Talk to the Tongue

Today's Bizarro is brought to you by Highland Park Cloning Institute.

After yesterday's contentious religious post, this seems a good mindless followup cartoon. This could have been funnier if it had been in reference to the porn industry, but newspapers don't allow that sort of topic on the funny pages, so here we are. I still like the gag, though.

I was once hired to do some art for a California winery and part of that gig was hanging out for a weekend in Napa with serious wine fans (I feel like there's a name for them other than "gourmet"–"wino" doesn't seem quite right, "wine nerd" is too derrogatory), vintners, tasters, those sorts. I wasn't that into wine at the time, so it was an alternately interesting and boring weekend, but there were moments when I was tempted to burst out laughing inappropriately like a kid in church.

My fondest memory is of a large, stately room fashioned after a European castle, with a huge, carved oak table in the middle of the room, an enormous ornate mirror, big Renaissance-style paintings, probably a suit of armor. Our group of about 20 were seated around the table and given various glasses of wine to taste. Since it was midday and we weren't supposed to get drunk, we were also given spit glasses. As the tasting began, the room fell silent and all one could hear for the next 20 minutes was the sound of spitting. As I looked around the room and saw well-dressed white folks in such a pompous setting swishing and splurching, staying focused was challenging.

I wish I'd thought to bring a colossal prosthetic tongue with me. Might have lightened up the occasion, albeit in a Homer Simpson sort of way.

A Brief (and Incomplete) History of DC Price Increases

I originally wrote this as a comment over on a post by Johanna at Comics Worth Reading. Seeing as it's fairly substantial (and we're somewhat lacking in actual content at YACB lately) I figured it was worth posting here:

Most people remember the DC explosion/implosion (or at least have heard about it from us old-timers). The explosion was when they raised their prices from 35¢ to 50¢ and increased the story page count from 17 to 25 (and as previously noted, also added a bunch of titles). As we all know it bombed (for all sorts of reasons) and DC soon dropped the story page count back down to 17 and dropped the price to 40¢. So comics still cost more, you just didn’t get anything for the extra cost.

What many people forget is that just a few years later, DC once again raised their prices to 50¢ and added 8 more story pages (again, mostly through back-up stories, but within a few years the extra pages ended up become part of the main story); this time the increase worked and the price & page count stuck.

Later when they increased to 60¢, the story page count was increased to 27 pages!

Back in the day, an increase in price nearly always was accompanied by an increased in perceived value: either more pages, better quality paper, fewer ads, etc. Then as time went on, that value would be whittled away, until the next price increase and the cycle continued.

I see adding more pages with an accompanying price increase from $3 to $4 as being more tenable than Marvel’s “we’ll increase our prices to $4 on our top titles and you’ll smile and like it” approach. But then I’m probably sadly wrong…

Dubious Reunions

Bizarro is brought to you today by the Miracle Messiah Tree of Jacksonville, Florida.

When I was a tiny, oppressed, terrified Catholic School boy I began wondering about the afterlife and its myriad possibilities. Like most children of religious families, my own indoctrination was confusing: on the the one hand we were told that only our "soul" goes to heaven and our earthly body returns to dust, but all of the drawings we were asked to color in Sunday School, paintings in the Vatican, and stained glass windows in the church had people who looked like they did in life.

Then there is Hell, where everyone is all tortured and burning for eternity while their skin melts and peels and falls off, only to melt and peel and fall off again every second of every day for eternity. The burning and melting isn't enough pain for someone raised in the wrong culture (non-Christian), of course, so hideous creatures jab them with pointy sticks, too. What good would any of that deliciously sadistic torment be if you didn't have your body? Ever try to set a soul on fire and poke it with a stick? Good luck.

And if you do spend eternity with your body, wouldn't it be better to die young? Who wants to be bald, fat, tired and achy for eternity? I'd much rather have the body I had at 25. Listening to my grandparents complain about their health in their golden years led me and a handful of my more philosophical schoolmates to form a suicide cult in the second grade. We would have pulled it off, too, until one of us with a big brother told us how cool pubic hair was and we all decided to wait until at least then.

If, however, we are without our bodies and are pure "soul," how will we recognize each other? When people have the fabled "near death experience" that is becoming so popular these days, they always report having seen their dead relatives. (Which would be enough to scare me back to life, too.) Are these avatars that the "souls" have conjured up so you'll recognize them, or is Nana stuck with that deflated parade-balloon body and thin hair that she had when she died? Doesn't sound like there is much bliss in her eternity. I'm sure she'd much rather be the babe that attracted Gramps when he returned from WWII.

The nicest thing about this game is that you can change the rules as you go, make it whatever you want. It is comforting to believe you're going to a better place when you die and there are as of yet no images or reports from the other side, so make it what you want it to be.

