Thursday, August 28, 2008

Tittering Terrorists

Today's Bizarro is dedicated to the memory of George W. Bush's credibility. Born, Sept 11, 2001 – Died, sometime thereafter, or never existed in the first place, depending on how perceptive you are.

Okay, I'm not going to get all political about how Bush's Chickenhawk Posse led us into a personally lucrative war against a red herring and ignored the folks who took down our towers. (I'm not one of those who think it was literally an inside job, sorry.) Or that he continues to ignore them and chase billions in profits at the expense of virtually every American citizen and millions of other folks around the world, and that John McSame agrees with him and will carry that torch further.

Instead, let's talk about how odd this idea is. I don't know where it came from, but I got a giggle when it passed by the cartoon picture window in my mind and thought I'd pass it on to you guys. I still like it weeks later, so that's a good sign.

I think this humor seed germinated from my memory of hearing the word "guerrilla" on the news when I was a kid in the late 1900s, and asking my parents why American soldiers were killing gorillas in Vietnam. From that amusing recollection, I jumped from synapse to synapse until I got to this scene in a cave in Afghanistan. (Presumably Afghanistan. We may never know where the hell Bin Laden is because our president has more important interests.)

Adding to the weirdness of this, a person emailed me the day this appeared in the paper, and said that Koko was making the American Sign Language symbol for "I love you." What? Get out! Stop it!

Apparently that is true, but I didn't know anything about sign language other than how to fake it when I'm feeling un-PC and grasping for lowbrow humor. I just made up gestures thinking the odds against them meaning anything were a blazillion to one. A stupid mistake, and not the first I've made in a comic.

So if you've been wondering: No, the "I love you" sign was not meant to be some subliminal message to terrorist sympathizers. I mean, geeez. It's not like I drew them engaged in a "terrorist fist jab" or something.

17 comments:

isee3dtoo said...

One of the funniest bits in a long time in my book. The misspelling gorilla comment made it all the better.

I just wondered if the "I love you" sign in Koko's left hand is part of the joke.

isee3dtoo said...

I meant to say "was" part of the joke. And I did note in the blog Dan explained it wasn't.

Anonymous said...

Well, it is different - I'll give you that. But funny? Not so much.

Fryewerk said...

Oh wow, blast from the past...I remember a Wham-o "Magic Window" floating around our house when I was a kid. Wonder what happened to it.

As for the cartoon- I can't help but speak politically and express how amazed that we never managed to get even with the guys that inflicted the horrors of 9/11/01 upon this country.

And to the idiots who believe it was an inside job meant to initiate a war with Iraq, don't you think they would have fabricated the whole plot so that Iraq appeared directly responsible? I mean our whole response made no sense- Al Queda, based in Afghanistan initiated a terrorist plot on the US that killed thousands, as a response, we go attack Iraq. Whaaa?

Jezzka said...

This one is beyond hilarity, so much so, i've soiled myself in my imaginary diapers.

maybe you can photoshop koko's index finger to a nub, that is the sign for "hang ten" in surfer lingo. not that it will make much more sense, but dude, koko is so gnarly.

i saw the dnc broadcast last night of biden's speech. i must say, the speech was well written and delivered. i am beginning to have hope...

Unknown said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Unknown said...

Yeah yeah, ok. I forget that this counts as a 'debate', given the general lack of rigor and evidence on all sides, rather than a bizarro public journal.

That aside, love todays comic. Plus, fear McNeedsACain!

julie said...

hey dan, this cartoon may me offer than you think. In addition to that left hand potentially being ASL for "I love you," it is also ASL for "airplane."

You make that sign with your hand, and then fly your hand like an airplane!

The other hand could be making the symbol for "what," so Koko might be asking, "what airplane?"

Incidentally ASL for gorilla is pounding your chest with your fists. It is also the current sign for US president.

L. Erskine said...

hahahaha lmao!

The comic was cute and that video was just amazing. I don't watch the news *at all* so this was new to me.

julie said...

ack... My autocorrect messes up my last post. I was trying to. I was trying to say the cartoon might be "odder" than you think- not "offer."

Ah, technology.

Anonymous said...

Fabulous cartoon. Clever and hysterically funny at the same time.

Mike Duffau said...

http://mikeduffau.blogspot.com/2008/08/monkey-business-for-mothers-boyfriend.html

Dan said...

Great Koko/Bin Laden gagDan! Only Bizarro! Keep 'em comin'

Dan
Distance Learning Hub
Television Review
Ballroom Dancing Hub

Anonymous said...

That video was some of the best Joe Scarborough I've ever seen. Actually maybe the only positive Joe Scarborough I've ever seen.

Nice comic by the way. :) I dig it.

Jeff said...

In regards to the video. I don't mind the fist-bump thing, but it seems a little "staged", "made-up", whatever you want to call it. It looks like something the DNC cooked up that everyone was supposed to embrace and do to one another.
It didn't really take off, and I bet you see it die away in a month or two.

Anonymous said...

I think the fist bump was just kind of a thing they did; if you watch the video of it, it was by no means a focal point of events. The fist bump in general has existed and been popular way before B-Rock did it with his wife on TV.

cabeza said...

nice use of a signing gorilla...I give it a 9!