Wizards of Oil
I’m Dan Piraro, the creator of the Bizarro newspaper comic. Each week, I post my Sunday Bizarro comic, a short essay, and then the past week’s Monday-Saturday Bizarro comics written and drawn by my partner Wayno, whose weekly blog post I highly recommend.
And here’s this week’s ANSWER KEY to my Sunday comic’s Secret Symbols.
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Welcome, Jazz Pickles and all types of musical, preserved fruits. (Yes, cucumbers are botanically classified as fruits.)
Today’s cartoon is tangentially about climate change. My wife and I became aware this week of a person we know who agrees that climate change is real, but firmly believes that it is being caused by governments manipulating the weather to further their nefarious purposes.
I won’t state the obvious, I’ll only say if you’re going to believe in conspiracy theories, I recommend you learn enough about basic, elementary-school science to be able to tell the difference between what is possible and what is not. At this point in history, humans are a very long way from being able to control the weather, which is precisely our dilemma.
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Moving on to the realm of the possible, I posted an article last Friday in my subscription newsletter The Naked Cartoonist titled “What Grandpa Was.” I’m pleased to report that to my recollection, it has gotten more positive comments than anything I’ve ever published. Many people said it was their favorite of what I’ve posted so far, and that’s very gratifying.
On the less gratifying side of things, it also seems to have caused more subscription cancellations than anything I’ve posted thus far. Only five, but that’s four more than I’ve seen in any week since I began this project.
Since it was such a popular article, I thought it strange that it had caused anyone to cancel. Though I recounted some of the quirky, lovable things about my grandfather, it was not sappy or sentimental. Instead, I aimed at taking a truthful and philosophical approach to his life, comparing the wonderful things he was with some of his darker aspects, concluding that everyone and everything contains both light and shadow. And it’s kind of funny along the way, so what’s not to like?
But the piece touches on some controversial topics, which I suspect accounts for at least some of the cancellations. I guess that’s to be expected.
But while contemplating this, I remembered what I’ve long believed about creative works of all types: if they tap into something authentic about the human experience, people will either love it or hate it. Seen in this light, the cancellations are a compliment. Thanks!
For the price of a high-quality engraving of Abraham Lincoln ($5 US), you can subscribe and get access to all twenty articles I’ve written so far for a full month. If it isn’t your thing, cancel at any time. If you keep it, you’ll get a new article every Friday; four or five articles each month for five bucks. Find out more here. I hope you’ll give it a try.
Lastly, before we join Wayno’s little shop of humor, this: Famous musician and all-around awesome person to have on the planet Janis Ian is a big fan of cartoons and Bizarro is among those she loves. May 5 was National Cartoonist Day (or something like that) and Janis didn’t think one day was enough, so she is posting some of her favorite cartoons each day, all month, on her FB page. Pop over and see what nice things she said about Wayno and me, as well as other cartoonists. She’s great.
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FINALLY! Time for Wayno’s week of Bizarro cartoons…
I could understand it if it were apples, but penne?
Hide your livestock if you see this guy coming up your street.
I’m having trouble not thinking about a certain series of trials.
I think they’re going to need a bigger couch.
This is the first cartoon I’ve seen in which a non-speaking teapot is the punchline.
Why do I get the feeling these beets mugged some potato heads?
We have reached the final seconds of our full-contact cartoon encounter, JPs. Thanks for sticking around to peel the paper off the bandaids. If you dig our vibe and that we vibrate it for free, please consider helping us keep it that way via the links below. We’ll love you even more if that were humanly possible.
The Naked Cartoonist…My weekly subscription newsletter of humorous creative writing, photos, art, videos & more.
… Bizarro TIP JAR One-time or repeating. Your choice!
…Signed, numbered, limited-edition prints and original Bizarro panels
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WAYNO’S TIP JAR One-time or repeating. Your choice!