Personally, I'm hoping for oblivion, the same experience I had before I was born. I get bored easily and can't imagine doing anything for eternity. As Mark Twain supposedly said when asked how he could face eternity as an atheist, "I was dead for billions of years before I was born and it didn't inconvenience me in the least."

Veggy Thugs

(Internets expert hint of the day: You can enlargify this drawing by clickinating it!)

Bizarro is brought to you today by Suggestion for What to Get Me for My Birthday.

My apologies to regular readers of this blog for missing the last couple of days. I've been as busy as Rush Limbaugh at an all-you-eat Jackass Buffet.

I like this cartoon a lot and I thought of it all by myself. I was watching a video of Mr. Pumpkinhead incarnate jumping up and down at the '09 CPAC convention and it came to me in a blinding flash. It also marks the first time in Bizarro's 25 year history (to the best of my recollection) that I have used the word "renege," in a cartoon. I also always enjoy drawing lighting effects like the cliche single-bulb-interrogation-in-a-dark-basement scheme. So all in all, it was a fun cartoon to draw and I still like it weeks later.

I have hopes that you, too, will find it amusing. Thanks for reading, you're very sweet.

P.S. Here's the header panel that went with it. It was created from a photo of myself at about 1 year of age, which I have used numerous times in different ways for other header panels. My apologies to my mother.

Amazon Top 50

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


1 (-). Watchmen
2 (-). Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Last Straw
3 (-). Diary of a Wimpy Kid
4 (-). Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules
5 (+1). V for Vendetta
6 (-1). Batman: The Dark Knight Returns
7 (+9). Star Trek: Countdown TPB *
8 (-). Batman: The Killing Joke
9 (N). Dark Tower: Treachery *
10 (-3). Watchmen (Absolute Edition)
11 (-2). Blueberry Girl
12 (N). Mercy Thompson Homecoming *
13 (+10). Maus I: A Survivor's Tale: My Father Bleeds History
14 (N). Naruto, Volume 42 *
15 (N). Naruto, Volume 43 *
16 (-4). Angel: After the Fall, Vol. 3
17 (-2). Batman: R.I.P.
18 (-8). Fruits Basket, Vol. 22
19 (+3). The Sandman Vol. 1: Preludes and Nocturnes
20 (N). Naruto, Volume 44 *
21 (+8). Serenity, Vol. 2: Better Days
22 (-8). The Joker
23 (+4). All Star Superman, Vol. 2
24 (-11). The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Vol. 1
25 (N). Negima! Magister Negi Magi, Vol. 21
26 (-15). Batman: Year One
27 (-6). The Complete Peanuts 1971-1972 *
28 (-11). Watchmen (hardcover)
29 (-10). Batman: Arkham Asylum (15th Anniversary Edition)
30 (N). Dark Tower: The Long Road Home (Exclusive Amazon.com Cover)
31 (N). The Official Overstreet Comic Book Price Guide, 39th Edition *
32 (+15). Unmanned (Y: The Last Man, Vol. 1)
33 (+13). Bone: One Volume Edition
34 (-14). Wolves at the Gate (Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Eight, Volume 3)
35 (-11). From Hell
36 (+5). Maus II: A Survivor's Tale: And Here My Troubles Began
37 (+5). Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art
38 (-12). No Future For You (Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Eight, Volume 2)
39 (N). Wanted
40 (-22). Time of Your Life (Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Season 8, Vol. 4) *
41 (-10). The Walking Dead, Vol. 9: Here We Remain
42 (-9). Spike: After The Fall HC
43 (N). xxxHOLiC, Vol. 13
44 (+5). The Sandman Vol. 2: The Doll's House
45 (N). Crown Of Horns (Bone)
46 (-11). The Perry Bible Fellowship Almanack
47 (-10). The Long Way Home (Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Season 8, Vol. 1)
48 (-5). The Complete Persepolis
49 (-24). Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood
50 (-5). Serenity, Vol. 1: Those Left Behind


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


Commentary:

* Watchmen still sits atop the Comics bestseller list, though it has slid to #13 on the overall list. The 'halo effect' also wanes, as much of the titles associated with the supposed halo also take a fall.

* After an off week last week, manga makes a resurgence. New pre-order listings for 3 more volumes of Naruto certainly helps, but we surprisingly also get volumes of Negima! and xxxHOLiC showing up on the list for the first time.

* The highest debut belongs to the pre-order for the new Dark Tower hardcover, and it brings the previous collection along for the ride. Unfortunately for Marvel these are the only volumes they have on the list, which pretty much assures that Marvel will keep making Dark Tower comics no matter how far they may slide in the sales of individual issues.

* After a brief surge up last week, comics in the Whedonverse slide back down to typical levels this week.

* And Jeff Kinney? It's like he's got a freakin' money machine; sales on Diary of a Wimpy Kid volumes are as rock-solid as ever.

Marsupial Interpretations

Today's Bizarro is brought to you by Steroids.

