with label New Orleans. Show all posts
Showing posts with label New Orleans. Show all posts

Saturday, August 22, 2026

I Am Just a Po' Boy

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 

Be witty. Be nasty. Be silly. Don’t be boring.

Bunny Matthews


Will Bunn "Bunny" Matthews III (1951–2021) was a cartoonist, musician, and writer based in New Orleans. I discovered his work the first time we visited the city, when I bought his paperback cartoon books F'Sure!: Actual Dialogue Heard on the Streets of New Orleans and Vic and Nat'ly.

As a journalist, Matthews interviewed many celebrities and legendary New Orleans musicians.

I mention him today to recommend a new book, Bunny Matthews: His Life, Art, and Obsessions, by Alison Fensterstock and Michael Tisserand. It's the first monograph of his work, includes a generous selection of art going back to his childhood, and is the fullest biography I've seen.

Alison Fensterstock is a New Orleans writer who contributes to NPR Music, and she has DJed for WWOZ FM.

Michael Tisserand is the award-winning author of Krazy: George Herriman, A Life in Black and White, about the cartoonist behind Krazy Kat.

The Bunny Matthews book will be released on September 18, and can be pre-ordered now from the Historic New Orleans Collection. I highly recommend it.

Photo by Wayno, New Orleans, 2009

Today's historical pipe pic features two icons of slapstick comedy.

Aspiring Vaudevillians Moe and Shemp Howard, as part of the Marguerite Bryant Players, circa 1919, from A Tour de Farce: The Complete History of the Three Stooges on the Road by Gary Lassin; a comprehensive, 765-page book documenting the live, on-the-road performances of the Three Stooges from the 1920s to the 1970s.
I found the photo and caption on Farcebook, which goes to show that it's not a completely useless platform.

Please do let me know if the latest Bizarro panels are witty, nasty, silly, boring, or otherwise.

Monday's gag had a few readers scratching their heads, and I think it's because of the way I drew it. Some thought the character on the right was stuck to the wall, and I can see how it could be read that way. He's supposed to be waiting to submit a patent application for whatever he invented that enables levitation.

Apologies for any confusion.

If owls had lips and teeth, the question might be "WTF?"

Cartoonists don't draw walls like this out of laziness. It's because of strict regulations.

I suppose this one lands in the "silly" category. Once I thought of it, I simply had to draw it. I tried not to. Honest!

In this literary crossover, we're reminded that Goldilocks has strong, centrist opinions on everything.

We finish off with a back-to-school scene, since it's that time of year.

Thanks for following along with the weekly recap.

Communications Consolidation Coming Soon

Every Saturday, I publish a cartoon recap/commentary here on Blogger in addition to a Substack newsletter. In the coming weeks, I'll start using Substack for both. The cartoon review will be sent on Saturday or Sunday, and all other stuff (previews, old art, etc.) will arrive separately. 

Substack isn’t perfect, but Blogger behaves unpredictably and it randomly changes text formatting. Also, it has no blocking feature, so I spend time every week deleting spam comments from persistent bots.

I want to focus my creative energy on making comics while staying in touch with our community of readers, and this change should help. It will certainly cut down on time spent on cross-posting and linking.

If you enjoy the blog, please subscribe to the newsletter here. When I make the transition, the newsletter will be delivered to your inbox every weekend.

I haven't turned on paid Substack subscriptions, but when I eventually do, free subscribers will always get the weekly recap and comments, just like they do now in the blog.

Thanks for your indulgence.


Bonus Track

James Booker: "Goodnight Irene"
from Junco Partner
Island Records LP, 1976


Bunny Matthews was a close friend of the eccentric piano genius James Booker, whose music you might enjoy.


 

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Saturday, March 28, 2026

My Back Pages

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 

The earth cannot move without music. The earth moves in a certain rhythm, a certain sound, a certain note. When the music stops, the earth will stop, and everything upon it will die.

Sun Ra, Space is the Place


Sun Ra was one of the most prolific recording artists of all time. He released more than 100 albums in his lifetime. That's a conservative estimate. I have around forty Sun Ra discs in my music library, and I revisit them regularly.

Ra left the earthly plane in 1993 at age 79, and multi-instrumentalist Marshall Allen, who will soon be 102, continues to lead the Sun Ra Arkestra. 

I usually listen to music while working, and I believe that live music is beneficial to one's well-being, so Sun Ra's words resonate with me. 

This month, I attended three terrific musical performances. On March 3, I saw Jonathan Richman, and more recently, two great shows at a favorite venue, The Original Pittsburgh Winery: The Town Pants, a Celtic/Roots/Rock band from Canada, and the Rebirth Brass Band from New Orleans.

After spending a good part of my adult life in loud clubs, in the audience, and sometimes onstage, I now have some hearing loss. It's not bad enough to require hearing aids, but I'm protective of what remains. Jonathan Richman's show was minimally amplified, so I didn't wear hearing protection that night.

I have earplugs with three sets of filters for different levels of noise reduction. At the Town Pants show, I realized I was wearing the strongest filters, which I used when running a snow blower. The show sounded a bit muffled, but we still had a great time.

Do yourself a favor and check out some live music. Even if it's not something you'd normally listen to at home, it's always worthwhile to hear accomplished players who do it every day.

Today's pipe pic is a portrait of Chinese cartoonist Hua Junwu, whom I learned about from Richard G's informative blog, Who's Out There?


