The New West

Bizarro is brought to you today by Safety.

For those readers who have not visited a state in which it is legal to carry concealed weapons, this is a sign that you see with some regularity. It is alarming to people like me, who are not used to seeing this kind of thing.

CHNW (my Crazy Half-Nekked Wife) was visiting family in South Dakota recently and we were chatting via cell phone one day while she was out shopping. She read a sign like this one to me as she was entering a store and I offhandedly asked if there was a pile of guns next to the door. Hence, the cartoon.

I don't usually get cartoon ideas from real life situations since most of my cartoons are more surreal than reality. But in this case, not much exaggeration is needed to make this surreal. If I lived in a community in which a lot of people were toting guns, I'd likely be tempted to get a gun to protect myself from all the guns. Seems like a slippery slope.

Without getting too political, if you look around the world at countries where guns are plentiful and unregulated, it is hard to find one you'd even want to visit, much less live in.

Amazon Top 50

Here are the Top 50 Graphic Novels on Amazon this afternoon. All the previous caveats apply.


1 (-). Twilight: The Graphic Novel, Volume 1 *
2 (-). Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days
3 (-). Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Last Straw
4 (+6). Fables Vol. 13: The Great Fables Crossover
5 (-1). Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules
6 (-1). Diary of a Wimpy Kid
7 (-1). The Book of Genesis Illustrated by R. Crumb
8 (-). Dark Tower: The Fall of Gilead
9 (-2). The Walking Dead Volume 11: Fear The Hunters
10 (N). The Splendid Magic of Penny Arcade: The 11 1/2 Anniversary Edition *
11 (-1). Watchmen
12 (+4). Batman: The Dark Knight Returns
13 (-2). The Complete Calvin and Hobbes
14 (-1). Maus I: A Survivor's Tale: My Father Bleeds History
15 (N). Kick-Ass *
16 (+13). Batman: Arkham Asylum (15th Anniversary Edition)
17 (+10). Batman: The Killing Joke
18 (-1). Logicomix: An Epic Search for Truth
19 (N). Star Wars: Legacy Volume 8 - Tatooine *
20 (+6). Maus II: A Survivor's Tale: And Here My Troubles Began
21 (-2). V for Vendetta
22 (+3). Asterios Polyp
23 (-14). Naruto, Vol. 47
24 (+10). Batman: Year One
25 (+12). Marvel Encyclopedia
26 (-2). Predators and Prey (Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Eight, Vol. 5)
27 (R). Footnotes in Gaza: A Graphic Novel
28 (-14). The Complete Persepolis
29 (R). Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art
30 (-6). Seekers: Toklo's Story
31 (+5). Stitches: A Memoir
32 (+6). Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic Volume 8 - Destroyer
33 (+8). Serenity, Vol. 2: Better Days
34 (R). Wolverine: Old Man Logan
35 (-5). Vampire Knight, Vol. 9
36 (+12). Black Bird, Vol. 3
37 (R). The Sandman Vol. 3: Dream Country
38 (+2). Tales from the Crypt #8: Diary of a Stinky Dead Kid
39 (-18). Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Eight Volume 6: Retreat *
40 (-5). The Zombie Survival Guide: Recorded Attacks
41 (-26). Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood
42 (R). The Sandman Vol. 4: Season of Mists
43 (+4). The Arrival
44 (-22). Thor, Vol. 3 *
45 (R). Serenity, Vol. 1: Those Left Behind
46 (R). Fables Vol. 12: The Dark Ages
47 (R). The Walking Dead, Vol. 10: What We Become
48 (-15). Bone: The Complete Cartoon Epic in One Volume
49 (-18). Y: The Last Man, Vol. 1: Unmanned
50 (R). Wolves at the Gate (Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Eight, Volume 3)



Items with asterisks (*) are pre-order items.

