(To enlarge the above image and inspect it in all its glorious detail, click on the statue's buttock)Today's Bizarro cartoon is brought to you by Sweatin' to the Oldies.
As a lifelong fan of classical art, I'm partial to this cartoon. It was a collaborative effort between myself and Todd Clark, a very good gag writer and talented cartoonist in his own right. He lives in Boise, Idaho and as such, has no friends. Most people won't even talk to him unless he moves. I feel sorry for him and correspond with him from time to time, and he gives me gag ideas for free as a way of thanks. It's kind of sad, I know, but he's a really talented guy and just as nice as a bowl of heated walnuts.
So he tosses me this idea that Rodin's famous statue, "The Thinker" originally had a thought balloon. I thought it was genius. So I fluggled around with it ( cartoonist lingo) and came up with the above image. A bit of interesting trivia regarding this cartoon: I make a cameo appearance in the background, can you spot me? The answer will be at the bottom of this page.
The image at left ran with the Rodin cartoon in some markets. It is an old gag of mine that I like to use as a title box with classical art cartoons. The original cartoon had a caption across the bottom that said, "Unfinished Self-Portrait."I'm really proud of this self-portrait cartoon, it's one of my top five favorites I've ever written. Not because it's drop-dead funny, but because it is strange and thought provoking. I'm not sure what it means, but I'll bet it's profound. Maybe a shrink could analyze it and pontificate about my subconscious desire to be conquered by a hammer. Or perhaps it represents my inner struggle against petrification. "Am I but a stone?! Am I not flesh and blood!" he cried out in vain to the deaf sculptor.
No idea where that came from, my apologies.
Answer to today's puzzle: the skull in the drawing on the wall is mine.
16 comments:
now back to basics the art work on this is great as once again i question how long it takes to do the area where it says piraro's bizarro...and also wonder why this area is not included on original art
good glad to see your back again this week and things at home are cool.
cartoonist have groupies you know even jeffy the dude you know from family circus once got action..
i to got action once and well fidos grandpa start drawing itll come..
jeremy where the heck are you i voted you dans biggest fan outside of me...you alive
I know I'm gonna get slammed for writing this...but, uh, what's with all the bizarre comments on this blog? (heh, get it?) People are arguing, writing mean things, being jerks and, most importantly, are unable to spell. If that's not offensive, I don't know what is.
I'm kidding about the spelling part. But not really.
Seriously, it's hard to create stuff, to be funny and smart and artistic. It's so very easy to tear something down or make fun of someone else. And, let's be honest, there's never really any good reason to be a jerk.
I really, really like this blog. And I would really, really like to read equally smart & thoughtful comments. I want to believe in my heart of hearts that there is a chance that could actually happen....can we try it? Just for a day? And then maybe the next day and the day after that?
... and maybe omit run-on sentences, too? :)
Kimberly,
I agree with you. C'mon people, be nice.
Dude your blog is just great, if I had any idea how to add it to my links I'd do it right away. Which reminds me, I should ask someone how to do that already...
See ya
Some guy from Argentina (far south, you shouldn't ask the southern californian pageant where it is)
Yeah, what they said. Plus, thanks for updating regularly.
Also (no trollishness intended) I think I'm agreeing with you when I say that I like the side box better than the cartoon. It reminds me of the first bizarro I ever saw, which got me hooked. It was of a man carving his entire desk into a scale model galleon-style sailing ship. He was being paged by the the intercom on his desk, but I can't remember what it was saying, the point (in my mind being) just that the real world was interrupting this insane and intricate fantasy. It didn't make any particular sense, it was just really neat, and oddly funny, and spoke to some part of me that wanted to carve my desk into a galleon. Nice one.
this is good stuff! keep it up!
Derek - are you gonna let kimberly and tracy say that about you?
Kimberly, I agree. The comments section has taken a turn toward the negative the last few weeks from a few posters that seems arbitrary and petty sometimes.
Reading some of them, I thought I was having a visit from the "Stroke Fairy".
Think, THEN post. Repeat.
kimberly and traci can say what they want my spelling is awful...but i can live with it :)
Dan-
You should check out the short film Genesis (1998) by Spanish filmmaker Nacho Cerdà.
It's about a sculptor whose wife dies in a car accident. To remember her he builds a sculpture of her. As the sculpture begins to slowly come to life, he simultaneously begins to wither and crumble.
It's really beautifully done.
Answer to today's puzzle: the skull in the drawing on the wall is mine.
Oh. I was going to say, you have great legs.
I win! I win! I was sure that it had to be the skull!
Anyway, I would like to say, "Here! Here!" in support of thoughtful, articulate commenting. Your artwork is deserving of no less and, frankly, it is tedious to wade through comments that wreak of the smell of jism.
I too have noticed a decided downturn in the quality of posted comments and long for the good old days.
Bizarro is nothing if not thought-provoking so perhaps we could get back to stressing creative thought and ease up on the juvenile provocation a tad.
I'm just sayin'...
"wreak of the smell of jism" is not juvenile at all. And, glancing at your profile pic, we all get that you "long for the good old days." No need to pound that message home.
Good ad hominem attack, Julie.
Please ease up on the juvenile provocation, jism-smelling Gramma.
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