Cookie Killer and a Comedy Show

(Make the picture bigger by clicking on Cookie Monster's left eye.)

Bizarro is brought to you today by Illegal Immigration.

This is a collaborative cartoon I worked on with my mysterious friend, Richard Cabeza. His original idea was something about a gingerbread man being threatened by Cookie Monster, I developed a scenario and picture for the concept. Turned out nice, I think.

I want to remind regular readers and alert occasional readers that my comedy show is doing a week-long run in NYC soon and I want you all to come. If you can't make it, send someone you know in New York to the show. Without an audience, there is no comedy. With an audience, sides will be split, tears will be shed, lifetimes of memories will be forged. Tickets here.



















(Make the poster big enough to read by clicking the head of Che Guevara)

If anyone knows how to send this poster or an invitation out to all my friends on Facebook without entering the addresses individually, let me know. I can't figure it out.

You're the unicorn in my rainbow,
d

FCBM5 Day 31

It's the final day of the Fifth Annual YACB Free Comic Book Month!

Our final entry is from Steve Myers. The five comics that Steve listed are:

1. Captain America
2. Usagi Yojimbo
3. Incredible Hercules
4. GI Joe: Cobra
5. Agents of Atlas

And his other thing of interest is Spy Shows on tv.

For Steve I have all four issues of the first Middleman mini-series by Javier Grillo-Marxuach & Les McClaine.

For Steve's bonus comic, I'm sending him the Peanuts Halloween comic.

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


That wraps it up for this year's Free Comic Book Month. Thanks to everyone who entered!


Current FCBM Statistics:
31 entries
76 free comics sent so far
0 days remaining -- we're done!

Krakatoa Komedy

Bizarro is brought to you today by Comedy Club Groupies.

Last week, at the National Cartoonists Society's annual convention (weekend of drinking and goofing off), I met Johnny Hart's grandson, Mason, who now works on B.C. since his grandfather's passing in 2007. He's a great kid (I call anyone under 30 a "kid" now) and I wish him lots of success.

He's got big shoes to fill as Johnny was one of the best and most consistent gag writers in the business, as well as being a terrific artist. According to those of my colleagues who "knew him when," he was also quite the party animal and tons of fun to hang out with. By the time I met him he had already undergone his infamous conversion to Christian fundamentalism and was pretty quiet and unassuming. Maybe the booze gave him his personality, I didn't know him well enough to say. I'm sure he was still a great guy, just not a party animal. Still, one can't resist being amused by the irony of a cartoon called, in effect, "Before Christ," having so many strips each year dedicated to Christian biblical messages. In spite of this and his controversial political opinions, he was and still is revered as one of the greats of newspaper cartooning.

I never met the guy who created Fred Flintstone, but I hear he is now in Geico commercials.

FCBM5 Day 30

It's day thirty of the Fifth Annual YACB Free Comic Book Month!

Our next selected entry is from Paul Abbamondi. The five comics that Paul listed are:

1. Scott Pilgrim
2. Dork Tower
3. Bone
4. Watchmen
5. Uncanny X-Men

And his other thing of interest is the tv series Lost.

For Paul I have X-Men: First Class #13-14 by Jeff Parker & Roger Cruz (with back-up art by Colleen Coover!)

For Paul's bonus comic, I'm sending him the Donald Duck Halloween comic.

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


Current FCBM Statistics:
31 entries
71 free comics sent so far
1 day remaining

For Whom the Bell Tolls

Bizarro is brought to you today by Poolside Parking.

Before I contracted Howard Hughes Syndrome and became a hermit, I used to go to a lot of comedy shows and small theater events in NYC. I saw some amazingly strange stage acts, some good, most terrible, but a few tremendously memorable.

One favorite along these lines is the Trachtenburg Family Slideshow Players, a married couple and their young daughter who show slides they've collected from garage and estate sales while playing songs they've written about them. The kid plays the drums and sings while the dad sings, plays guitar or piano, and the mom operates the slide projector. They are not to be missed if you ever have the chance.

Another highlight is Corn Mo, a guy who plays accordian and other various keyboards and sings odd songs. His demeanor is outrageously sincere for a guy in an old tux with an accordian, like Jimi Hendrix with a squeeze box. Don't miss a chance to see him, either, he really rocks.

CHNW and I used to regularly go to various variety shows and comedy showcases with these kinds of acts and we also got to see a few of the SNL stars as they were coming up. We saw Fred Armisen do a hilarious sketch about self-defense back in '02 or '03 and chatted him up after. We sort of became friends (that is to say that we still chat when we run into each other and he knows my cartoon), before we knew he would be a famous comedy genius on TV. I love that about NYC. (We also saw an early stand-up routine by Tracy Morgan but it was standard stand-up, nothing in the category of the bell-ringer above.)

