Open Stacks
Last week's "issues" • Your cartoonist speaks • Plus: Footnotes!
Happy Saturday, Bizarro Buddies.
I apologize to anyone who received last week’s newsletter twice. It was scheduled to be sent automatically at 11:00 AM. It was published online as it should have been but wasn’t emailed. I checked my Substack dashboard a few times to try to determine if I had messed up the settings and didn’t set it to be emailed. After a while, I created a duplicate post for immediate publication and emailing.
Of course, by 11:30 AM, I received two email newsletters, and I assume you all did as well.
Only after that did I dig around the site and discover that Substack was “experiencing issues” that morning.
I probably panicked a little when nothing was delivered, as Substack has been reliable and stable since I moved my newsletter there in January 2024. If something like that happens in the future, I’ll take a deep breath and check if there are any system-wide issues before taking any rash action.
Your regular newsletter will now return…
Honoring my childhood tradition of watching hours of animated cartoons on Saturday mornings, I share a six-pack of stationary cartoons each week via the WaynoBlog. The new post is ready for you to enjoy with a big bowl of sugar-laden cereal if you like.
Recently, I’ve been drawing such things as bowling pins, fuzzy slippers, sore thumbs, magician’s props, and comfy furniture.
Looking Ahead & Looking Back
You’ll have to wait until August to find out what’s bothering this fellow.
In 2021, I made a drawing of Bill Griffith’s Zippy celebrating the character’s first fifty years of surrealism and non-sequiturs. The piece was included in an auction of Zippy-related art sponsored by the National Cartoonists Society to raise funds for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.
I may have had this in my subconscious when I did the recent “Alaska Four-9” panel.
Looking back just a couple of days, I had the pleasure of speaking to the Pittsburgh Society of Illustrators about illustration and cartooning to a group of colleagues on Thursday evening. Worker Bird Studio hosted the event, and we had a friendly crowd and a lot of great questions.
Thanks to Michael Canton for the photo. Mike is the host and producer of The Soul Show, available worldwide on the African American Public Radio Consortium, PRX, NPR Distribution, and Public Radio Satellite System.
Tipping My Hat to Colleagues and Heroes
Thursday’s Bizarro included nods to several cartoon colleagues and inspirations, as seen in this closeup detail.
On the top shelf, left to right, I shouted out to:
Liniers, creator of the delightful Macanudo comic strip.
The Mad Peck and Les Daniels, whose 1971 book Comix was one of the first serious books about the history of comics.
Ivor Cutler, who was not a cartoonist but an eccentric Scottish poet. I first heard his unique blend of poetry and music on his 1974 album, Dandruff. Cutler was an occasional actor and played Buster Bloodvessel in the Beatles' 1967 film Magical Mystery Tour.
Gentleman Cartoonist Keith Knight, creator of (Th)ink and many other great comics.
Arcade magazine, an underground comix anthology edited by Art Spiegelman and Bill Griffith. Arcade only published seven issues from 1975 to 1976, but it made a deep impression on me, and almost every issue featured one of my favorite underground cartoonists, Willy Murphy.
Dave Blazek, my good friend who creates the award-winning Loose Parts panel.
Acknowledged on the middle shelf, left to right, are:
Ernie Bushmiller, venerated creator of Nancy, Sluggo, and Fritzi Ritz.
Jazz, a musical style that sustains me.
Rhymes With Orange, a comic with hilarious gags by Rina Piccolo and Hilary Price (who operate much like Dan Piraro and I do).
Hey, Look!, a series of wacky filler pages that appeared in various comic books in the late 1940s. The feature was written and drawn by Harvey Kurtzman, who went on to create MAD in the 1950s.
Watson, the funny, sweet, and weird comic created by my dear pal Jim Horwitz, who is also funny, sweet, and weird.
Finally, the bottom shelf, top to bottom, references the following:
Barnaby, the fanciful comic strip by Crockett Johnson, who is best known for his classic book Harold and the Purple Crayon. Barnaby ran from 1942 to 1952.
Bill Griffith’s Mister Toad (also known as Mister the Toad).
Virgil Partch, one of my all-time favorite cartoonists, whom I have probably mentioned many times in the past.
After all these citations, I think your eyeballs deserve a rest, so I’ll close the newsletter here.
Thank you for your support and for being a valued reader.
With best wishes from your cartoonist,
Wayno
Thanks for all the details about the "Little Library." I didn't look that close to see or even understand what all these meant. I am saving this email to add to my list of "books to read." Thank you. This panel was my favorite from the week. I shared it with a friend of mine who oversees one of these Little Free Libraries.
How in the hell did I miss my favorite cartoonist on Substack? Thank gawd this has been rectified.