Unidentified Flying Opera
I’m Dan Piraro, the creator of the Bizarro newspaper comic, and this is my weekly blog post. The large Sunday comic above is mine, as are all of the non-cartoon comments below.
Since January 2018, the Monday-Saturday Bizarro comics have been written and drawn by my comics partner, Wayno. For more fun, check out Wayno’s weekly blog post.
And here’s this week’s ANSWER KEY to my Sunday comic’s Secret Symbols.
Quickly: WHY WERE THERE ALMOST NO HIDDEN OBJECTS IN THIS PAST WEEK’S BIZARRO CARTOONS?!!! was a question I got a lot this week.
Since 2018, my partner in comics, Wayno, has written and drawn the Monday-Saturday Bizarro cartoons. When this past week’s cartoons were due to be submitted a few weeks ago, he was sick, so we nabbed a week of comics he did as a guest cartoonist over ten years ago. Back then, he was not the regular daily cartoonist and was not accustomed to packing each image with hidden stuff, so I didn’t insist on it. Yes, it was a scary week (see below!), but it’s over now, and the symbols are back for the foreseeable future.
Let’s progress to a more interesting topic.
My Sunday cartoon above is one of my favorites in a while. It’s a fun idea that was tons of fun to draw. I’m not a huge fan of sci-fi in general, and I’ve never believed that extraterrestrials have visited Earth, but in recent years I’ve changed my mind about that.
Following are three (of several) reasons for my shift.
1) In a universe as incomprehensibly big as ours (don’t even try to comprehend it, you can’t), to assume this is the only planet where intelligent life happened to occur (or was intentionally planted) seems foolish.
2) For many decades, lots of very well-educated, successful, and powerful people have had personal experiences with aircraft and phenomena not explainable by human technology.
3) Not long ago, an elderly relative of mine said they’d seen an interesting documentary about UFOs, and asked me to watch it. To be polite, I turned my head while I rolled my eyes, then agreed to watch it, expecting to be as unimpressed by a bunch of speculative nonsense as I usually am with such efforts. What else would you expect from a skeptical (but polite) know-it-all like me?
But no. The film was well-made, and the testimonies from important, well-educated people not given to nonsense were extremely compelling. I came away convinced.
Yes, there are some disreputable human beings in the film, like Marco Rubio, but also some much less detestible ones.
I will admit that I openly hope aliens are here and watching us so that they might save the rest of us from the worst of us. Fingers crossed.
It’s called “The Age of Disclosure” and is available on Amazon Prime. Go ahead and roll your eyes. I won’t be able to see you.
Lastly, I quite liked this short, 10-minute set from the rapid-fire mind of my stand-up comic friend, Myq Kaplan, and thought I’d share it. It’s free to watch on YouTube. (For some reason, this link starts a few seconds into the bit and misses the first line. Grab the red dot and run it back to the beginning to hear him ask a funny question that sets it up.)
FINALLY! Here’s the Secret-Symbol-bereft week of Bizarro comics from the rabid-fire mind and quick-drawing hands of my partner in comedy, Wayno…
For me, few things would describe hell better than a PowerPoint presentation. Or, come to think of it, any kind of business meeting.
Admittedly, this cartoon is funnier if you aren’t in jail for accessory to murder. Or, maybe that person would find it particularly hilarious, which is a little scary.
I’d have guessed this kid would be more attracted to DuckDuckGo.
I’m a fan of a few team sports (American football, ice hockey), but I can’t deny Jerry Seinfeld’s assertion that what we’re really rooting for is the uniform. It doesn’t matter what player it is; if they’re wearing your uniform of choice, they’re the good guy.
This is one of my all-time favorite Wayno gags. It always makes me laugh. (I’m laughing now.)
This joke is originally from well before the “stable genius” who is ruining America and the world had declared himself King, but it’s even more apropos now than it was way back then.
That slams the door on this week’s Hallway of Haha. I hope you chucked a chuckle or two. If you dig our groovy vibe and want to help us keep it free of ads and paywalls, please peruse the links below. We’ll giggle in our sleep as we dream of you.
The Naked Cartoonist…My every-other-week creative-writing subscription service.
Bizarro TIP JAR …One-time or repeating. Your choice!
WAYNO’S TIP JAR …One-time or repeating. Your choice!
My (free) graphic novel in progress, PEYOTE COWBOY.
Watch my pitch video and become a supporter of Peyote Cowboy here.
Super fun Bizarro swag from ComicsKingdom, including our 2026 Bizarro wall calendar. (Snag yours before it’s 2027!)