Mental Machine Music
Sneaky stapling, framed cartoon art, and a visit to my tavern
Your cartoonist hopes that the bitterest winter weather is over and that we can look forward to the start of spring in just nineteen days.
Of course, we’ll have to endure the transition to daylight saving time next weekend, but I’m confident we’ll be okay.
Today, let’s celebrate making it through another month with the first blog entry for March.
Characters in the week of gags I just finished included a judge, a remote worker returning to the office, military personnel, stand-up comics, and ballet dancers.
Looking Ahead & Looking Back
You’ll discover why this sailor is assigned extra duties in a few months.
Our archival art is a 1999 poster for Doug Frisby’s independent film, Phantom George. I believe I had a VHS copy to use as a reference, but it’s long gone. The short film was about a hapless guy named George who discovered at an early age that he could inhabit other people’s bodies via astral projection. In the end, he got stuck in someone else’s body but was unable to leave.
I sometimes abbreviated my signature as W’o, emulating the signatures of renowned underground cartoonist and lowbrow painter Robert Williams (Robt. Wms.) and jack-of-all-trades artist Mitch O’Connell (M.o’C).
Here I am cozying up to the lovely Mr. O’Connell during his 2007 solo art exhibit in Pittsburgh.
He even drew a pipe pic in my sketchbook and signed it with his spiffy monogram.
Friday’s Spotify gag prompted a message from a friend I worked with a million years ago when we toiled in an office environment. My friend CB and I were the young smart-asses in the department, and we routinely cringed when some of the more senior employees would start the day by clipping their fingernails at their desks.
I had forgotten about my contribution to the noise level on our floor. CB wrote:
I can still hear that industrial stapler sound you would blast through your cubicle wall... every...single... time. KaJonk! KaJonk! KaJonk! So great.
That KaJonk! was the sound of me assembling minicomix using a heavy-duty saddle stapler (which I still own). I wonder how I was not fired from that job. I can only guess that management figured I had extra thick fingernails.
My Fictional Side Business
My good friend and brother-in-ink Dave Blazek made me spit my Sunday morning coffee when I spotted my name in his award-winning comic Loose Parts. Now, he’s entitled to free drinks for life at Wayno’s Pub.
Gilding the Silly
Jim Blanchard, another of my super-talented friends, recently posted this impressively-framed print of a 2019 Bizarro cartoon.
Jim’s wild cartoons and finely detailed portraits are stunning. My all-time favorite is his 24 by 30-inch halftone painting of Ernest Borgnine.
Marvel at Jim’s mastery by visiting JimBlanchard.com.
This is approaching the limit for an email message, so I’ll close the newsletter here. This Week in Bizarro History will be back next time.
Thank you for your support, readership, pipe pics, comments, and questions. I appreciate every citizen of the Bizarro comics community.
With best wishes from your cartoonist,
Wayno
Thanks for the link to Jim Blanchard's site! I looked at it and already ordered some stuff! Very cool work! I love your Kurt Russell Terrier cartonn and that frame! Wow! I just have no words for that frame! It'sjawdropping!