I've never reached into a kangaroo's pouch and I don't recommend it to others. In doing so without invitation, you run the risk of offending the pouch's owner, thus inclining her to use her formidable legs or tail to remove your appendage from her hidey hole. I feel certain that the youngster in this amusing sketch escaped with nothing short of a dislocated shoulder.

Still, who can blame the child? She is an average, curious lass of the 21st century First World and as such, has not seen a slot such as this in anything other than a hand puppet. She only wanted to make the funny puppet dance.

But perhaps we are missing the point. It could be that the young lady is, in fact, manipulating a giant puppet and using her ventriloquistic acumen to make it appear to ask her to stop. This is a sophisticated child indeed, with an impressively eccentric sense of humor.

Or perhaps the child only perceived this scene while visiting a petting zoo after sampling wild mushrooms in the park. Who among us can say we have not thrust our arm into places it did not belong under similar circumstances?

Curmudgeon Cartoonist

Bizarro is brought to you by Classic Messiah Pranks.

I think I've ranted about GPSs on this blog before, so I'll skip it today except to say that I like the GPS on my iPhone precisely because it has no voice. I find noises very distracting. With a talking GPS, I am habitually telling it to shut up.

I have a lot of bugaboos like that, mostly to do with sound. I love music, but I can't stand to hear music from a source other than my own doing. Like if I can hear a neighbor's stereo, or a car is parked outside with the radio blasting. (In Brooklyn this happens a LOT. Loud car stereos are the mating call of the local species.) Even if it is a song I like, which is virtually never because I'm really picky about the music I like (surprise), I still find it irritating and drift toward thoughts of violence or at least a water cannon.

I think I am unable to ignore sound. For instance, I cannot read in public unless it is quiet. If people around me are talking, I can't NOT hear them, no matter how riveting the book is. Even if I'm not reading, I can't stand to hear other people's conversations. It drives me nuts. I want to tell them to shut up, nobody cares where Robert went on his vacation last year and whether or not he would recommend the hotel he stayed in. In NYC this happens a lot, usually on a bus or the subway. You're right, I should probably live in a suburb or out in the country somewhere, but it's just too boring.

Car alarms make me want to learn to use explosives. People are so used to ignoring car alarms, how could they possibly thwart a theft under any circumstances? So you hear a car alarm and see a guy fumbling with a car door: you root for him to succeed and disable the alarm, or at least drive the car away.

These irritants are becoming worse lately, perhaps it is age. I prefer the term "curmudgeon," but I think I may just be an a**hole.

SPECIAL COMMENT: Thanks for all the caption submissions on yesterday's post. Many of them were funnier than the one I had originally written. Now I'm reticent to divulge it. Suffice to say that many of you have my silent respect.

Saggy Ink

Bizarro is brought to you today by an Awesome Rock Show.

Simple word play again today, seems to be the week for it. Nothing much to say about this one other than that Cliff is a friend of mine, with whom I am working on a book project. His fiance did not break up with him, however. He's happily married.

In other news, Parade Magazine continues to publish my cartoons from time to time and below is one they've featured as a caption contest. If you consider yourself a captioneer you can still enter their contest and win whatever it is they are awarding.

A lot of people really enjoy caption contests and I'd have one on this blog except that I've found two things to be true of them:
1. it is a tedious task to sift through all of the entries, many of which are uncannily identical
2. if 800 people enter, you make one person happy and piss off 799

Seems a losing proposition to me so I'll not be offering any caption contests here, but if you want to submit your idea for this cartoon in the comments section, I'll read it. I won't choose a winner and all you stand to win is my silent respect. Obscene captions will be deleted as I continue to attempt to keep this blog relatively family friendly so I can continue to list the URL in my client newspapers.

Thanks for understanding, you're a sweetheart.

After the Parade contest is over, I'll tell you my original caption for this cartoon. Which I meant to use in Bizarro and maybe did. I can't remember just now and can't find my archives. If I didn't use it, I will later this year. The joke was inspired by CHNW's grandmother, who has numerous tattoos, most of which she got after the age of 60.

Victoria's Puck

Bizarro is made possible today by Eternal Honeymoon Lingerie.

Yes, this joke is a bit adolescent, but at least I didn't use a basketball. I do have some restraint. Nor did I use a baseball, which, come to think of it, might have been funnier. A golf ball would have been too small to read legibly, as would a hockey puck, which is not "cup shaped" even when cut in half. If her husband were hooked on watching sumo wrestling, I'd have no idea how to illustrate a sports bra for that.

Still, lots of people like visual puns, that's how Carrot Top got rich, and I like to cater to my entire readership, not just the sophisticated humor connoisseurs who frequent this blog.

Monkey Covers

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

Bob should know better than to play cards with a gorilla on the cover of The Adventures of Bob Hope #33 (1955).

(Standard disclaimer about poker-playing gorillas not really being monkeys applies.)


