Today's Bizarro is brought to you by the commercial fishing industry, which would TOTALLY kill mermaids in their drift nets if there was profit in it.
This is one of those cartoons that I hope you don't fully get until you look closely at the picture. I like to devise jokes that aren't completely evident until you look carefully. I enjoy being surprised this way by other people's cartoons, so I figure maybe my readers do, too.
13 comments:
Great cartoon!
Mr. Piraro, you are my hero and a constant inspiration to me, but I'm afraid you are far too smart for me to catch your meaning in this instance (and I'm probably only getting about 5% of it in all others). What the hell IS going on when I look closely? Is that dynamite under the table? Are there eyeballs in odd places around the scene? It seems there is an alien eyeball on an eye stem in a jar or small spacecraft above the mermaid's shoulder and perhaps an eyeball glued to the gentleman's chair leg? Is the K2 on the coffee cup significant? Is this meant to be an update to the rorschach test? HELP!
Hopelessly befuddled as a way of life,
that one guy
The dynamite, the K2, and the odd random eyeball are in all/ most of the cartoons, so it must be the alien spaceship.
That doesn't seem right, so maybe it's something more subtle.
Sorry, upon further review, the dynamite, K2, random eyeball, pickle-shaped alien in miniature flying saucer, and the pie slice are all recurring elements.
It must be something more subtle.
Looks like the couple-not-to-be might just be sitting in Seattle. The land of the jolly green coffee giant, who undoubtedly employs all the sirens. And everyone knows there are no Starbucks in Kansas.
I need a cup of coffee.
Or maybe I've had too much?
Daaaaaaaamn. I even got that it was Seattle and the fact that the dude was grunge. Wow. Well done sir. Well done. That is some subtlety.
Hmmm I *LIVE* in Kansas. I noticed right away that the Mermaid's "Womanly Assets" were covered up in a seashell bra. I thought historically (from looking at hundreds of slides for at least 3 different art history classes) that most artists drew their mermaids "au naturel" or however that's spelled in French. As in, no bra, dude, shell shaped or not.
And yes, we actually DO have StarBuck$$ in Kansas. Also Scooters Coffee, Il Primo coffee, countless "Ma & Pa" type shops or other Indie coffee shops. (I'm actually in the process of creating a "offeeshops In Wichita"Google Map List, stand by for further developments.).
I'm waiting impatiently for you to blog the cartoon for today friday 4/25/08 as I actually know people like that!!
I can't unsee the dynamite, eyeball, pie, alien, and etc.. In today's panel in the paper they jumped out at me before I could even fully appreciate a GREAT panel indeed. Seriously, I think you should get with a producer and make that reality show a reality Mr. Piraro. Toot sweet! I would PAY to watch that.
Alright, I know I'm a thick, I will admit it, but what is more to this cartoon than a mermaid needing water to live in (except for short trips out for a caffe Latte fix) which may be difficult to find in Kansas? The water that is, not the Latte.
Piraro, here. Interesting comments from all. As is often the case, people have a tendency to look for more than is actually there – in this case, I suppose that's my fault for saying you have to look closely. All I was referring to was that the casual reader likely doesn't notice the woman is a mermaid until he/she reads the caption and looks closely at the female's clothing. Then you get the joke. Sorry to confuse.
And yes, the icons are recurring images that rarely have anything to do with the joke.
Thanks for all for the comments!
I think this one would work better without the lower description (How to break up with a mermaid). That way you have to check out the picture to get the joke.
I thought the subtle joke was that the mermaid is sitting in a chair in a coffee shop, though conventionally you'd think that she'd always need to be in water. However, he is breaking up with her because he's moving to Kansas, where she can't swim around in water all the time. Is that an issue, when she's obviously not at the moment?
Great panel, as always. I love watching people second glance the girl to realize she's a mermaid. Classic, although i'm not sure how they miss the scaly south side below the table to begin with.
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