Howdy, Bizarro Buckaroos.
Gather ‘round the campfire for a plate of verbal pork and beans and a tin cup of cartoon coffee.
Today’s blog recounts a pivotal memory from my days as a teenage would-be cartoonist.
I’ve been happily busy at the drawing board, enjoying a few highly productive weeks, while knowing it can’t last forever. I just polished off a batch of gags set in an airport, a spaceship, eighteenth-century Austria, a psychologist’s office, and a conference room, and am officially halfway through 2025’s comic quota.
Looking Ahead & Looking Back
Lost luggage is never funny, but we’ll give it a shot this summer.
My drawing of Maila “Vampira” Nurmi and Tor Johnson was based on a still from the notorious Ed Wood film Plan 9 From Outer Space.
I made the drawing for a 2018 Bizarro panel.
I have to wonder if it was recognizable in print, given the way some newspapers drastically reduce the size of comics.
More Ancient Texts
Another CD review from Cool & Strange Music Magazine
Fantastic Plastic Machine:
The Fantastic Plastic Machine
Emperor Norton Records 1998DJ/producer Tomoyuki Tanaka a/k/a Fantastic Plastic Machine is the latest member of Tokyo's Shibuya-ku club scene to snag a deal with an American label, following a trail blazed by the likes of Pizzicato Five, Cornelius and Kahimi Karie.
Tanaka wears his influences on his sleeve -- the music on FPM exhibits an unbridled affection for light 1960s pop, bossa nova & samba, Italian movie soundtracks, and just about everything else that gets lumped under the “exotica” umbrella these days.
The album has the optimistic feel of a cartoon travelogue, and is quite enchanting, although a change of mood now and then would be welcome. Digital samples from his large record collection are interwoven with musical performances by Tanaka himself and various guest players, and polished to a high electronic sheen, creating a breezy, very listenable aural concoction.
This writer's favorite track, 'Dear Mr. Salesman', is a delightful frolic, reminiscent of Neal Hefti's peppy film music. A marvelously breathy vocal by Pizzicato Five's Maki Nomiya is complemented by interjections sampled from a Jonathan Winters album! Curiously, the samples are not credited, although the liner notes acknowledge the guy who operated the turntable. Let's hope these appropriations were cleared, and that Mister Winters is receiving due compensation for providing the song's hook.
As with most music intended for the dance floor, parts of FPM are repetitious and tend to go on a bit, but overall it provides an entertaining listening experience, even for those disinclined toward booty-shaking under the disco ball.
I know you’re dying to hear “Dear Mr. Salesman,” so here it is:
This Week in Bizarro History
Laffs From the Past
I’m not sure why, but I love employing inanimate objects as characters in a gag. If I can do it with a musical angle, all the better.
This panel remains one of my favorites of 2024, although it was quite the pain to draw and to color.
If I ever visit Wales, I’d like to be photographed at this railway station.
Thank you for your support, readership, pipe pics, comments, and questions. Please keep them coming. Your input makes the newsletter much better.
With best wishes from your cartoonist,
Wayno
In the music clip, at around :28 and elsewhere, I heard the melody from “You’re Going to be Mine”.
Another commenter on the Youtube video said the melody reminded them of Sunshine Superman by Donovan.
The flute and bagpipe ’toon reminds me of the 3/23/12 Bizarro, “Hold up, someone’s out of ‘toon”. A favorite!