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

Detective M. Richard Tracy

Bizarro is brang to you today by Gooder Grammar.

This kind of simple word play where you combine the names of two things and create a third thing is very common, I know. Maybe there's even a name for this process, if anyone knows of one, please leave it in the comments section. Or make one up.

What made this one appealing to me was the deadpan humor of a whale with a two-way wrist TV that he can't possibly see from his vantage point. Plus the tiny hat. I also like to render underwater scenes, so all that added together made for a green light.

As I look at this thing this morning, I can't find the 5 symbols that the number by the signature says there are supposed to be. I only found four. So here's another version with one added. If someone finds all five in the original, let me know.

Non-Gay Rainbow Rankings

Bizarro is brought to you today by Hideous Monsters.

The most funnest part of this comic was the drawing. Even though drawings like this are tedious and time consuming, both to research and to draw, I always really enjoy the final product. (For you technique buffs, I should mention that the entire drawing is done with a small brush, even the lettering, and I use no straightedge of any kind.)

I like this gag and its soft parody of the stupendously transparent propaganda tool of the Bushies. As any scientist will tell you, a human's ability to reason is seriously compromised by fear. Ergo, if you keep the people frightened, it takes them longer to figure out you're screwing them. It's an age-old political trick but still works like a charm. Most recently, it worked on Americans for 8 years. Some are still trying it.

I've included the strip version of this one, too, since it required a lot of extra art and fenagling. My favorite part of the strip version is the anatomical heart on the sign in the back. What is that company selling? I have no idea what the Japanese type on all these signs says, I just borrowed stuff from signs I found on the Internets. For all I know, they could say (insert your own joke here.)
(As always, click the image to colossalize it.)

Finally, I got this email from a reader:

How dare you !?!?!

Rodan is easily a higher priority than Mothra. He's older ( released after Godzilla and before Mothra to terrorize us in our movie theaters ), leatherier and gnarleyier.

My sincere apologies to this or any other reader who was offended by my rankings. I was rating them by how often I'd heard their name. I hope that I have not offended Rodan or his followers.

DISCLAIMER: The writer of the above email was not serious, he was actually taking a self-deprecating jab at his own obsession with Japanese movie monsters. Taken out of context, though, it's much funnier. Saying the Security Alert System is a tool of propaganda does not mean I don't there is any danger of another terrorist attack, it is only to say that there isn't anything the average person or society can gain from this rainbow bogeyman thermometer. My apology to followers of Rodan was tongue-in-cheek, if you really were offended by this you need professional help, possibly medication, definitely a girlfriend.

Amazon Top 50

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


1 (-). Watchmen
2 (-). Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Last Straw
3 (-). Diary of a Wimpy Kid
4 (-). Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules
5 (-). Batman: The Dark Knight Returns
6 (+1). V for Vendetta
7 (-1). Watchmen (Absolute Edition)
8 (+1). Batman: The Killing Joke
9 (+3). Blueberry Girl
10 (+10). Fruits Basket, Vol. 22
11 (N). Batman: Year One
12 (N). Angel: After the Fall, Vol. 3 *
13 (-3). The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Vol. 1
14 (-3). The Joker
15 (-). Batman: R.I.P.
16 (+1). Star Trek: Countdown TPB *
17 (-9). Watchmen (hardcover)
18 (+9). Time of Your Life (Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Season 8, Vol. 4) *
19 (-6). Batman: Arkham Asylum (15th Anniversary Edition)
20 (+3). Wolves at the Gate (Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Eight, Volume 3)
21 (+3). The Complete Peanuts 1971-1972 *
22 (-6). The Sandman Vol. 1: Preludes and Nocturnes
23 (+3). Maus I: A Survivor's Tale: My Father Bleeds History
24 (-10). From Hell
25 (+19). Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood
26 (N). No Future For You (Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Eight, Volume 2)
27 (-8). All Star Superman, Vol. 2
28 (+8). Batman: The Long Halloween
29 (-11). Serenity, Vol. 2: Better Days
30 (N). Scott Pilgrim, Vol. 1: Scott Pilgrim's Precious Little Life
31 (-2). The Walking Dead, Vol. 9: Here We Remain
32 (-1). Scott Pilgrim Volume 5: Scott Pilgrim vs The Universe
33 (N). Spike: After The Fall HC
34 (-12). The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Vol. 2
35 (N). The Perry Bible Fellowship Almanack *
36 (+10). Eerie Archives Volume 1
37 (N). The Long Way Home (Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Eight, Vol. 1)
38 (-8). Jack of Fables Vol. 5: Turning Pages
39 (-7). The Arrival
40 (+5). The Starman Omnibus, Vol. 2
41 (N). Maus II: A Survivor's Tale: And Here My Troubles Began
42 (N). Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art
43 (N). The Complete Persepolis
44 (-16). The Vast Spread of the Seas (The Twelve Kingdoms)
45 (-11). Serenity, Vol. 1: Those Left Behind
46 (N). Bone: One Volume Edition
47 (N). Unmanned (Y: The Last Man, Vol. 1)
48 (N). The Hidden Temple (Star Wars: Legacy, Vol. 5)
49 (+1). The Sandman Vol. 2: The Doll's House
50 (-29). Watching the Watchmen: The Definitive Companion to the Ultimate Graphic Novel

