Babe and Bumpkin

My good friend, Susan Weingartner, sent this photo to me today and I wanted to share it. Doesn't it look fabulous? She is a picture-takerer, or "photographer," as she insists on being called. Even though this pic of CHNW and I was taken at a brunch on a patio in Los Angeles, I call it "The Farm Boy's Wish Come True."

Bizzarro for District Attorney

A friend sent me this picture from I'm not sure where. What a great name, although I can't believe it will help her in her political career.

A guy who regularly reads this blog is named Nick Daddio. That's like, the coolest name ever, daddio.

Secret Symbols

If you've wondered about the anomalous symbols I put into my cartoons – alien, pie, eyeball, dynamite, etc. – I did a short interview about it in the Houston Chronicle recently. Don't miss the easy-to-miss list of word association answers to the right of the article.

FCBM4 Day 27.5

It's still day twenty-seven of the fourth annual YACB Free Comic Book Month, but we're running out of time. So I'd better give away more free comics!

Today's second selected entry is from Dina Greenberg, who listed her five comics as:

1. Walking Dead
2. Fables
3. Locke & Key
4. DMZ
5. Doktor Sleepless

Since I think she'll enjoy it, I'll send Dina the first two issues of Tag, the zombies-with-an-Internet-twist comic by Keith Giffen & Kody Chamberlain.

For Dina's bonus comic, I'm sending her the Uncle Scrooge ashcan.

Dina's comics should be in the mail within a week. Enjoy!

Time is running out, but you can still send in your entry for the YACB Free Comic Book Month; details are here.

Current FCBM Statistics:
45 entries
61 free comics sent so far
4 days remaining

Four to Read for Tuesday, May 27

* New York Times: This Is Funny Only if You Know Unix

* comiXology: To All the Manga I've Edited Before (via Dirk)

* The Beat: 2008 Friend of Lulu Nominees

* Queenie Chan: Sleeping Chick (via Dirk)

Tattooing Kids

Today's Bizarro is brought to you by The Garfield Admiration Society of Greater Muncie.

The idea behind this cartoon was to show what would happen if kids could get tattoos. I'm not certain I did the best job of conveying the idea, but it was the best I could come up with.

People without tattoos frequently assume that people with them will one day regret their choice, as this guy obviously would, having gotten a Garfield tattoo as a kid. I think that is more true of people who get a single tattoo on a whim, especially when they are young. Or anyone who lets a bad artist attack them with a needle.

But those of us with numerous tattoos choose it as a lifestyle and simply accept it, knowing full well it can never be changed. You might regret the way a certain one turned out exactly, or wish something had been done a little differently, but those thoughts are minor and fleeting, the way one's dislike of the shape of ones toes might be.

I often hear people joking about how tattoos might look cool when you're young, but what will you look like in the old folks home? So many people under 40 have tattoos now that it won't be an oddity in their old age. I'm guessing wherever I end up, we'll be making fun of the geezer who doesn't have any droopy, indistinguishable tattoos.

If you're thinking of getting a tattoo, common wisdom dictates that you choose the image and tape it on your bathroom mirror for six months. If you still like it after seeing it a few times a day for half a year, you're likely to be okay with it as a tattoo.

Or, better still, drug someone and have him/her tattooed with your chosen design. Put it on their back so they don't know it's there. Remain friends with them for a couple of years and visit the beach with them often, so you can get regular glimpses of the ink. If you still like the way it looks on them after a couple of years, go for it.

FCBM4 Day 27

It's day twenty-seven of the fourth annual YACB Free Comic Book Month!

Our next selected entry is from Jeff Brister, who listed his five comics as:

1. The Immortal Iron Fist
2. Daredevil
3. New Avengers
4. Justice League of America
5. Starman

For Jeff I have the first issue of the super-trippy Fantastic Four/Iron Man: Big in Japan by Zeb Wells and Seth Fisher.

For Jeff's bonus comic, I'm sending him the Iron Man ashcan.

Jeff's comics should be in the mail within a week. Enjoy!

Time is running out, but you can still send in your entry for the YACB Free Comic Book Month; details are here.

Current FCBM Statistics:
44 entries
58 free comics sent so far
4 days remaining