Some Bizarro Favorites

Good gravy to you, Jazz Pickles, and welcome to a special post about a special problem.

My email list has gotten huge and, as is the case with most email lists, half of the people on it don’t actually ever click through. But, since I have to pay for the number of people on my list and I’m a cheapskate, I thought it would behoove me (does that mean to give me hooves? ) to find out who ain’t clicking and throw them overboard like a fish I have no intention of eating. (That would be any fish or sea creature of any sort, actually. I can’t abide the flavor of things that lived in water. That does not include hydroponic tomatoes, however.)

In other words, it’s time to sort the Jazz Pickles from the Easy-Listening Cucumbers.

So to make my little housecleaning project more fun for you, here are a few of my favorite Bizarro cartoons from my 700+ year career along with a few comments. (BTW: Just clicking on that email link kept you on the list so if you don’t want to read the rest of this post, you don’t have to. You’re free to go.)

You may have noticed that a lot of cartoons start with a common situation or image and simply turn it around: a rhinoceros with a human head mounted on the wall, etc. That recipe doesn’t always work but I think this one works really well. One reason I like it is that it takes almost everyone a few beats to figure it out. That little delay simultaneously makes you feel happy that you’re smart and also relieved that you’re not stupid, so you chuckle. See how easy cartooning is?

I’m still proud of this cartoon. Being an amateur philosopher, a lot of my cartoons are about how some folks just plain get it wrong. This is a good example. I like this one because it has a self-referential quality (the fact that he’s using a “cartoon” balloon as a weapon means you kind of can’t do this joke in any other form, as an SNL skit, for instance) and, though it doesn’t “hit you over the head” with it, so to speak, it can also be taken politically. The best cartoons often have more than one level but that’s much easier desired than accomplished in most cases.

Regular readers of my blog likely know that I sometimes build those title panels that appear in certain Sunday funnies sections (top of this page) out of previously published cartoons. That’s obviously the case here and this is one of my all-time favorite Bizarro gags. Again, without beating anyone over the head, it points out what some folks just plain get wrong.

Another gentle reminder of how we often get things wrong—in this case, it’s priorities. I hasten to mention, by the way, that I am a sports fan and have often battled becoming too obsessed with a team or a season, as though it mattered at all, anywhere in the universe. I’m happy to say that I currently only watch highlights on YouTube the next day. For me, it’s a good compromise between giving it up altogether and wasting so much of my life staring at an electronic box. (Like the one you’re reading this post on, come to think of it.)

Speaking of crossed priorities and electronic boxes. This gag was actually the brainchild of a friend of mine and fellow cartoonist, Phil Witte. Being a painter at heart and a huge fan of Renaissance art, I loved illustrating this one and think Phil’s concept is brilliant and deep, in a simple way. And I like that you don’t have to be religious to agree with the point behind this one.

I’m sure no one has noticed, but I’ve stopped putting a FB address on any of my comics. I think FB is ruining the world and I only participate at an absolute bare minimum, once or twice a week. I know, I should quit it altogether and never post on it again but dozens of my fans would be heartbroken. That’s the problem with monopolies.

My figure drawing class in my one semester of college inspired this gag. It still makes me smile.

Here’s a simple variation on the time-worn cliche evolution parade image. This cartoon has been forwarded and posted a tremendous number of times for its obvious connection to our current self-extinction efforts.

Not wanting to end on a somber note, here’s one last gag about nudity…

Thanks for clicking through, Jazz Pickles. Your email will remain safely on my mailing list and I will continue to attempt to entertain you and encourage you to think. Thanks for being a reader and not just a signer-upper!