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


Commentary:

* Watchmen finally starts to show slight signs of weakness; while it remains #1 on the comics charts, it slips a bit to #6 on the overall book chart. The hardcover falls nine places, and quite surprisingly Dave Gibbons' Watching the Watchmen falls 29 slots to anchor the bottom of the list at #50. We also see drops in other Alan Moore items like LXG & From Hell, although V for Vendetta is doing fine.

* A surprisingly high resurgence for Batman: Year One, which comes in at #11 after being absent form the chart previously. I wonder if this is where the Watchmen Halo is moving to?

* A strong showing this week for the Buffyverse: the third Angel After the Fall hardcover debuts way up at #12 as a pre-order; the Spike: After the Fall hardcover debuts at #33, and all the Buffy volumes show growth. On the other hand, the two volumes of Serenity both have steep drop-offs.

* In manga-watch: Fruits Basket moves up to the #10 slot as it moves from pre-order to shipping; the only other manga on the chart is The Vast Spread of the Seas, with Naruto being conspiculously absent.

Fighting For Fun

Today's Bizarro is brought to you by A Useless Degree in Marketing.

I am a fan of air hockey, regular hockey, and fighting, so this cartoon appeals to me in many ways. I like the general concept that since hockey leads to fights, if you're playing air hockey your fight would logically consist of trying to blow each other down. (The last word in that sentence is the most important.)

People who are not fans of hockey often question why there is so much fighting. It is not gratuitous, as is often surmised, it actually serves an important purpose. A good friend of mine some years ago came up with a theory about this that I've adhered to ever since: Hockey is arguably the most difficult sport in the world to play as it requires very high levels of disparate skills.

1. You must change direction quickly and constantly while standing on ice
2. You have knife blades strapped to your shoes
3. You must control a rock-hard disk moving at lightening speed on a slippery surface with a bent stick
4. You are being pushed and slammed into by other knife-shoe-wearers covered in armor traveling at very high speeds

It's sort of like combining surgery with dodge 'em cars. Just when you're about to suture that aorta closed, somebody slams into you from behind and ruins the whole thing. Again.

Doing all of this at once is very difficult and, by definition, very frustrating. Every now and then you have to blow off some steam. So the refs let the surgeons swing away at each other for a few seconds before they break them up. Then they send them each to a little room (penalty box) to think about what they've done or take a short nap.

Leaving the topic of hockey fights behind, I just noticed a grievous error in the art of this cartoon. The perspective on the hockey table is way off. The brown outside border of the table is more or less in line with itself, but the three black lines in the middle of the table are hideously askew. That's very unlike me to not notice and fix such a visual faux pas, but perhaps I was in a hurry or drunk. Or maybe one of my hockey pals was slamming me against the boards while I tried to work. Anything is possible at Bizarro International Headquarters.

Nature's Candy

Bizarro is brought to you today by Fair Warning.

Simply put, some people care about their health, some don't. You can preach till you're blue in the face about health and nutrition to some folks and it just doesn't matter. That's fine, I don't really care if other people are healthy or not. I figure diet is just another type of natural selection.

If you happen to care about your health, however, what you eat is the single most important area of focus. Fill a Lamborghini with high quality fuel and you've got a race car. Fill it with corn syrup, it's up on blocks.

Most people know by now that corn syrup is bad for you. It's not because it's full of cancer-causing chemicals (like grilled chicken) as much as that it is incredibly fattening and it is in virtually all processed foods. Even stuff you might think is good for you.

Other things to eliminate from your diet or eat in moderation: nails, glass, burning coals, explosives, plastics, battery acid, batteries, animal protein, lead, mercury, urine, cyanide, turpentine, anything Rush Limbaugh eats, road signs, scissors.

I'm a vegan but I'm not a huge health nut. I enjoy the health benefits of a vegan diet, which are numerous, but I am vegan for ethical reasons (animal compassion, environment), not for my own health. I stay away from products with corn syrup because I like being thin, but it does not contain animal products, so it is technically vegan. Some people assume veganism is a starvation diet and we're all thin. Not true. I know plenty of vegans and they come in all sizes from shoestring to blimp. Soda pop, french fries, peanut butter – all vegan, all fattening.

True, vegans are less likely to be overweight than the average American who eats anything that tastes good, but that is more because they are already paying close attention to what they eat so they tend to eat healthier. Animal products are inherently more fattening than plant products, so you're already halfway there just by cutting those out.

