SFChron: "Two Faces To Piraro's Art" ("Bizarro" Gets Censored)

[Bark Bark Bark]

When I saw the strip, I almost shat. I knew Piraro would be gettin' teh Haet Mail over this one.

What I didn't know--until today--was that it was only by accident that I saw the original strip at all. Or was it by "accident?" ;)

Bizarro joins Doonesbury and The Boondocks in the Censored-Comic-Strip Hall of Fame--which oddly enough STILL doesn't include Mallard Fillmore or Prickly City, even though I've found those bigoted scumfests MUCH more offensive on more than one occasion...

(IMPORTANT: Before anyone fires off a nasty e-mail to King Features, please read the article.)

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2005/08/13/MNG7GE7ISP1.DTL

(Piraro) said he had sent the "tame" version out with a black-and-white cartoon. Later, he went to color the cartoon, and when he did, he inadvertently used the version with the original gay-marriage-themed caption. So, around the country, newspapers that ran the cartoon in color ran "gay marriage," and those that ran it in black and white ran the "tame" version.

...

The issue was brought to The Chronicle's attention by a reader who saw a different version in the Sacramento Bee. Pam Dinsmore, assistant managing editor features at the Bee, said she had no idea there was more than one version, and that the newspaper simply ran the cartoon that was sent to it by the syndicate.

...

Piraro said he had a general sense that the nation was more divided politically than ever, and he blamed the Bush administration. Actually, he said the nation was more divided since "The Death Star with Darth Vader" came into power in Washington, but you get the drift.

"One accidental cartoon at a time, I'll drag this hillbilly nation of ours back out of the Dark Ages," Piraro wrote in his e-mail. "Well, probably not, but I can pretend."

...Yeah: "inadvertently." :) Nice one, Piraro. Keep 'em coming...one "accidental" cartoon at a time.

Both versions of the strip can be viewed in the article.

[Luminous Animal]

1. Funny thing

I can't stand Piraro. The "exceptable" version of the stip is typical and, in my opinion, devoid of humor.

[DavidDvorkin]

2. I've been a Piraro fan from the start

Even before he went political.

[Demeter]

3. WOW! Give Me the Original Anytime!

Red meat is better than rice cakes.