Cool for Cats

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

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Until one has loved an animal a part of one's soul remains unawakened.

Anatole France

Almost every artist and cartoonist I know shares their home with a pet. Animal family members contribute greatly to our well-being, and it's clear that they love us, openly and completely. 

I grew up with a canine companion, and in my adult life, my spouse and I have had several feline members. All of them delighted us and touched our hearts, but one made an especially profound impression. Following the loss of one of our first cats, we visited a shelter to adopt a new family member. We met a cat who had been rescued from a hoarder's house. He had been kept in a carrier for most of his life and was afraid to be out in the open. He received no health care, and an untreated respiratory issue left him with a less-than-melodious meow. He needed help and we took him home.

Because of his distinctive voice, we named him Hoagy, after the great American composer and performer Hoagy Carmichael. After a few months of veterinary care, daily food, shelter, and grooming, Hoagy began to thrive.

Despite the cruelty he endured early in life, he became an affectionate and outgoing cat. He greeted everyone who visited our home and would sit beside new friends, responding to their touch with a slightly gravelly purr. He loved to sit with me as I worked at my desk.

Hoagy was only with us for eight years. His shelter tags are on a chain I wear daily, reminding myself of his example of optimism, forgiveness, and love.

Our current feline is also outgoing and affectionate and often helps me while working.

A May Day tradition at our house is watching the 1973 folk horror film The Wicker Man, which I've mentioned in the blog before. In one scene, Christopher Lee's character, Lord Summerisle, observes the animal life around him, and quotes a section of Walt Whitman's long-form poem, Song of Myself:

I think I could turn and live with animals, they are so placid and self-contain’d,

I stand and look at them long and long.

They do not sweat and whine about their condition,

They do not lie awake in the dark and weep for their sins,

They do not make me sick discussing their duty to God,

Not one is dissatisfied, not one is demented with the mania of owning things,

Not one kneels to another, nor to his kind that lived thousands of years ago,

Not one is respectable or unhappy over the whole earth.

I must admit, until I researched the words, I was unaware that they were Whitman's. 

If you share your life with a pet, please give them a pat on the head or a treat for me.

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Today's pipe pic is a self-portrait of German painter and graphic artist Max Dungert (1896-1945).

 

Wikipedia provides this biographical info:

[Max] was born to Ferdinand Dungert, a police courier, and his wife Betty Elise née Koehler. From 1910, he attended the Kunstgewerbeschule Magdeburg , where he studied with Rudolf Bosselt and Adolf Rettelbusch, among others. In 1919, he was one of the co-founders of a short-lived artists' association known as "Die Kugel" (The Sphere); devoted to Expressionist art. After 1920, his works would briefly display a trend toward Realism.

In 1921, he went to Berlin and joined the Novembergruppe, another association of Expressionist artists and architects. Later, he would also create works in the Cubist style. During the next few years, he occasionally shared a studio with Beye. From 1925 to 1928, he made several study trips to Italy, France, and Switzerland. He established his own private drawing school in 1930, and joined "Porza", an international association for intellectual and artistic exchanges.

During the Nazi regime, in 1937, several of his works were confiscated as part of the campaign to identify and eliminate "Degenerate Art". He was drafted into military service in 1944. His studio and many of his works were destroyed not long after. He was killed sometime during, or immediately following, the Battle of Berlin.

Many of his works survived and are displayed in museums in Germany.

I was not familiar with Max Dungert's art, and I thank readers Paul and Ellen for thinking of Bizarro when they saw Max's self-portrait. A true artist, the painting shows that he had a studio cat.

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Now, let's review the latest output from my studio, where I was ably assisted by my boy Foster.

We kicked off the week with another of my inanimate object gags. It was at least partly inspired by a woodworker in Maine named David Adamsen. His YouTube channel features videos of his elaborate and unique wood turning projects. They feature no dialog and are hypnotic and relaxing. I've found them to be a great way to wind down before going to sleep.

 

This scenario isn't far from actual history.

Wednesday's punning caption was called into question by a reader who wrote:

Whales are called a pod in a group. According to google, a group of walruses is called a "Huddle."

"Huddle" is indeed among the names turned up by a web search, but it's not the only one, nor is it the most common.

Pods are herds of marine mammals including whales, dolphins, walruses and seals.

Dr. Helen Scales (marine biologist, broadcaster, science writer)
BBC ScienceFocus

The strip layout involved a fair amount of shuffling but worked out all right.

Enjoy it while it lasts. The next bowl will be pulp.
 

Our second inanimate object comic of the week turned up on Friday, with a quiet theme of harmony, tolerance, and acceptance.

Sorry, but we can't reveal the number.

I might prefer the strip version of this one and think the reader's eye tracking from upper left to lower right delivers the joke better than the "Z" path the eye generally takes in a vertical panel.