A blog reader brought to my attention a commercial about corn syrup that has been parodied to humorous effect. Here is the original:



Here is one of the many spoofs (there are other good ones, too, check them all out):


Here is a boring but true video about corn syrup's actual health benefits and dangers:


DISCLAIMER: I have nothing against corn in it's natural state–it is good for you, in spite of what some carb-o-phobics will tell you. I am not making fun of Rush Limbaugh because he is fat–there are so many things wrong with him that I cannot possibly list them all here. I am not making fun of fat people in general, unless they are fans of Rush Limbaugh. If the videos above don't work, go to YouTube and search "corn syrup commercial." I eat french fries and peanut butter in moderation, they are two of my favorite things to put in my mouth.

Save My Reputation

World-famous cartoonist, Dan Piraro, at a Halloween party in 1991 wearing a costume of his own design, holding a baby who was not. (of his own design)

Okay, I'm putting myself on the line here by telling you I'm involved in an auction. I say "on the line" because if nobody bids to have lunch with me, I'll look very unpopular, at least with people who have easy access to NYC and are willing to pay over a $200 to have lunch with somebody who is not a prostitute or an elected official. Not including food.

Come to think of it, that's seems pretty steep. Now I feel a lot of pressure to be enchanting and fabulous at lunch, if someone does bid. Why do I get myself into these things?

It's for a good cause, so bid away, even if you have no intention of meeting me for lunch. Here's my auction: Lunch with a Loser
Here's the other auctions for the same charity: People More Famous Than Dan Piraro

Prehistoric Holiday Fun

Bizarro is brought to you today by the fine folks at Prehistoric Autos of Hollywood.

Judging by the emails I got, this was a very popular cartoon. I'm sorry to say I didn't write it, it's another idea from my strange friend, Derek. Sometimes I change his ideas a bit to make a cartoon, but this one is pretty much just as he wrote it. My only contribution is the drawing. Many thanks to Derek for his continuing input.

Today is St. Patrick's Day. All over America there are drunks wearing various forms of green, from everyday items of clothing to vomit. I'm partly Irish on my mother's side, but haven't celebrated St. Pat's Day in many years. I used to love this holiday in elementary school, when we made great sport of inflicting painful pinches on the poor slobs who forgot to wear green that day. My mom, who is a notoriously good sport with more than her share of a wacky streak, would let my 9 sisters and I draw a green shamrock on our cheek with what we called in those days a "Flair pen." Seems tame by today's standards, but in the Catholic school I attended in the sixties, that was as outrageous as going to school in drag. Oh, the memories.

My first inkling that it was St. Patty's today came this afternoon while on one of my rare forays outside Bizarro International Headquarters in Brooklyn when I saw a man in a green Scottish getup carrying a bass drum with a big green shamrock on it. I'm not sure what kilts have to do with the Irish, but he seemed to be having fun.

CHNW and I are celebrating quietly at home in our traditional manner, painting potatoes green and hiding them in tailpipes around the 'hood.

Lunch Minute

Bizarro is brought to you today by I.Q. Test in a Can.

This is one of those ideas that popped into my head from nowhere, no relation to anything I was doing or looking at.

It might, however, have been subconsciously suggested by my own schedule. Though I don't work in an office and haven't since the mid-nineties when I worked daily in an illustration studio, I do work way too many hours a week. I stop for lunch, dinner and a late afternoon nap, but usually put in 8 to 10 hours a day, seven days a week. I almost never do anything fun or social unless I'm out of town. It's getting me down.

I'm working toward taking a small amount of time every day, especially on weekends, to do something fun for myself. I'd love to have more time to work on fine art, but it just isn't in the cards at the moment.

The first step I'm taking to this end is not accepting as many out-of-town gigs like appearances and comedy shows. They're fun and I really enjoy them, but getting ahead on deadlines before I leave and catching up on emails when I get back is killing me. Not to mention how tired I am of schlepping through airports.

Many of you might be thinking, "How dare you complain about such a fun career?" Okay, you're right. I'm a terrible person and I take it back. I'm very grateful for my job, I live indoors, eat regularly and like it so much better than any number of things I might be doing or used to do before Bizarro made enough money to support me. But no matter what you do, you can't keep putting out without taking in. It wears on you and you become a zombie.

Enough complaining. You didn't stop by this blog today to read my pathetic whining. Plus, I have to get back to work. Oh, wait, this blog is part of my job. My favorite part, actually.

You're a lamb for reading. Thanks for letting me vent.

(DISCLAIMER: I am not suicidal, don't worry. Yes, I'm still taking my crazy pills. I eat right and when the weather is good I ride my bike for exercise. I do not own a gun, so you are unlikely to read of me bursting into a local church or school and mowing down innocent strangers. Yes, things could be worse, I know that, I'm fine, really. Tomorrow's post will be less serious.)

