Bizarro | Naked Cartoonist

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I never realized how little energy I’d spent discerning the subtle differences between a “dork” and a “nerd” until I published this comic and heard from readers. They really schooled me. So, yeah, I admit that some of the characters in this cartoon look more like nerds than dorks, but I had pretty good reasons, as it turns out, which I’ll get into in a moment. Also, this is the point in this kind of conversation when I can always hide under the umbrella of this being a comic and not a history textbook.

For those of you who, like me, have not previously researched these words carefully, the difference is basically that a nerd is someone who is obsessed with something (like Star Wars or science or comic books) to the degree that it annoys others, which often tends to make them socially awkward, and a dork is someone who is socially awkward purely because they are clueless about fashion, pop culture, and other things that socially successful people tend to care about. Nerds can be and often are highly intelligent, whereas dorks are typically not too swift.

Because their obsessions have visual manifestations, nerds are easier to draw than dorks and that’s why this cartoon is actually full of nerds. It’s hard to quickly represent a crowd of dorks; I mean, how would you draw a moonscape full of people who “just don’t get it”? So let’s just say that the nerds featured above also happen to be dorks, and that’s how they got into this highly-exclusive area of the moon.

I was neither nerd nor dork when I was a kid, but I was friends with plenty of both for some reason. You might at first think that if I was friends with so many of them, maybe I was one and didn’t know it. That is a distinct possibility that I hadn’t considered until I wrote that just now. This cartoon has taught me so much.

If you’re wondering what Wayno’s cartoons taught me last week, let’s find out…

Many readers will doubtless recognize the godawful Jimmy Buffet song to which this cartoon refers. If you don’t, consider yourself extremely fortunate and investigate no further.

If you do know that song, what you likely don’t know, is that after Jimmy Buffett found his lost "shaker of salt,” he had a few too many margaritas and became a “tosser of cookies”. #LoserOfLunch #BlowerOfChunks #DriverOfPorcelainBus

For his next death-defying trick, he’ll watch more TV than he’s allowed.

HEY, GUESS WHAT! This week’s featured product in the Bizarro Shop is our trademarked Hello Shitty T-shirt. We also have it in an enamel pin, if you can believe it. If you love kittens and hate poop as much as we do, you’ll love this delightfully irreverent graphic!

To maintain the political correctness of Bizarro, I insisted Wayno cast an actual Scotsman in this role, not just some white dude in pink makeup and a red wig. And I must say, he was a true professional and a pleasure to work with. I guess it’s true what they say, “Once you go Mac, you never go back.” (cue bagpipes)

If you're making one of those “What the…?” faces right now, google “memento mori.” But ignore the listing about a song of that title. If you don’t recognize the actor reference, google “Bill Murray”. If you still don’t get it, you’re a dork.

Over on Wayno’s weekly blog post about this same batch, he compliments you readers regarding the above comic. Pop over and see what he says, then come right back!

People who love wordplay and puns (like me) loved this cartoon this week. And for those of you who asked me what a PVN is, looky here.

I’m digging her steam punk gear but I think her boyfriend should update the hippie hillbilly look a bit.

That concludes this episode of our written podcast, Jazz Pickles. Thanks for pretending to listen. If you like what we do and that we do it for free, without ads, please consider patronizing one of our links below. We’ll thank you like a mofo for the rest of our days!

Until next time, be happy, be smart, be nice, and resist ignorance, fascism, and nationalism.

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