N = New listing appearing on list for first time
R = Item returning to the list after having been off for 1 or more weeks


Commentary:

* Twilight: The Graphic Novel stays pretty steady, at #53 on the overall chart and on top of the comics chart. We're still a month away from its release though, so expect it to rise up on the overall chart once it actually comes art.

* I'm quite surprised to see The Great Fables Crossover rise all the way to #4. It appears that Fables continues to add readers and each successive collection seems to do better than the last.

* Also debuting high are The Splendid Magic of Penny Arcade and the Kick-Ass collection. No doubt the interest in Kick-Ass is due to the upcoming movie; the question is will interest remain in the comic after the movie is released? It's probably good news for comic sales that the movie's release date has been pushed back...

Contest #18 Winners

Our winners this week are:
1. Phillip Crow
2. monsterzero
3. Randy

Congrats to them and many thanks to all of you who played. Even if you don't win, it's SO MUCH FUN, RIGHT?

Another cartoon puzzler contest thingy next Thursday and daily posts of various types of shenanigans most days until then.

Winning answers:

Contest #18!!!!!

RULES, ETC:
As usual, two images are posted below, one is the original cartoon, the warped image beneath it has been changed in 15 ways. Your mission, if you are the disco royalty that I think you are, is to find those differences.

1. There are 15 differences between the two cartoons.
2. NONE of the differences have to do with the warped nature of the second image.
3. ALL of the differences are something missing, added, or moved, not just "bent" from the distortion. The differences will not be too subtle, so once you spot one you should be relatively certain you've found it. (As opposed to something like, "Is the hat on this one is a shade lighter than the other one? Hmmm.")
4. FIRST PERSON to correctly list the 15 differences in the comments section of the post wins 4 packs of Bizarro Trading Cards, mailed by me personally from Bizarro International Headquarters in Brooklyn. I'll even lick the stamp, unless it's self adhesive. SECOND AND THIRD persons with correct answers will each get 2 packs of Bizarro Trading Cards!
5. Put your email address on your comment so I can contact you if you win. I won't post it or keep it or file it or sell it or mount a Broadway musical about it.
6. If you live outside the U.S., I may not be able to send you a prize. Depends. Canada is probably fine, Saudia Arabia, probably not.

Click on the image below to ENLARGE and PLAY!

Cracker Divorce

Spread the word far and wide,
oh ye of puzzling inclinations,
for upon the dusk of this
dayeth shalt appear the
Bizarro Puzzler Game Brain-Teaser Search-n-Find Contest Thing
which hath doth beenth prophesied.

Boy, donkeys talk funny.




Now to the regular post of the day...






Bizarro is brought to you today by Soft Sexy Mouths.

This cartoon makes me laugh. I hope that you, too, have noticed a tightening of the cheek muscles and a cool wind on your teeth.

Until this evening, remember that I love you, darling reader, and that my lust for your crackers is real.

Bunny Hijinks

Bizarro is brought to you today by Unexplained Phenomenon.

Here's a cartoon that was meant to be a simple bit of wordplay. I threw a bunny with a stick of dynamite onto the computer screen because these are images I toss into my cartoons daily. About this, I did not think twice. Then came the emails.

A notable number of readers thought that the combination of religious names in the word balloon and an explosive device on the computer screen was some sort of statement about terrorism. Or maybe it was just the threatening image of a bunny. While I can see their point, it certainly never crossed my mind until I started getting the emails.

This kind of thing happens all the time. For this reason, long ago I stopped using the dynamite in any cartoon having to do with airline travel. I probably should have foreseen this interpretation, too, but I didn't. As they say here in Brooklyn, whaddyagonnado?

Speaking of headquarters, we're currently in the midst of our first big snowstorm of the season. It won't be anything like the dumping-on of the Washington D.C. area, but it's piling up. Here is a pic from my studio window.

Shameless Friend Promotion

Pal Jim Ottaviani, author of T-Minus, is interviewed by Tim O'Shea over at Robot 6.