Is the live stick of dynamite in the bottom left-hand corner of Detached Irony Man pro forma or something? Ditto for the eyeball and the crown, but when presented with the three I would most want explanations about the first.
Great horny toads!
But why does Sam have to threaten to shoot the official go get his “sheepskin”?
He’s being willfully presented his degree.
Razzin-frazzin..grumble-grumble…
(I’d love an accurate transcript of Sam’s rants.)
Cream of Wheat, those have nothing to do with the comic itself. See
@ Arthur & C. of W. – The “4” next to the signature indicates how many secret “Easter egg” symbols are hidden in the panel (the last one being the unmissable spaceship immediately adjacent).
@Arthur, @Kilby thank you. So there is no real connection even between the themes of the comic and the meanings assigned to the symbols therein? It is sort of a shout out to fans?
I took my time reading the Yosemite Sam speech balloons before I got to the caption; boy, did that pay off.
@ Cream of Wheat – I don’t think there is any sort of significance or meaning implied by the symbols, they seem to be entirely random “Easter eggs”. There seem to be more of them since Wayno took over the daily panels (usually at least three), and the larger Sunday strips have often had more. Originally, they were not so ubiquitous; occasionally there would be a panel without any at all.
I couldn’t dig out archival examples to point to, but it’s my impression that occasionally there is a connection between one of the planted objects and the main content of the panel art. Like, if it’s a situation where there actually could be expected to have a pie slice, or a stick of dynamite. Like a diner or lunch counter, with the old-fashioned pastry display.
From Wikipedia:
Bizarro cartoons since 1995 include one or more of these devices hidden somewhere in the cartoon:
an eyeball (the Eyeball of Observation),
a piece of pie (the Pie of Opportunity),
a rabbit (the Bunny of Exuberance),
an alien in a spaceship (the Flying Saucer of Possibility),
the abbreviation “K2” (referring to Piraro’s children Krelspeth and Krapuzar),
a crown (the Crown of Power),
a stick of dynamite (the Dynamite of Unintended Consequences),
a shoe (the Lost Loafer),
an arrow (The Arrow of Vulnerability),
a fish tail (The Fish of Humility)
an upside down bird (the Inverted Bird)
Olive Oyl, or the abbreviation “O2” (the Mighty Oyl) (first occurrences in May 2017)
As of 2008, Piraro indicates how many symbols are hidden in each strip with a number above his signature.
Comics I Don't Understand 
Is the live stick of dynamite in the bottom left-hand corner of Detached Irony Man pro forma or something? Ditto for the eyeball and the crown, but when presented with the three I would most want explanations about the first.
Great horny toads!
But why does Sam have to threaten to shoot the official go get his “sheepskin”?
He’s being willfully presented his degree.
Razzin-frazzin..grumble-grumble…
(I’d love an accurate transcript of Sam’s rants.)
Cream of Wheat, those have nothing to do with the comic itself. See
https://bizarro.com/secret-symbols/
@ Arthur & C. of W. – The “4” next to the signature indicates how many secret “Easter egg” symbols are hidden in the panel (the last one being the unmissable spaceship immediately adjacent).
Is Bizarro saying the style of humor of Michael J. Nelson of RiffTrax (and MST3K) is “detached irony”? (https://www.rifftrax.com/plan-9-from-outer-space)
Well then, where’s yer bowling league shirt?
@Arthur, @Kilby thank you. So there is no real connection even between the themes of the comic and the meanings assigned to the symbols therein? It is sort of a shout out to fans?
I took my time reading the Yosemite Sam speech balloons before I got to the caption; boy, did that pay off.
@ Cream of Wheat – I don’t think there is any sort of significance or meaning implied by the symbols, they seem to be entirely random “Easter eggs”. There seem to be more of them since Wayno took over the daily panels (usually at least three), and the larger Sunday strips have often had more. Originally, they were not so ubiquitous; occasionally there would be a panel without any at all.
I couldn’t dig out archival examples to point to, but it’s my impression that occasionally there is a connection between one of the planted objects and the main content of the panel art. Like, if it’s a situation where there actually could be expected to have a pie slice, or a stick of dynamite. Like a diner or lunch counter, with the old-fashioned pastry display.
From Wikipedia:
Bizarro cartoons since 1995 include one or more of these devices hidden somewhere in the cartoon:
an eyeball (the Eyeball of Observation),
a piece of pie (the Pie of Opportunity),
a rabbit (the Bunny of Exuberance),
an alien in a spaceship (the Flying Saucer of Possibility),
the abbreviation “K2” (referring to Piraro’s children Krelspeth and Krapuzar),
a crown (the Crown of Power),
a stick of dynamite (the Dynamite of Unintended Consequences),
a shoe (the Lost Loafer),
an arrow (The Arrow of Vulnerability),
a fish tail (The Fish of Humility)
an upside down bird (the Inverted Bird)
Olive Oyl, or the abbreviation “O2” (the Mighty Oyl) (first occurrences in May 2017)
As of 2008, Piraro indicates how many symbols are hidden in each strip with a number above his signature.