Wednesday, 10 December 2008

Stuffed

My readers interested in veganism and animal rights will no doubt notice that I did not mention my feelings about animal slavery in the previous post including the cartoon about zoos. I think the cartoon says enough so I didn't expound. For those of you who don't know my opinions on this and are interested, I find all forms of animal exploitation – for entertainment, medical experiments, food and clothing (in countries where alternatives are available) – ethically indefesible.

And now, for the holiday season, I present to you what I consider to be a clever and humorous short essay about the "turducken" from a brilliant writer, Francesco Marciuliano. He is not vegetarian, or at least he wasn't last time we had a meal together, but he is sympathetic to my views on the subject. I haven't asked him, but I'd like to think I may have influenced this essay. Both his writing and his cartoons are among the few things I read daily.

Here also is a cartoon I did last year on the same subject.

(Click the image to see biggerized)

A Hard Day's Work

Bizarro is brought to you today by Bubblegum Deer.

Flew home from Caliphornia last night and am thrilled to be back at Bizarro International Headquarters. Even though being back means dealing with hundreds of emails, stacks of envelopes, a mountain of voice mails and a mob of lazy employees who haven't done a thing since I left last week.

Few people realize it, but it takes over 600 people to get each Bizarro cartoon from the planning stages to your daily paper. The think tank in my Conception and Development Department alone has 126 employees. From there, the ideas go to the marketing committee that tests them on various groups of consumers, then compiles a list of the ones that scored most favorably and sends them on to my personal assistant. She then reviews them to make sure none contain images or ideas that I might find unpleasant, and puts them on my desk.

After I've seen the finalists, I choose the ones I want to see finished and send them on to the sketching and inking department. Each cartoon is drawn by 13 different artists, then I choose the one that I feel looks the most as if I had drawn it myself. If none represent the true essence of Piraro, I send it back to be done again.

Once finished and accepted, I add my inimitable signature and send the image on to the coloring department. Each cartoon is colored by 8 different artists, then those images are sent back to the marketing department for consumer testing once again. The one that scores the highest is sent to King Features, ready for publication.

By the time a Bizarro cartoon reaches the discerning eyes of you, my precious readers, over 800 people have seen and judged it, and around 375 artisans have poured the entirety of their considerable talent into making it an authentic Dan Piraro Original. It's a long, hard day of bone-grinding drudgery for each of these tireless workers, but knowing that they've made countless inhabitants of planet earth laugh is a reward that money can't buy.

No syndicated cartoon feature works harder to bring you the level of authentic artistic integrity that you've come to expect from Bizarro.

Christmas Covers - December 10



For each day of December until Christmas I'm featuring a Comic Cover Advent Calendar. Just move your mouse over the image to reveal today's special Holiday comic cover. Click on the image to get a larger version. (If you're on a feed reader you may need to click through to the blog to get it to work.)

We celebrate Christmas manga-style with Yuji Shiozaki's cover to Battle Vixens vol. 9.

Come back tomorrow, and every day this month, for a new Christmas cover.


Just 15 more 'get-ups' until Santa!


(2007: The Bakers Meet Jingle Belle)
(2006: A Distant Soil #26)
(2005: Classics Illustrated #15)
(2004: Action Comics #93)

(Polite Dissent's 2008 Comic Book Cover Advent Calendar)
(Brendan McKillip's Comic Advent Calendar 2008)
(Brian Cronin's 2008 Comics Should Be Good Advent Calendar)
 

Tuesday, 9 December 2008

Christmas Covers - December 9



For each day of December until Christmas I'm featuring a Comic Cover Advent Calendar. Just move your mouse over the image to reveal today's special Holiday comic cover. Click on the image to get a larger version. (If you're on a feed reader you may need to click through to the blog to get it to work.)

Roy Rogers meets Santa Claus along the trail on the cover of March of Comics #77.

Come back tomorrow, and every day this month, for a new Christmas cover.


Just 16 more 'get-ups' until Santa!


(2007: Spaceman Discovers Christmas)
(2006: All-American Comics #10)
(2005: Roy Rogers Comics #49)
(2004: Pogo Possum #11)

(Polite Dissent's 2008 Comic Book Cover Advent Calendar)

Monday, 8 December 2008

Learning is Pun

Today's Bizarro is brought to you by Cheap Thrills for Kids Under 12.

I'm on my way home to Brooklyn in a few hours. Had a great time in NoCal, thanks for inviting me.




Saw the new multi-bazillion-dollar science museum in Golden Gate Park yesterday. In the humble, uneducated opinion of CHNW and I, the architecture of the museum is very cool, the content is pretty dull.

They have an indoor rainforest, but it isn't as good as one I saw in Dallas built 8 or 10 years ago. They have an aquarium that's pretty nice, but I've seen many better ones. I missed the planetarium, so I can't comment. The roof is a cool idea with grass and plants all over it, but that is more about architecture than science. That's about it. Unless you're an architecture buff, it isn't worth the $25 admission fee. San Francisco's Exploratorium is better, in my opinion.

More about the book events I did while here later. Hope you like today's corny pun cartoon. Can't wait to be home.

Christmas Covers - December 8



For each day of December until Christmas I'm featuring a Comic Cover Advent Calendar. Just move your mouse over the image to reveal today's special Holiday comic cover. Click on the image to get a larger version. (If you're on a feed reader you may need to click through to the blog to get it to work.)

Santa is bringing presents to all the good little wolf cubs on James Jean's cover to Fables #56 (2007).

Come back tomorrow, and every day this month, for a new Christmas cover.


Just 17 more 'get-ups' until Santa!

(2007: Dell Giant #26)
(2006: X-Men #108)
(2005: Liberty Meadows #29)
(2004: Top Ten #6)

(Polite Dissent's 2008 Comic Book Cover Advent Calendar)

Modern Times and Lovers

Bizarro is brought to you today by Great Music.

Most pundits predicted that Joe the Plumber would burn out quickly after the election and return to the well-deserved obscurity that he has worked so hard to attain. But, under his policy of surrounding himself with rivals, Prez-El Obama has hired him to be White House plumber. (Even though Joe "the Plumber" W- [I cannot remember his real last name for the life of me] has no plumbing license.)

Perhaps when he sees his taxes go DOWN because he isn't the semi-wealthy entrepreneur he was pretending to be for the McCain campaign, he'll eventually admit he's been in the wrong party all along.

Still in Le Bay Area, CHNW, my cartoonist/stand-up comic friend, Michael Capozzola, and I went to see Jonathan Richman at the Great American Music Hall last night. Great show, love that guy.