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

Mything the Point

Today's Bizarro is brought to you by Post-Closet Veggies.

Since I like to do cartoons based on Bible stories and other common Christian myths, I have been criticized on occasion by atheists who think I am using my cartoons to advance my religious views, and praised at times by Christians who think I am trying to advance theirs. It is hard to imagine a person who would be more likely to believe in a religion because he saw it in the funny papers, but I'm sure they are out there. In truth, I'm doing neither.

I no longer believe the Noah story, of course, but when I was a kid I was taught it was true. As hard as it is to believe, we all know that there are many 21st century adult Americans with high school and college diplomas who are still convinced. I was raised in the Bible Belt and have seen it first hand. (It is also worth noting that most Christians worldwide believe these stories are allegories and not historical accounts.)

Of those who believe the story of Noah's ark is factual, some don't think about it too hard, others perform amazing feats of mental gymnastics to find logical ways in which a person could fit a breeding pair of every single species on the earth onto one boat, along with enough food to keep them all fed for who-knows-how-many months. Others just fall back on the Santa Claus Defense. The Santa Claus Defense is what parents use when their kid asks a logical question like, "How can Santa fit enough toys for every kid in the whole world into one sleigh?" The answer is always, "He's magic." Noah was magic in this same way.

Among my friends in the animal rights movement, some who advocate veganism and believe in the rights of non-human animals, as I do, attempt to reach people who believe in the fundamental truth of Bible stories by finding ways in which the scriptures support the notion that man is "meant" to eat plants, not animals. If you are one of those who are motivated to try this I wish you well, but you can argue scripture with fundamentalists until you are blue in the face because in the end, you are arguing with someone who believes in magic. When that is your premise, you can make up the rules to suit your argument.

I use Bible themes in cartoons because they are well known stories and, since they were written to describe common human dilemmas and traits, are great fodder for cartoons. It is the same reason I use children's fairy tales, Greek myths or famous movie monsters. Most of the time, there is no more complex reason than that.

FCBM5 Day 28

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

Our next selected entry is from Tom Bondurant. The five comics that Tom listed are:

1. Dr. 13
2. Secret Six
3. JLA
4. American Flagg!
5. Nexus

And his other thing of interest is the tv series Arrested Development.

For Tom I have the first issue of Alan Davis's recent Clandestine mini-series.

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

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

There's still time to send in your entry for the YACB Free Comic Book Month; details are here.

Current FCBM Statistics:
29 entries
66 free comics sent so far
3 days remaining