Eggheads and Bird Love

Bizarro is brought to you today by the Committee to Promote the Redistribution of Wealth.

Like yesterday's comic, I'm not all that thrilled with this cartoon. I think it's okay and will appeal to a decent percentage of readers or I wouldn't have published it, but it doesn't thrill me to the depths of my soul. But that happens. I'd be suspicious of any daily cartoonist who claimed to love all of his/her work.

Two things I do like are the way the old guy's face turned out and the fuzzy blue buildings in the background. This is more-or-less the first time I've done background objects with color only, no line work. I think it works well. Of course, people seeing it in black and white in the newspapers won't see anything in the background at all.

I love pigeons, all birds really, and have always objected to the "flying rat" epithet. The only reason we don't see pigeons as we do other birds is because they are so ubiquitous that we become immune to their beauty. They really are great-looking birds if you view them objectively. And they're fun to have around. CHNW and I have fed them in our backyard (or roof, at our old apartment) for years and they are very entertaining. After a while, you begin to spot individual personality traits, pecking order, etc. There are typically one or two leaders in a flock – for years we had one who came up and pecked on our window daily while the others waited on the roof to be fed.

Chickens are another species of bird that most people have forgotten how to see the beauty in. There are few birds in the world more asthetically gifted than the rooster, yet because we've seen them on our corn flakes boxes all our lives, we ignore them. Chickens (of both sexes) are also very smart and individual, full of charm and personality, if you get to know them on a one-on-one basis. If they didn't poop indescriminately, they'd make excellent housepets. CHNW and I have fostered dozens over the years and they're tons of fun to have around.

NEW BLOG RULES

I've made it a point not to censor the comments on this blog but they've gotten a bit out of hand so I'm changing my policies. I still won't censor opinions, as long as they are expressed in a mature manner, sans profanity or lame insults to other commentators. (You can still insult me all you want.)

I hate being a cop, but I've been getting complaints from readers.

Presidential Sweet

Bizarro is brought to you today by Painful Shoe Company.

I'll be honest with you, I think this is a dull joke. When you have to pull a new joke out of your hat 365 days a year for more than two decades, they can't all be brilliant. It isn't classic, but I figured maybe somebody out there who's recently been squooshed by the ponderously heavy elephant feet of the Republican economy might get a little smile out of it. Not that squooshed people are inclined to smile.

So instead, let's change the subject. A friend of mine sent me the following picture of Barack and Michelle on the campaign trail. I'd seen this pic before but hadn't noticed anything unusual about it. My friend, however, noticed that in the bottom right-hand corner of the newspaper B is reading is my cartoon! (click on the picture for a larger view!)

I can't tell if that's really my cartoon or not, but for the sake of shallow fantasies, I'm going to say it is. YES! BARACK OBAMA READS BIZARRO!

Spread the word, we'll check the facts later.

Rhyming Toast

Bizarro is brought to you today by Greeting Card Hell.

Many years ago, I gave up obligatory holidays and their mandatory cards and gift giving. I haven't given a Xmas or birthday gift nor sent a greeting card since the early 90s sometime. I still occasionally give people gifts or cards when I feel like it, I'm not a cold-hearted bastard, I just resented the social pressure to conform to a scheme designed by department stores and card companies and opted out.

It was fairly simple, really: I told my friends and family that I would no longer be giving gifts or cards for any advertised occasion and that I didn't expect to receive gifts or cards, either. If they still wanted to give me something, I would accept it and be appreciative, of course. I wasn't trying to be mean or stubborn, I just didn't want to play along with Macy's and Hallmark anymore. Many understood, some thought I was being a creep, some probably pretended to understand and called me a creep behind my back.

But the subsequent freedom has been wonderful and I have never regretted the decision. I no longer have to worry what to get people, rush around town looking for something I'm not sure they'll like anyway, pretend to be excited about a gift that I do not wish to own, or end up with a yard sale's worth of gewgaws to dispose of every spring. I'm sure the gifts I was giving others were just as likely to find their way to the sidewalk, so I've saved many other folks the same pointless worry and expense.

My mother-in-law is the only person who still gives me gifts regularly. Happily, she has terrific taste and gives me cool and unusual things that I really like. My wife didn't become the unusual person she is entirely by accident, of course.

Monkey Covers

Sunday is Monkey Covers day here at YACB. Because there's nothing better than a comic with a monkey on the cover!

Chimps, monkeys and apes with guns? They must be guerillas! It's Brahm Revel's cover to Guerillas #2 (2008).

(Standard disclaimer that not all gun-toting primates are monkeys applies.)


Image courtesy of the GCD. Click on the image for a larger version.

Two Cats

Bizarro is brought to you today by TerrifyingCostumes.com

Here's a dandy little cartoon about the Grim Reaper as a cat. It was inspired by the myriad critters my cats bring inside the house to torture to death over the course of the day.

In a very real sense, some people get the cat version of the reaper, dying slowly over time. Others are more fortunate to get the king cobra variety – one bite, dead soon. Personally, I'd prefer to die quietly in my sleep. The "Pillow Reaper"?

While I was away in Californy this week I missed a few postings, so here are two to catch up a bit. The one above is mine, the one below is an idea from my kooky friend Derek, who haunts this blog like the specter of an ancient Scottish king in a drafty castle. BizarroBlog commentators are well familiar with Derek's stream-of-consciousness postings and the challenges they present to readers.

This one of his is an odd idea that just hit me the right way. It is simple, obvious, dry, almost predictable, but those qualities are precisely what I like about it. Some days, simple goofiness rings my bell.

Friday Night Fights: Marion Ravenwood vs. Indiana Jones

From Marvel Super Special #18 (1981). Art by John Buscema & Klaus Janson. Script by Walt Simonson, from the screenplay by Lawrence Kasdan, from the story by George Lucas & Philip Kaufman. (click pic for larger)

Ka-Pow!? Krak!