Monday, April 27, 2009

Deer John












(Click image for a larger, clearer, more satisfying view.)

Bizarro is brought to you today by Cool Cops.

I used to go hunting with my dad when I was a kid and I admit that I really loved it. It wasn't the killing of animals that I enjoyed, it was the "man time" with my father that made it great. And, of course, the challenge of hitting a target appeals to a kid the same way a video game does.

As an adult, I have no tolerance for hunting for reasons other than immediate survival. Hunting in modern society is simply killing for fun. I can think of few things more reprehensible, with the possible exception of being a reality show producer.

From my current perspective, however, buying dead animals at the market is no better and arguably even worse. At least wild animals have a decent life before they get snuffed. The corpses in the deli case at the market were miserable from birth to slaughter. Since we don't need to eat flesh for health or survival, our only excuse is that it tastes good. It is difficult to argue that killing for flavor is any better than hunting for fun. We're just paying someone else to do the dirty work.

Sermons aside, I wrote this gag because I am a fan of cartoons that look like one thing but are revealed to be something different upon reading. I write those kinds of jokes every chance I get. The art on this one was fun to produce, too. Achieving the colors of twilight in the woods and the beam of the car's headlights was a kick. I like the way it looks on computer, but newspaper printing processes are not nearly as bright so this cartoon looked darker and murky in print. With something like this, it's impossible to get both to look good.

I hope you have enjoyed the few seconds you have spent reading my little blog. If you would like to read other entries, please do so now.

13 comments:

Chriss Pagani said...

"I am a fan of cartoons that look like one thing but are revealed to be something different upon reading."

..Totally concur. This one was my favorite cartoon in the papers for that entire week. :)

Nowax said...

Loved the comic and the surprise ending. It provided much needed relief as I read while on hold with the IRS. :-X

Nowax said...

Hmmm, was that one link a suggestion on how to deal with door-to-door proselytizers? Neat! (I should post that on my door. I've been "targeted" in my very religious community and get "visits" by these people all the time.)

Vladhed said...

I hear yah. I raise chickens for eggs of which slaughtering the males is an unfortunate part. While I hate to kill them, we always eat them knowing that we're doing our own dirty work and that for their short 16 week life, they were free to frolick in the sun and rain, in the garden, the compost pile and in the cedar forest - makes for tasty chicken.

isee3dtoo said...

When I was a young one, one of my dad's colleagues (they did local delivery of groceries to small Mom & Pop markets and restaurants) hit a deer on his way into town which was just 3 miles away. He stopped and decided to salvage the kill but not to piss off the boss he tied it to the top of the truck. This is not a hugh semi but a small panel truck. Well, as all these types of stories go, it wasn't 100% dead and as he drove into town he said everyone he saw on the street was pointing at him and then he caught glimpse of the truck's shadow and knew why. Bambi had come back to life and was standing as well as Bambi could with the legs tied down. Well it doesn't get pretty after that...

I think it would have been cool to see a deer truck surfing.

And on another note, an aunt of mine lives in Montana, on one visit to her place I noticed an insurance claim on the table that said "Car struck by deer" so I asked. And in fact the deer jumped out and hit her door causing multiple hundreds in damage. What was equally odd was she gave me a newspaper for that week and it had another 4 incidents in it where deer hit the car. It is major problem in fall as the herds move south for the winter. Not as bad in the spring.

Jezzka said...

this cartoon is pretty awesome. i totally enjoyed the intention behind the way you drew the cartoon; its great.

my folks live in a remote area up in the mountain tops, to get there the roads are windy and driving in late at night, i find it to be like a video game. in the back of my mind around each turn a deer can easily jump out. it has happened to me many times and i had to slam on my breaks on several occasions to let a family of little deery poos go by. some times the mother deer would just stare into my headlights while the youngens trot off. i have to say it is most unnerving, but also really awesome to get to see.

even though i am undoubtably a city girl, i love wildlife and am always quite fascinated by nature. we use to have red foxes that came to our deck growing up, they would look at us through the window while we were having dinner. i guess the smell of food attracted them. i always wanted to open the screen door and invite them in. "why come in little red fox", i would say, but of course my mother wouldn't let us, she is a prude for uninvited guests. so what if they could potentially maul our faces...they were cute! haha.

doug nicodemus said...

i cut that out and put it on my fridge

hahahaha

Annette Levy said...

I clicked on the panel for a closer look, and I spotted a few tiny doodles of yours scattered throughtout the cartoon; alien ship, little birdy, piece of pie, stick of TNT, fish tail, etc.

I agree with you 100% about the meat packing and hunting industries. Killing for fun is not only unethical, it's disgusting. People are just not meat eaters at heart.

"If you put a rabbit and an apple in a baby's crib, and the baby eats the rabbit and plays with the apple, I'll buy you a new car."
~~~~Harvey Diamond

Karl said...

This cartoon is a great advertisement for support of MADD(Motorists Against Drunken Deer).

As many humans have learned, drunken deer should never drive themselves home.

Anonymous said...

I liked the name on the license plate.

Anonymous said...

This comic brought me more than a sad little smile, Mr. Piraro. The artwork is admirably done too; ofcourse I do love almost all of your work (that I've seen), so I might be biased ;)

TC.

ur Fan,
Dee Sh

Anonymous said...

This may be the Bizarro Cartoon of the Year. Incredibly creative.

Lindita! said...

I frankly disagree dan, even though I am not a fan of hunting for fun or killing animals for fur I think that sadly eating animal products is a very important part of the diet and we wouldn't have evolved if we didn't do it.