There are plenty of strange musical and comedy acts like this around NYC and that's why this cartoon appealed to me. The idea was sent by my friend, Derek Malo, and is, in my opinion, one of his better efforts. Because I use ideas by other people on occasion, one commentator on this blog accused Bizarro of becoming like Pluggers, which is a syndicated feature that uses suggestions from readers every day and prints their name and location in a box in the cartoon. The difference between what I do and Pluggers, I think, is that the jokes I choose by other people are actually good. I imagine that readers want a good cartoon, regardless of who wrote it, as opposed to a cartoon by me, whether it is any good or not. Maybe my ego just isn't lopsided enough.

Amazon Top 50

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

1 (-). Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Last Straw
2 (-). Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules
3 (-). Diary of a Wimpy Kid
4 (-). Watchmen
5 (-). Time of Your Life (Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Season 8, Vol. 4)
6 (N). The Photographer: Into war-torn Afghanistan with Doctors Without Borders
7 (-1). Star Trek: Countdown TPB
8 (-1). The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Vol. 3: Century, No. 1: 1910
9 (-). Mercy Thompson Homecoming *
10 (+22). Maus I: A Survivor's Tale: My Father Bleeds History
11 (+1). Serenity, Vol. 2: Better Days
12 (-2). Stephen King's Dark Tower: Treachery
13 (N). Warriors: Tigerstar and Sasha #3: Return to the Clans *
14 (N). Final Crisis *
15 (N). Rising Stars Compendium
16 (+4). The Long Way Home (Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Season 8, Vol. 1)
17 (-4). Batman: The Killing Joke
18 (-4). V for Vendetta
19 (+10). Y: The Last Man, Vol. 2 (Deluxe Edition)
20 (N). Bleach, Vol. 27 *
21 (-10). Batman: The Dark Knight Returns
22 (N). Alan's War: The Memories of G.I. Alan Cope
23 (+1). Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood
24 (-9). Wolves at the Gate (Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Eight, Volume 3)
25 (-9). Bone: One Volume Edition
26 (+5). No Future For You (Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Eight, Volume 2)
27 (+18). Angel: After The Fall Volume 1
28 (+19). The Joker
29 (-4). Blueberry Girl
30 (N). Thor, Vol. 2 *
31 (N). Angel: After the Fall, Vol. 3
32 (N). Rosario+Vampire, Volume 7 *
33 (-12). The Complete Calvin and Hobbes
34 (N). Maus II: A Survivor's Tale: And Here My Troubles Began
35 (N). The Gunslinger Born (The Dark Tower Graphic Novels, Book 1)
36 (N). Fables Vol. 1: Legends in Exile
37 (N). Batman: Mad Love and Other Stories HC
38 (N). The Adventures of Tintin: Tintin in America / Cigars of the Pharaoh / The Blue Lotus
39 (-16). Negima!: Magister Negi Magi, Vol. 22
40 (+1). The Complete Persepolis
41 (N). The Walking Dead, Vol. 9: Here We Remain
42 (-24). Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art
43 (N). The Marvel Encyclopedia
44 (-8). The Arrival
45 (N). Dark Tower: The Long Road Home (Exclusive Amazon.com Cover)
46 (N). Fables Vol. 2: Animal Farm
47 (+1). Bone Volume 4: The Dragonslayer
48 (-20). The Sandman Vol. 1: Preludes and Nocturnes
49 (N). The Dresden Files: Welcome to the Jungle
50 (N). The Complete Peanuts 1971-1974 Box Set *


* The Photographer: Into war-torn Afghanistan with Doctors Without Borders was featured in the New York Times Book Review, and thus dutifully leaps up into the top 10.

* Another debut, Alan's War: The Memories of G.I. Alan Cope, earlier in the week was way up in the top 5, but I cannot figure out why it had such a strong burst.

* I likewise have no clue as to why the Rising Stars Compendium suddenly charts up.

* The Walking Dead Compendium, which had been a top 10 item the past two weeks, mysteriously falls out of the Top 50 this week.

* The pre-order for the Final Crisis hardcover debuts strong, as does the third volume of Warriors.

FCBM5 Day 29

It's day twenty-nine of the Fifth Annual YACB Free Comic Book Month!

Our next selected entry is from Suzanne Moran. The five comics that Suzanne listed are:

1. Secret Six
2. Green Arrow/Black Canary
3. Fables
4. Birds of Prey
5. Wonder Woman

And her other thing of interest is the tv series 30 Rock.

For Suzanne I have the twelfth issue of Global Frequency by Warren Ellis & Gene Ha.

For Suzanne's bonus comic, I'm sending her the Peanuts Halloween comic.

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

There's just a couple of days left to send in your entry for the YACB Free Comic Book Month; details are here.

Current FCBM Statistics:
31 entries
68 free comics sent so far
2 days remaining