A digital version of Chinese Satire and Humor, a collection of Hua's cartoons, is available here. 

The cartoons I've seen are funny and satirical, and it seems his sharp humor was tempered by a friendly drawing style and beautiful brushwork.

Many of his cartoons are wordless with only a short title, and they translate well. Big thanks to Richard for introducing me to Hua's work.


This week's Bizarro gags might look rather odd, in part because there are almost no Secret Symbols. In early January, the symbols took a week of sick leave, and they're almost totally absent in this batch. Since then, they've been working at full strength.

This one reminds me of my days at a series of normal office jobs.

If the art looks different, it's because I did this week's gags in 2011, when I filled in for Dan Piraro as guest cartoonist. I inked with a heavier line than I do today. At that time, I was also assisting Dan by coloring his black-and-white art, and I used his more elaborate shading technique.

When the Secret Symbols were fighting off that virus, they passed it on to me—we work in a small studio space—and while I recovered, we pulled this batch of gags out of the storage unit.

Fifteen years ago, felonious fashion was a thing.

The Bunny of Exuberance was the last symbol to be knocked out by the illness. Apparently, an all-carrot diet provided some immunity.

I don't think I'd cram as many words into one panel today, and I hope I wouldn't be as snarky.


Clowns in one of my gags? Shocking.


This wasn't meant as a political statement in 2011. I'm not sure how it will be received today, but the online comments will let us know soon enough.


Thanks for indulging me while I recovered three months ago. We'll be back next week with new, improved gags, and the usual complement of Secret Symbols.

Bonus Track

Huey "Piano" Smith and the Clowns
"Would You Believe It? (I have a Cold)"
Ace Records single, 1959


This is a lesser-known Huey Smith song, with a great vocal by Bobby Marchan.


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Saturday, February 14, 2026

What's Your Jam?

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.) 
Excerpted from Images of America: Rocky Mountain National Park, © 2008 Arcadia Publishing, Inc.
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).


     

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Saturday, January 24, 2026

The Winter of Our Discontent

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 

If we had not winter, the spring would not be so pleasant; if we did not sometimes taste of adversity, prosperity would not be so welcome.

~Anne Bradstreet (1612-1672)


As of this writing, with two-thirds of the country bracing for a severe winter storm, let's look forward to the arrival of spring with hope. Pittsburgh has been listed among a dozen cities that may be hit the hardest, so we're keeping our eyes on the sky.

Wherever you live, I hope you experience minimal impact and remain warm and secure from all threats to your safety, well-being, and happiness.

Today's slightly off-putting pipe pic is a folk art ventriloquist dummy.

I stumbled upon this bumpkin on an auction site last summer. We have a healthy backlog of pipe photos, but new submissions are always welcome.

Perhaps the latest Bizarro panels will offer a brief escape from concerns about snow and ice.

Monday's gruesome gag includes a nod to Pittsburgh's George A. Romero, often called the father of the modern zombie movie.


In the mid 1980s, we lived in the same Pittsburgh neighborhood as Romero's frequent makeup artist and stunt performer, Tom Savini. I'd often see him picking up supplies at the local hardware store or shopping at one of the Italian groceries in the area. He looked rather scary in person, but always offered a smile and a greeting.


Hey, it was worth a shot.


A couple of readers said this character reminded them of American Splendor comic writer Harvey Pekar. That wasn't my intention, and other than a hangdog expression, I don't see a resemblance, but since Pekar's comic persona was rendered by some of the best underground cartoonists, I'll take that as a compliment.


Among his other accomplishments, Pekar was a prolific music critic. He reviewed Charles Mingus's 1962 Oh Yeah album in Down Beat magazine, praising the musician's piano playing, but showing less enthusiasm for his singing.


Mingus took exception to this and shot off a letter of reply:

My efforts at blues singing were not meant to challenge such diverse masters as Joe Turner, Ray Charles or Big Bill Broonzy, and I don’t think their singing was meant as a challenge to each other or to me. No one could sing my blues but me (if you must call it singing), just as no one could holler for you if I decide to punch you in your mouth.


Mingus was uncompromising when it came to his music and was nicknamed "the Angry Man of Jazz." His written interaction with Pekar is an interesting intersection of the worlds of comix and jazz.

Wednesday's cartoon references another Pittsburgher: actor and comedian Frank Gorshin, who played the Riddler in the 1966 Batman TV series and received an Emmy nomination for his portrayal. 


Gorshin was unhappy with the character's form-fitting unitard costume, and he came up with the suit and derby hat festooned with question marks. This outfit then began appearing in the comic books.


Their motto is "Cranky and Proud of It."


Unlike Tuesday's drawing, this one is meant to resemble two actual people.


We wrapped up the week with a variation on a familiar gag cartoon trope. We searched to see if someone had already done this joke, but couldn't find one out there.

Thanks, as always, for taking the time to read these renderings and ramblings. Stay warm and cozy!

Bonus Track

John Boutté: "Louisiana 1927"
Directed by Mark Bergeron


Randy Newman's song from his 1974 album Good Old Boys became associated with the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in 2005. John Boutté turns in a lovely performance here.

At the 2026 New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, we heard a heartbreaking version of the song by singer/pianist Marcia Ball.

Friend and colleague Michael Tisserand lived in New Orleans for many years and currently resides in Minnesota. Michael published an opinion piece in the New Orleans Times-Picayune this week comparing the post-Katrina period to current events. I highly recommend his thoughtful column.


     

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