Bizarro is brought to you today by Camera Phone Self-PortraitsCHNW and I are big fans of the cell phone camera self-portrait. Well, it's CHNW mostly, she can't resist taking dozens of pics of us doing nothing. She does it everywhere: on the street, on the motorcycle, on vacation, sitting on the couch watching TV, hiding the bodies of our enemies in the backyard. I often remind her that one of these photos could come back to bite us in the ass one day, but she will not relent.
She takes photos of lots of others things, as well. She has I-don't-know-how-many cameras and uses them relentlessly. I must admit she's got a great eye, many of her photos are really beautiful.
On the other end of the spectrum, something that is the opposite of beautiful is any of my cartoons from my first couple of years of Bizarro. Posted here is one from my very first year, maybe even the first couple of months. The joke is "meh," the art is horrendous, the border is as thick and chunky as Tex-Mex salsa, the lettering is some nondescript psuedo-comic book-looking crap. And what was with that signature? Was I trying to replicate an auto parts logo?Quite honestly, I didn't know what I was doing. It does, however, show my affinity for deadpan comments and hats, even then.
I decided recently to randomly pull things like this out of my archives to share with you on each blog post. Hope you enjoy it.
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15 comments:
Hey Dan, don't be so hard on yourself! I actually thought the shepherd comic was funny.
I don't know what you're talking about, Dan; I love the old, old Bizarro strips. Keep them coming, please! I have all your old books. True, they're in my crapper*, but I have 'em.
* For reading, not for wiping. :)
Well I for one love that old panel. I remember when it came out and (here I am hoping for your lenience and benevolence) I even scanned it years ago since as a professor of Hebrew Bible I like to sprinkle my lectures with the odd bit of humor. Since I lack any of my own I am forced to rely upon the talent of others.
BTW in my years of reading I believe you have done more Adam/Eve/Creation comics than anyone else. I am teaching a course on Gen. 1-3 and I believe I could do the entire semester just with your comics on the topic. Hmmm. There's an idea....
As you browse your archive, if you stumble across one from 1999 with two guys and a barrel of monkeys, it's one of my favorites. I cut it out of the paper and now it's all yellow and tattered. I've always wondered why the two guys spoke in different fonts and capitalization.
I love 'em both,
I understand that you are self-critical because of the evolution you've gone through and the progress you've made, but I thought the old one was great!
I liked both the joke and the artwork!
Hello, thought you might be "amused" (considering you're not being paid for it) by this, which I found while thumbing through the Internet.
I guess all artists develop and their ability and style changes over time, but I still like your early stuff, artwork and all. I like that the lettering is different from that of typical cartoonist's and that the artwork is different too. That's what originally caught my eye about Bizarro.
By the way, is the lower left plaid stallion Chief Justice Roberts? I think so!
I love the shepherds/hats one. Maybe it takes me back to a forgotten moment in 1985 when I had a good cup of coffee and a newspaper on the table. As I recall, it was perfect in its time, and it still works. Maybe I like a chunky border now and then. The printing fits their voices and what can I say, the signature: you were a young pup.
CHNW's cows and chickens pic is suitable for framing. The self portraits cartoon - I'm stealing that joke for the next party where someone's doing that (except I'll credit you). There. I think I covered everything except the polyester models.
Hehehe, thanks for the laughs. I am so pooped today, er tonight? its 48 past midnight here so,
tomidnight.
good 48 past midnight here. after noon there. sorry. my wiring is hay.
The art is "horrendous"? Clearly you don't read the comics pages. Ever seen "Crock"? or "Momma"?
I enjoyed your old comic. I assumed it was created by a totally different cartoonist — and in a sense it was. Appreciate seeing an example of how style in drawing and writing can change over time. Thanks!
P.L. Frederick (Small & Big)
@M Bouffant...thanks for the link, that's very cool. I hadn't seen it before.
The first one made me laugh out loud hard, and the second one actually did, too! I like this archived cartoon thing :)
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