Monkey Covers

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

"I Am the Gorilla-Man" on the cover to Tales to Astonish #28, by Jack Kirby & Dick Ayers (1962).

(Standard disclaimer about mad scientists who turn into gorillas not really being monkeys applies.)


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

Gumby and Goliath

(And the angel said, "Weep not over the smallness of the image, for ye must only click it and have faith.")

Bizarro is brought to you today by Drunken Shriners.

I didn't realize this was Spring Break for some people when I submitted this cartoon six weeks ago, but it's a fairly suitable image for it. Just change the waiter's line to, "Seniors?" This cartoon, however, is not about getting drunk, but melting in the sun because you're made of putty. Just so you know.

CHNW and I recently saw a pretty interesting documentary on Art Clokey, the guy who invented the Gumby and Pokey series. The story behind the development of the series was somewhat interesting but the strange twists that his personal life took are fascinating. I recommend it to anyone interested in human behavior. The film is called Gumby Dharma. Careful with that keyboard – if you accidentally order Dharma and Greg, my previous comments may not apply.

Clokey is also responsible for the Davey and Goliath series, animated shorts that are as difficult to turn away from as a train wreck and for all the same reasons. D&G has the same quirky, jerky animation techniques but adds an insufferably precious element of morality. If you're like me, it makes you squirm and giggle with embarassment for the producers who created it as you ask yourself incredulously, "who buys this crap?" But the documentary casts a whole new light on it.

If you've not seen Davey and Goliath, ask your doctor if watching Davey and Goliath is right for you.

(DISCLAIMER: As a child, I was a fan of Gumby and Pokey and do not wish them ill. By making fun of D&G, I am not making fun of Christianity or morals per se. Even when I was a devout Christian, I found D&G to be squirm worthy. Linking to a picture of a figurine of Jesus with children does not mean I hate children or your idea of Jesus. My use of the word "morality" in a humorous context does not mean I am ammoral. Your experiences while watching the aforementioned programs may be different from mine.)

Pi Day

(click the funny funny picture to make it bigger, clearer)

This special edition of Bizarro is brought to you by Pi.

Because today is March 14th (3/14), math nerds everywhere (like me) are celebrating Pi Day. Sometimes confused with Pie Day, which is on January 23rd, today's variety refers to the magical math number 3.1415blahblahblah, which is called "pi" by those of us in the know.

There are lots of things you can do with pi, like figure out something about a circle or time travel or something. It's been a while since I was in a math class, but I remember it was really useful.

For you history buffs, "pi" was first invented by the people who built Stonehenge, which is really just a bunch of them stuck together.

Squirrels of the Caribbean

Bizarro is brought to you today by Foolproof Get Rich Quick Schemes.

We were all raised believing that pirates habitually buried their treasure like it was a trait of their species, beyond their control, something they just did without thinking like the way certain tough guys adjust their scrotum every 45 seconds.

In all likelihood this stereotype comes from a single source, like Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island. But I wonder if it has any historical basis at all. Did any pirate ever bury a treasure and then forget to go back and get it? Did any pirate ever bury a treasure at all? If so, why?

It can't be one of those schemes you see in movies sometimes when a guy steals something, hides it, turns himself in, then spends the money when he gets out of prison. A pirate would know that if he ever got caught, he'd never see the light of day again. Was it to save room on the ship? Were pirate ships typically so crowded with scallywags, wenches and scurvy knaves that they needed the extra two square feet a treasure chest inhabited?

And what's with those useless maps they made? Even a pirate would know that a map that consisted of drawings of trees and dotted lines would not be enough to navigate by. These guys were professional navigators, for Pete's sake. And who is Pete? Why have so many people done things for his sake? Is he at grateful? Does he even know what we've been doing on his behalf?

As a person who has published a book about pirates (okay, a book of pirate cartoons) I know all too well that the mysterious life of the pirate raises far more questions than it answers. Perhaps it is best that we never know the truth and just admire these filthy, ruthless, criminals for the romantic heroes they were.

Celebrating Celebs

Bizarro is brought to you today by Questionable Public Behavior.

I think celebrities often go off the deep end because they are used to being above the rules. I've experienced this on rare occasions when a group in a small town invites me to perform or something. For an hour or two, they treat me like Mick Jagger or Dane Cook. I don't wait in lines, I get special favors, everyone treats me like gold, nobody disagrees with me or questions any whim. I don't take unfair advantage of those situations because they are so rare and I don't feel entitled to it. In fact, it's fairly embarrassing.

But if you lived every day of your life like that for years, I think there is a great temptation to begin to believe you really are that special and develop a general attitude that you are immune to the rules that guide most people. I think this explains some of the celebrity drug addictions, weapons possessions, speeding tickets, shoplifting arrests, and the way Bono looks on the recent cover of Rolling Stone magazine.

I hope I never get to the place that there is no one in my life who will stop me from leaving the house like that.