 

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Beer Here!

In contrast to the Illustration Ale label I shared last week, here's one that is pure design (although I'm not really a designer). The graphic elements were meant to resemble barrels stacked on palettes. The racks were "drawn" in Photoshop, and the barrels were letters in the Futura typeface.

Speaking of Illustration Ale, here's a photo taken at East End Brewing Company the day we labeled the bottles in 2017.

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Bonus Track

The Coasters: "Three Cool Cats"
Atlantic Records single, 1959

"Three Cool Cats" is one of many great songs Jerry Lieber and Mike Stoller wrote for the Coasters. It was the B-side of their hit "Charlie Brown."

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Other Bizarro Locations

Dan Piraro's Weekly Bizarro Blog

 Wayno's Weekly Bizarro Newsletter

Dan "Diego" Piraro's Peyote Cowboy Graphic Novel

 

Stop by next week for more stuff from your cartoonist.
 

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Copyright© 2023 by Wayno®

 

Observation, Perception, & Puppetry

This is the weekly communiqué from Bizarro Studios North, where I (Wayno®) have been writing and drawing the Monday through Saturday Bizarro comics since 2018. My partner and friend, Dan Piraro, who created Bizarro in the late twentieth century, continues to do the Sunday comic from Rancho Bizarro in Mexico.

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Like many people, I dislike hearing my own speaking voice. Nevertheless, a few days ago, I did an interview for The New Yorker Caption Contest Podcast. It was an honor to be added to their list of guests—a who's who of cartoonists I admire. The hosts were knowledgeable and welcoming, and I hope I did a passable job. 

When the episode is posted, I'll most likely hear only mistakes and annoying verbal tics, and will think of much better responses to every question.

My sincere thanks to podcasters Beth Lawler, Paul Nesja, and Vin Coca for letting me blab for an hour. I'll share a link when it's available, unless I go into hiding after listening to it.

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Our pipe pic for today is a drawing rediscovered in a forgotten corner of my computer.

This was created for a quick & dirty art show consisting of 4" x 6" pieces mailed to my friend and neighbor Worker Bird. It was a stream of consciousness drawing, and it included The Pipe of Ambiguity more than a year before its introduction as one of Bizarro's secret symbols. I've no idea what's going on with that canister vacuum cleaner. Like a lot of my work, it may have been inspired by music I was listening to while drawing.

Don van Vliet, aka Captain Beefheart
Trout Mask Replica photo session, 1969
photo by Ed Caraeff

This picture appears on the cover of the boxed set, Grow Fins: Rarities 1965-1982, by Captain Beefheart and the Magic Band. Around 1961, the future Captain had a brief career as a door-to-door vacuum cleaner salesman, and is said to have sold one to writer Aldous Huxley.

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No vacuum cleaners were harmed during the production of this week's cartoons, as can be seen in the following recap.

The order clearly specified, "Hold the garlic." This panel includes a tiny callback to a project from ten years ago, when I had the privilege of designing boxes for a wonderful pizza shop in my neighborhood.

 

Sometimes, we all feel down in the troughs.

At least she didn't say, "It's okay, he's friendly."

The strip layout of this gag swapped one secret symbol for another, and features dramatic lighting effects. This variation is part of a failed strategy to get readers to subscribe to multiple newspapers so they can read both the panel and strip every day.

Thursday's comic revealed Sasquatch as an outsider artist. Many online commenters interpreted the character as an ape, which will remind me to strive for a more recognizable drawing of Bigfoot if the creature's feet are out of frame.

I enjoyed making pop art versions of our secret symbols, and created an extra one for the strip.

 

A character we love to parody makes yet another appearance, depicting a philosophical thought experiment contemplated by puppeteers through the ages.

We rounded out the week with a reversal of a familiar idiom. Bizarro's Inverted Bird symbol rarely wears anything other than a hat, but dressed as a stereotypical mobster for this panel.

Thanks for viewing our pictures and reading our words. We appreciate your eyeballs more than we can say. Drop by next Saturday for more comics and commentary.

If you'd like to be informed when a new blog entry is uploaded, and get an exclusive peek at an upcoming Bizarro panel, plus a dusty image from my illustration archive, you might like to sign up for my weekly newsletter. It's free, and you can of course unsubscribe at any time.

And don't forget to visit Dan Piraro's blog, for the latest news & views from Rancho Bizarro, along with a fresh Bizarro Sunday page.

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Bonus Track

Robert Johnson
"Hell Hound on My Trail"
Recorded June 30, 1937
in Dallas, Texas

Robert Johnson was the earliest popular musician with the dubious honor of being included in "The 27 Club," a pop-culture catchall for performers who died at the age of 27. It's statistically insignificant, but remains a pop culture trope.

