Happy Trails

Bizarro is brought to you today by High Class Motors.

I got lots of emails about this one. A few were from people who liked it because they'd had various types of personal experiences with babies on motorcycles (!) and the rest were from so-called "airheads," people who are fans of the BMW air-cooled "slash-5" series motorcycles from the early 1970s.

The bike in the pic is fashioned after mine, although mine is white, and many readers familiar with this era of BMW bikes recognized it and wrote to ask if I am an airhead. It was nice to meet so many other airheads around the country, thanks for checking in. Once the weather turns nice here in the northeast, how about we all meet for a weekend ride?

Thanks also to all of you who wrote to me with suggestions of where I should move to escape the NY winters. All were good suggestions, and I adding them to my research list. I suspect that eventually I shall end up in California somewhere, probably more southern than northern if only because of the weather, but you never know.

One thing that surprised me was how many people suggested Austin, Texas. It's a great town and I love it but I always sort of thought that it was because I used to live in Texas. It is nice to see that it ranked so highly among people nationwide, right alongside the SF Bay Area and southern California in general. Way to go, Austin!

Portland, Seattle, Vancouver, Victoria, B.C. are all great and I'm very fond of it up there, but it rains too much. I've definitely got that light deprivation thing where if I don't get a LOT of sunshine, I begin invading neighboring countries and impaling people on tall sticks. Just bought one of those light-therapy-box-things and I hope it works.

Here's wishing you sunshine and unicorn until we meet again...

Monkey Covers

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

It's Grendel vs. Gorilla on Matt Wagner's cover to Grendel: War Child #5 (1999).

(Standard disclaimer about fighting gorillas not really being monkeys applies.)


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

Shell X Games

Bizarro is brought to you today by Bag of Death.

The idea of snails attempting to jump pretzels was suggested by my good friend, Dick Cabeza. I loved the idea and am really happy with the way the illustration turned out. I like to draw abstracted, cartoony images, but for some reason this sort of idea is more appealing to me as a realistic drawing. It adds to the surreal quality.

Brooklyn warmed up yesterday and I took "the Beast" out for a spin for the first time in months. So rejuvinating. At times like these I wish I lived in one of those year-round-nice-weather climates that you hear about. The problem is, those places are understandably very expensive and often full of rich people who tend to skew conservative. Does anyone know of a terrific warm weather community of liberals and artsy types? Could be a big city or a small town, would prefer the U.S but it's not a deal breaker. Here in America, those kinds of communities tend to be in the north for some reason. Hawaii seems like a good option, but it's so isolated from the rest of the world and live events come on TV so early there.

Dr. Prevaricator

Bizarro is brought to you today by a Visit to the Doctor.

Regular readers will remember that two days ago I claimed it was my birthday and that I was off to the doctor for my yearly checkup. Both things happened, here is the update:

1. Because of my birthday claim, a handful of you donated funds to my paypal account and received a personal email of thanks from me. I am touched. My heart is weeping. I feel goo in my shoes. Honestly, you are too kind and I assure you that the money will not be spent on booze, courtesans, cheap cigars or flashy clothing. Nor will I spend it on unnecessary items. (ba da boom)

2.Doctor visit was fine. He looked at, around, over, and in me and found nothing alarming. He also borrowed some bodily fluids for further testing (I told him he could keep them, no need to give them back) and told me to call next week for results. I'll let you know if any particularly dark news comes my way, but I'm not expecting any, as I have no symptoms.

Except for my gushing eyes, which continue to weep from the kindness shown by those of you who hit the "donate" button at right. Garsh, I'm beside myself.

Amazon Top 50

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

1 (-). Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days
2 (+1). Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Last Straw
3 (-1). The Book of Genesis Illustrated by R. Crumb
4 (+3). Watchmen
5 (-1). Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules
6 (-1). Diary of a Wimpy Kid
7 (-1). Maus I: A Survivor's Tale: My Father Bleeds History
8 (-). Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood
9 (-). The Complete Persepolis
10 (+3). Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art
11 (+5). Maus II: A Survivor's Tale: And Here My Troubles Began
12 (-). Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic
13 (+1). Batman: The Dark Knight Returns
14 (+9). American Born Chinese
15 (-4). Logicomix: An Epic Search for Truth
16 (-4). Footnotes in Gaza: A Graphic Novel
17 (+12). The Complete Maus: A Survivor's Tale
18 (+16). Stitches: A Memoir
19 (-2). V for Vendetta
20 (-5). Asterios Polyp
21 (+1). The Complete Calvin and Hobbes
22 (+4). The Zombie Survival Guide: Recorded Attacks
23 (+18). The Arrival
24 (-7). The Walking Dead Volume 11: Fear The Hunters
25 (N). Unwritten Vol. 1: Tommy Taylor and the Bogus Identity
26 (+14). Blankets
27 (-3). Predators and Prey (Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Eight, Vol. 5)
28 (R). Batman: The Killing Joke
29 (N). Dark Tower: The Fall of Gilead *
30 (-11). Dilbert: 2010 Wall Calendar
31 (-). Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Eight Volume 6: Retreat *
32 (-2). Simon's Cat
33 (R). Batman: Year One
34 (+15). The Long Way Home (Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Season 8, Vol. 1)
35 (-7). Scott Pilgrim, Vol. 1: Scott Pilgrim's Precious Little Life
36 (-). Stephen King's The Stand Vol. 2: American Nightmares
37 (N). Cover Run: The DC Comics Art of Adam Hughes
38 (N). Fullmetal Alchemist Volume 22
39 (R). Batman: Arkham Asylum (15th Anniversary Edition)
40 (+5). No Future For You (Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Eight, Volume 2)
41 (R). Y: The Last Man, Vol. 1: Unmanned
42 (-). Marvel Encyclopedia
43 (R). Wolves at the Gate (Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Eight, Volume 3)
44 (N). The Walking Dead Book 5
45 (-35). Dilbert: 2010 Day-to-Day Calendar
46 (-2). The Complete Peanuts 1971-1974 (Box Set) (Vol. 11-12)
47 (N). Palestine
48 (R). Green Lantern: Agent Orange
49 (-3). The Walking Dead Compendium Volume 1
50 (N). Babymouse #12: Burns Rubber



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:

* The University Effect is still strong, with graphic novels favored by college courses still hanging out near the top of the list.

* There are a lot of new titles this week, led by the first collection of Mike Carey & Peter Gross's Unwritten at #25. This is the first time since I've been keeping track that Palestine has made the top 50, and also the first appearance of one of the Babymouse volumes (squeaking in at #50).

* Looks like I'm going to stick with Fridays for compiling these lists, so just treat last week as a slight aberation.

* Yes, I'm still going to post an epic Amazon Best sellers of 2009 follow-up; I hope to work on it some this weekend...

Dog Day

Bizarro is brought to you today by Navin's Cake.

I haven't had a birthday in a while, so let's say today is my birthday. Please donate lots of money to me with the PayPal donation button on the right. I'm only a little bit famous and not rich at all, so I could really use it. Go for it. If everyone who reads this blog donates just $5, I'll have over $40 to spend on something nice for myself!

I normally post a contest on Thursdays, but I'm not going to be able to today because I have to pay a relative stranger to put his finger in my butt. Yes, it's time for my yearly checkup. To find out what I'm going to die of and how soon, check this blog tomorrow.

You're dandy and deep down inside, you know it.

Cartoon Scholarship

This is a real good deal for college students who want to be cartoonists. The National Cartoonists Society gives out a scholarship each year and you get to come to our annual convention and meet all the famous guys and stuff.

Click on the image for a closer view.