Monday, January 25, 2010

How Naked Was He?











(To make the cartoon really bigger, click on the Whippoorwill's wattle.)

Bizarro is brought to you today by Citizens Against Public Nudity.

This was a fun cartoon to draw with all its little bird people. I like to draw birds and some of my favorites are featured in the header panel for this cartoon, shown below. Some papers use these panels, some use thinner ones like this or this, some use none, depends on how comics section is laid out.

Some of the birds at left are tattooed on my right forearm, as a matter of fact. Looky here.

I got a few emails last week from people who didn't understand this cartoon. The joke hinges on the expression, "naked as a Jaybird." I'm not sure if people who didn't get the joke just didn't make the connection or had simply never heard the expression. Where I come from, people say this sort of thing all the time.

That's all for today, go forth this week and conquer your kingdom with sparkles.

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

Love the birds! Any chance of getting this as a poster?

Anonymous said...

The confusion may arise from the fact that flashers aren't naked. Perhaps "the streaker was a jaybird" would work better?

Luis said...

So, why no hats for the chickens/roosters? Wattle people think?

Unknown said...

i don't think i ever heard that expression before either. I know that I have heard an expression with the word jaybird, but it was not referring to nudity. i can't remember what it was referring to.

when i was a kid my mom always used the phrase "birthday suit" to refer to nudity, but i didn't quite get that at first. i thought it meant you were dressed nicely for a party, as you would do on your birthday. then they explained that it's what you wear on the day you were born, which is nothing.

Anonymous said...

I've heard it used elsewhere, but mainly because my grandmother would say, "naked as a jaybird" sometimes, I got this cartoon right away and love it! And I also love your bird drawings, especially the chickens. Some of your more whimsical birds remind me a bit of Edward Gorey's bird art.

Anonymous said...

I grew up hearing the expression, too, but I admit it's been a while since last I'd heard it. I wouldn't be shocked if they'd simply never heard of it before this.

Also, I must know: are you telling us to go throw glitter into the eyes of people to overthrow the government and build up kingdoms in our names?

Anonymous said...

Re: birthday suit -- I've always liked the expression "If god had meant us to be naked, we would have been born that way."

doug nicodemus said...

aren't all birds naked? or is there some little bird shop that sells clothes...maybe little hats and scarves too...

hahahaha

Anonymous said...

i love your birds with floating hats, Dan. you are one of my idols.

-Drew

Spurwing Plover said...

The flasher jaybird oh my gosh and he is still on the loose

Kee Bird said...

Just got to beware of those jaybirds their always flashing