Johnson's brief career resulted in recordings of just 29 songs, but his influence can't be overstated. 

Had they been contemporaries, one wonders if Weird Al Yankovic would have recorded a parody number called "Hell Hound on My Lap."

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Mitch, Zombo, Bob & Me

Dateline: Hollywood Gardens, PA. This is the weekly dispatch from Bizarro Studios North, where I (Wayno®) write and draw the Monday through Saturday Bizarro comics, having assumed that role in 2018. My esteemed partner and good friend, Dan Piraro, who created Bizarro in the late twentieth century, continues to do the Sunday comic from Rancho Bizarro in Mexico.

A few days ago, I was looking through some of my old sketchbooks, hoping to generate gag ideas. While browsing these ancient texts, I rediscovered a wonderful drawing by the terrific and prolific Mitch O'Connell, and I'm pleased to share it as this week's pipe pic.

Mitch was in Pittsburgh in 2007 for a one-man art show at Zombo Gallery, which was a haven for oddball artists. During Mitch's visit, my good pal and the gallery's owner, Michael "Zombo" Devine, organized a lunch gathering for a bunch of local cartoonists and artists, and we had a grand time eating, drinking, and drawing. I suspect the above image is a self-portrait.

Wayno with the lovely Mitch O'Connell at Zombo Gallery

Even if you don't know his name, it's likely you've seen Mitch's work somewhere. He's done just about everything one can imagine, from comics, illustrations, clip art, logos, and paintings to LP/CD covers, and more.

Follow @mitchoconnellart on Instagram, and visit his densely-packed website and shop to gaze in wonder at his amazing art. Your eyeballs will thank you.

Also, check out Zombo's current band, The Polkamaniacs. Zombo is always involved in multiple amazing projects, and his energy and enthusiasm have always inspired me.

Here's another long-forgotten sketchbook page: a drawing of the late jazz musician Curtis Fuller, done in 2011, which Mr. Fuller graciously autographed.

For many years, I volunteered at the University of Pittsburgh's annual jazz seminar and concert. Each year, an impressive lineup of musicians came to town to hold educational workshops at local schools, speak at a series of lectures/seminars, and wrap up the week with a musical performance. In my position as stage manager, I rarely saw the concert, as my duties kept me behind the scenes, letting each performer know when they should be ready to go onstage (the concert consisted of multiple combinations of players, ending with an all-star finale.) I also escorted musicians around town, and provided introductions for some of the seminars.

Over the years, I met and hung out with dozens of legendary musicians. I gave James Moody a copy of Amy Winehouse's Frank CD, which included her cover of his famous number, "Moody's Mood for Love. Mr. Moody hadn't heard it yet, and was delighted by her version.

My most memorable moment was crashing a wedding reception with Joe Lovano during the concert's intermission, so we could have a drink together. 

My ongoing volunteer gig was a music lover's dream come true, and I was truly fortunate to have that experience.

Thanks for indulging my nostalgic detour through old stuff. Here's some recent work, in the form of this week's Bizarro comics.

A touch of varnish and a lemon oil massage would do him wonders.

All but one of the client photos in the background are characters from old animated cartoons. Pictured left to right, they are: 

Captain Huffenpuff ("Uncle Captain") from Bob Clampett's witty series Beany and Cecil
 

Fred from Channel One, a bizarre hybrid of animation and puppetry, who appeared on Captain Kangaroo, interacting with human performers
 

Tom Terrific, a Terrytoons cartoon that also ran on Captain Kangaroo
 

Chumley the walrus, dimwitted sidekick on the Tennessee Tuxedo TV series
 

Flebus, who starred in a brilliant 1957 short directed by Ernest Pintoff
 

Underground comix character Mickey Rat, creation of Robert Armstrong, a personal favorite of your cartoonist
 

Gandy Goose, another Terrytoons character, who appeared in over 50 shorts between 1938 and 1955, and who does a cameo here as Bizarro's inverted bird secret symbol

I watched cartoons on TV for hundreds of hours throughout my childhood, but I have absolutely no memory of Gandy Goose. I became aware of the character in the 1970s, via this page by Robert Crumb, from his comic book, Mister Natural.

Robert Armstrong, a contemporary of Crumb's and a member of his band, the Cheap Suit Serenaders, created Mickey Rat as a t-shirt design. The Rat later starred in an underground comic book.

 

 

As a smartass teenager, I wore my Mickey Rat shirt until it fell apart. Shirts are still available from the artist's online shop.

Although we haven't met in person, I've corresponded with Mr. Armstrong over the years, and I have long enjoyed his music as much as his art.

This gouache painting of western swing pioneer Milton Brown appeared as an illustration in Tower Records' Pulse! Magazine. I later purchased the original art from Robert, and it holds a place of pride in my home, where I see and appreciate it every day.