(DISCLAIMER: There are other reasons celebrities get into trouble. Lots of people who get into trouble are not celebrities. Some people are more prone to feeling entitled than others, whether they are celebrities or not. I like Bono's music and his work for charity. I am not equating myself with "real" celebrities. I don't think Mick Jagger and Dane Cook are crazy, I just used their pictures to illustrate a point. I really do, however, think that eye makeup on Bono is grotesque.)

Amazon Top 50

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


1 (-). Watchmen
2 (-). Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Last Straw
3 (-). Diary of a Wimpy Kid
4 (-). Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules
5 (-). Batman: The Dark Knight Returns
6 (-). Watchmen (Absolute Edition)
7 (+1). V for Vendetta
8 (-1). Watchmen (hardcover)
9 (-). Batman: The Killing Joke
10 (+1). The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Vol. 1
11 (+7). The Joker
12 (+17). Blueberry Girl
13 (+12). Batman: Arkham Asylum (15th Anniversary Edition)
14 (-). From Hell
15 (-). Batman R.I.P.
16 (-3). The Sandman Vol. 1: Preludes and Nocturnes
17 (-7). Star Trek: Countdown TPB *
18 (+5). Serenity, Vol. 2: Better Days
19 (-7). All Star Superman, Vol. 2
20 (N). Fruits Basket, Vol. 22 *
21 (+3). Watching the Watchmen: The Definitive Companion to the Ultimate Graphic Novel
22 (-2). The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Vol. 2
23 (+9). Wolves at the Gate (Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Eight, Volume 3)
24 (-3). The Complete Peanuts 1971-1972 *
25 (+8). Crown Of Horns (Bone)
26 (N). Maus I: A Survivor's Tale: My Father Bleeds History
27 (+19). Time of Your Life (Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Season 8, Vol. 4) *
28 (N). The Vast Spread of the Seas (The Twelve Kingdoms)
29 (-7). The Walking Dead, Vol. 9: Here We Remain
30 (N). Jack of Fables Vol. 5: Turning Pages
31 (-14). Scott Pilgrim Volume 5: Scott Pilgrim vs The Universe
32 (+2). The Arrival
33 (N). Bone Volume 8: Treasure Hunters
34 (N). Serenity, Vol. 1: Those Left Behind
35 (N). Superman: Brainiac
36 (N). Batman: The Long Halloween
37 (N). Bone Volume 7: Ghost Circles
38 (N). Humbug (2 Volume Set) *
39 (-8). Vampire Knight, Vol. 6
40 (N). DC Universe: The Stories of Alan Moore
41 (-15). Naruto, Volume 38
42 (N). The DC Comics Encyclopedia, Updated and Expanded Edition
43 (-8). Naruto, Volume 41
44 (N). Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood
45 (-26). The Starman Omnibus, Vol. 2
46 (N). Eerie Archives Volume 1 *
47 (N). The Sandman Vol. 3: Dream Country
48 (-20). Naruto, Volume 39
49 (N). Bone Volume 6: Old Man's Cave
50 (-23). The Sandman Vol. 2: The Doll's House

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


Commentary:

* Blah blah Watchmen blah blah. Watchmen actually sat at the top of the regular All Books charts for most of the week, but slipped back down to #2 this afternoon. It would appear that at least for now there's no major after-movie drop off for Watchmen.

* Not sure if DC's After Watchmen promotion will bear much fruit, but at least a handful of the titles they're promoting make debuts on the chart this week, including The Long Halloween and The DC Universe Stories of Alan Moore. I'm surprised though that the new Swamp Thing hardcover doesn't chart.

* The top of the charts continue to be quite boring, with very little movement if any among the top ten titles. But there's plenty of volatility as you move down the charts.

* Naruto titles continue to fall down the charts, but I'm sure in a couple of weeks when the next batch are published they'll spike right back up again. In the meantime, the pre-order for volume 22 of Fruits Basket pops back up high on the list this week, after being missing entirely last week. And I'm surprised to see Fuyumi Ono's The Vast Spread of the Seas debuting so high, as this type of manga doesn't normally chart on bestseller lists.

* A lot of Bone action this week, with several older volumes popping up near the bottom of the chart.

Bird Envy

Bizarro is brought to you today by Extremely Young Morticians.

Here is another gag submitted by my strange friend, Derek. I changed it a tiny bit, not much, and I think it is his best yest. There have been many cartoon versions of the "Wrong brothers" before, but this one is fresh and simple, in my opinion. It makes me chuckle.

I admit that I didn't research Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. For all I know there are no bluffs within twenty miles, it's as flat as a pancake and that's why the Wright brothers chose it. Nothing to run into.

If the Wright brothers could see what today's flight industry has become, they would be astounded by how badly I was treated by Delta two weeks ago when they stranded me for a day in Atlanta, then left my luggage outside in the rain overnight. This was NOT what Orville and Wilbur had in mind.