Legumes
Here’s something you’ve never heard before or already knew: I, Dan Piraro, do the Sunday Bizarro cartoon (above) each week and my partner, Wayno, writes and draws the Monday-Saturday cartoons, which are a different shape and which I’ve posted below. People new to this site don’t always know that so I like to mention it from time to time. Also, Wayno is in no way trying to emulate my style but our styles of both drawing and humor are similar and so there are some readers who cannot readily see the difference. Is any of this important for you to know? Important is probably too strong a word, so, no.
Today’s Sunday cartoon (above, which I did) makes me both nostalgic for the past and anxious for the future. Nostalgic for a time when honey-roasted peanuts on commercial airlines were awarded as freely as plastic necklaces at Mardi Gras, and for when Charles Schulz, the creator of Peanuts, was still alive because it would mean that 9/11 and all of the dark things that have happened since then had not happened yet. Nostalgic for that but anxious for the future because the man in the right foreground of the above cartoon is reading a version of my graphic novel in print, which is probably still a few years away.
I have mixed feelings about my graphic novel, too, though. On one hand, drawing it every day, posting episodes, exchanging comments with readers is so enjoyable and so much a part of my daily routine that I will miss it when it’s over. But the other side of that is that the complexity of the story can’t really be fully appreciated until people can read it with some momentum, so I’m anxious to have it finished so I can publish it properly and people can read it at their own pace.
Speaking of reading, you don’t need to be able to read to enjoy the Bizarro Coloring Book I published a few years back. The title panel above, the first piece of art under “Legumes” (the botanically correct name of Mr. Schulz’s famous comic strip) is a detail of but one of the 30-some images in it.
Even if you don’t want to color the images, if you enjoy surreal art, you’ll love this book. I only mention this because honestly, it’s some of the most creative art I’ve done in my career and it seems a shame that so few people have seen it. And this plea isn’t about money! Believe me, I’m not at any risk of making money from this book, I’d just like more people to see it.
Here’s page 22:
ALSO, all 13 Secret Symbols (the current list, minus the Pipe of Ambiguity) are in every single image!
Wah-wah! Cartoonists and their problems. Now let’s see what problems Wayno incorporated into his Bizarro cartoons from this week.
“I’m sorry, sir. Could you repeat that more quickly, please?”
Wayno’s cartoon blog post this week has even more of the fun extras we’ve come to expect. He also officially declares our copyright on the highly desirable T-shirt design in the image above.
Some readers have argued over which Ramone should have been chosen as the emperor. My vote is for Shemp.
What was your most soul-crushing job? Mine was back in the ‘80s counting and stocking sheets of those plastic rub-down letters (Letraset, Ziptone, etc.) sharing a small office with the boss. He had a desk, I had a chair but spent most of my time crawling around in front of a floor-to-ceiling wall of file drawers. I quit that job just hours before it became a murder/suicide situation.
I always enjoy Wayno’s alternate costumes for the Bizarro Alien. Coincidentally, my great grandfather was a diver for the Italian Navy in the late 1800s and wore one of those old-school diving suits and helmets. I think that’s cool.
This particular bass player is in a Spinal Tap tribute band called Spinal Tape.
And with that, we end our bus tour of last week’s Bizarro comics. Thanks for not sneaking off at one of the rest stops and calling a cab. If you’re digging the vibes we’re laying down and appreciate that we lay them down without pop-up ads and a paywall, maybe consider tossing us a doobie via one of the links below. All of us at Rancho Bizarro will be in your debt.
Until next time, stop ruining good moments by imagining bad ones.
BIZARRO SHOP We have new stuff in the shop that’s fun and cheap!
…Signed, numbered, limited edition prints and original Bizarro panels