Dan Piraro—creator of the innovative, acclaimed, and much-loved comic book, “Bizarro,” which he’s been drawing for more than 35 years and in which animals (talking and otherwise) often play a central role—investigates in a new “Talking Animals” interviews some of the notable changes he’s experienced, personally and professionally, since our last “Talking Animals” chat, in 2015.
Piraro begins by addressing the decision he and his current wife, Christy (aka Olive Oyl) made to move to Mexico just over five years ago, swept along by the political winds of change – Trump being appointed, no matter elected and disturbed after the move by the madness of the masks and more. (With Piraro’s permission, I’ve included a “Bizarro” cartoon that features dogs ironically dealing with the mask situation.)
After settling in San Miguel de Allende, a beautiful town that attracts many expats and has become an artists’ colony, Piraro becomes enthusiastic about life in Mexico, raves about the culture, the art scene of countries, and more. He observes that his new home has provided new artistic inspiration, which leads to a broader reflection on creativity, with Piraro suggesting that everyone can and should create. Somethingwhatever it is – it’s bringing something new into existence, he says, that’s important and exciting.
Piraro himself seems more than a little thrilled as he recounts the discovery that a new artistic impulse turned out to be the start of “Peyote Cowboy,” his graphic novel. He explains that he didn’t set out to create a graphic novel, but opened up to the story that seemed to be handed down to him, by writing it entirely, which he completed, and which he has little little illustrated, revealing new parts of the saga. to https://peyotecowboy.net/
Of course, he has more time for such activities since he made the momentous decision to retire from “Bizarro”. Discussing how he arrived at this significant career move, Piraro says the decision was driven in part by the fatigue of having to come up with a brand new viable joke every day for 35 years, and recognizing that at the cartoonist Wayno – who had already made some contributions to “Bizarro” – he had a colleague and a friend who could take on the day-to-day duties of the strip.
Therefore, Wayno creates most of the “Bizarro” of the week, while Piraro remains responsible for each Sunday’s comic. You really need to hear Piraro describe this unique symbiotic relationship, and how generous and complimentary he is to Wayno’s work on “Bizarro,” which, after all, is one of the most singular comics in the annals of cartooning. . But then, some would say you should hear this whole conversation, for a range of reasons, including his description of evolving from “a science-based atheist to a science-based mystic.”