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
Whatever you now find weird, ugly, uncomfortable, and nasty about a new
medium will surely become its signature. CD distortion, the jitteriness
of digital video, the crap sound of 8-bit—all of these will be
cherished and emulated as soon as they can be avoided. It’s the sound of
failure: so much modern art is the sound of things going out of
control, of a medium pushing to its limits and breaking apart. The
distorted guitar sound is the sound of something too loud for the medium
supposed to carry it. The blues singer with the cracked voice is the
sound of an emotional cry too powerful for the throat that releases it.
The excitement of grainy film, of bleached-out black and white, is the
excitement of witnessing events too momentous for the medium assigned to
record them.
Brian Eno
That lengthy passage comes from Brian Eno's fascinating book A Year of Swollen Appendices: Brian Eno's Diary, 1995. It's been popping up on my social feeds lately, with some people erroneously applying it to artificial intelligence.
I don't consider AI a medium any more than larceny, fraud, or plagiarism, but there's certainly plenty that's weird, ugly, uncomfortable, and nasty about it. The effortless thievery and gluttonous energy consumption come immediately to mind.
Recently, some anonymous accounts on YouTube and TikTok have been scooping up editorial cartoons made by humans, feeding them through AI to redraw them, and then uploading video compilations to generate ad revenue. The cartoonists are fighting back and have made some headway, but it looks like the makings of an endless battle.
I ask you to avoid using AI to try to make art of any kind, even as a fun diversion, because every time someone does that, it's one more lesson to train the virtual vacuum to suck up and imitate more of humankind's creative works.
Instead, please support and enjoy the artistic gifts offered by actual human beings. You could do worse than checking out Eno's Diary. Many of the diary entries refer the reader to one of the book's (swollen) appendices, which consist of more formal essays, letters, articles, or other items related to the events in the author's daily life.
Another book made from a diary I thoroughly enjoyed was Michael Palin's Diaries 1969–1979: The Python Years. Palin is a dedicated diarist (at least four volumes of his diaries are available) and has also written a dozen travel books.
As a snotty adolescent, Monty Python's Flying Circus landed in the US at the perfect time. I had learned about them slightly earlier thanks to the excellent stock of imported LPs at the Heads Together record shop in Pittsburgh's Squirrel Hill neighborhood and was primed when our local PBS station picked up the show.
My first thought when I read Eno's observation was the beautifully grubby textures of old-fashioned letterpress beer coasters.
This item is from the Bizarro Studios North archive. To fully appreciate the spectacular imperfections of the letterpress medium, take a closer look.
The off-register halftone dots! The blue jacket overprinted on Bert's sweater! The yellowed pulp! I may burst into tears here.
While I pull myself together, here's this week's pipe pic, a Macanudo comic strip by my colleague and friend Liniers.
Thanks to Dan M., a good friend of Bizarro for sharing the delightful comic by the equally delightful Liniers.
All the gags you are about to read were created without artificial intelligence.
Monday's panel takes place just prior to the invention of optional rustproofing.
Alternative Roman history.
If nothing else, it's a creative explanation for neglecting to refresh the moth crystals.
Real-life examples for sale, and some of the models in the listings look even more pretentious than my comic character.
Fortunately Canada Five-1 never got off the ground.
Other badges are awarded for Vegetable Avoidance and Snot Rocketry.
That's it for the latest batch of handmade digital cartoons from Bizarro Studios North. See you next week with more of the same.
Bonus Track
Sammy Davis, Jr.: "You Can Count on Me"
Twentieth Century Records, 1976
I can add nothing in the way of commentary. You simply have to hear it.
Copious Quantities of Bizarro Curiosities
If you like what we do and appreciate that it's free, we encourage you to explore the following links.