 

Apparently, those online security challenges are universal.

 

Before completing the art for Wednesday's gag, I took a reference photo of my hand twisted into this uncomfortable position so I wouldn't unknowingly depict a fracture.

 

I never tire of drawing Frankenstein's monster, but I still can't decide whether he'd consider getting the cold shoulder to be positive or negative. Also, I'm just noticing that the Pie of Opportunity looks awfully tiny in this panel.

 

His penance was twelve Hail Marys in a 375º oven.

 

We closed out the week with a simian pun, because, well, why not?

That's the newest batch from your faithful cartoonist. As always, I recommend visiting Dan Piraro's blog, where you can see his latest glorious Sunday Bizarro page, and read his comments on the week's cartoons, along with anything else that's occupying his active and curious mind.

 

If you'd like to be notified when I update this blog, or when I have other news to share, you can subscribe to my free newsletter by entering your email address below.

 

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Every newsletter includes an exclusive peek at something new from my drawing board, and of course you can unsubscribe at any time.

 

Thanks for stopping by. Your readership is appreciated, and your comments are always welcome.

 

Bonus Track

 

"Cat's Whiskers"
Robert Armstrong with Sourdough Slim
Live in Sutter Creek, CA

12/21/13

Bob is a master of many instruments, and this number showcases his impressive steel guitar chops. He's a snappy dresser, too.

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Nosepipe

Greetings from Bizarro Studios North, where we're trying to hold onto hope for sanity and humanity during a week of horrific world news, and the disappointing but unsurprising silence of spineless politicians still clinging to the malodorous shirttails of a disgraced former elected official.

We wish peace and safety for everyone around the world, and hope that our funny words and pictures provide occasional moments of relief.

To that end, we begin with this week's surreal pipe pic. It's a self-portrait by one of our favorite artists, René Magritte, titled La Lampe Pilosophique (The Philosopher's Lamp.)

Over the years, Magritte has been the subject of quite a few Bizarro comics, and his famous painting The Treachery of Images was the inspiration for our Secret Symbol, The Pipe of Ambiguity. 

We salute René Magritte, and his compatriots in the leftist, anti-war Surrealist art movement.

René made an appearance in Bizarro again this week, which you'll see as we review our latest comics.

Robin got off to an early start fighting crime on Monday.

 

Tuesday's comic was an unintentionally timely military gag.

 

After sketching the panel, I realized that I'd have to do some creative shuffling to get it to work in the horizontal strip layout, and I scribbled this rough guide for myself.

I ended up flipping the image to position the speech balloon and caption box on the same end of the panel.

Not to mention the calming scent of floor trout.  

 

Unlike Tuesday's ant comic, I was not planning for the strip when I drew this panel. In the strip layout, I usually position a word balloon beside the character who's speaking, since there's no headroom.

I redrew two of the pirates in an attempt to accommodate the balloon placement, but the scene didn't convey the feeling that they were whispering about their shipmate.

I went back to the original staging, and slipped the tail of the word balloon behind the leftmost character. I wasn't sure it would work, but I think it's clear. 

By the way, I'm sharing these mainly so I don't feel that my first attempt was a complete waste of time.

There's our old friend, Magritte, in a parody of his painting, The Son of Man. In the original, a man's face is hidden behind an apple, so the doctor's recommendation to get more fresh fruit makes sense.

This one went through a few iterations on its way to the funny pages.

My first completed drawing replaced the apple with a chocolate candy, which allowed me to use the funny-sounding word "bonbons." But, no matter how many times I revised it, the black & white drawing looked like a poop emoji (💩). Newspapers run comics so small, it would probably have looked more like actual poop. 

 

Next, I tried a peppermint swirl candy. That wasn't too bad, but I eventually realized that a green m&m was the answer. The shape and color echo the apple in the original painting, and the bold letter m could easily stand for Magritte.

While stewing over these revisions, I forgot to write the number of Secret Symbols next to the signature. For those who like to find thems, there are five in this one.

A bold choice of material.

That's the latest from our cartoon office. If you're in the mood for more commentary (on comics and other matters), pop on over to Dan Piraro's blog. You can also view his always-impressive Sunday Bizarro page. From there, you can bounce to his surreal serialized western epic, Peyote Cowboy.

See you next week, if maniacs don't blow up the world...

One More Pipe!

A few days ago, Facebook's "memories" feature reminded me about this comic from 2014, written by yours truly and drawn by Dan.

 

What is it with me and pipes? Perhaps I should schedule a session with the therapist from Wednesday's panel.

Bonus Track

Slim Gaillard: "Atomic Cocktail" (1945)

 

In the words of Charles Mingus, "Oh, lord, don't let them drop that atomic bomb on me." Or on anyone else, for that matter.

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