Yeah, they sure seem depressing. Nothing like opening up the comics page and getting a facefull of misery.
Why does the last one have a color/B&W slider?
Sorry, somehow missed the note about the slider.
Actually, it was accidental, in that I came across the b/w version first and saved it. Then when I saw the color one (on GoComics probably) and also saved that, I couldn’t decide which to use. Does color in itself lift one’s spirits even a little? Or just make the desperation a bit more ironic?
Incidentally, in the color version, I think the guy at the far right (not the doom prophet, the one past him) might be the same model as in the one I posted to a comment yesterday adjunct to the grouping with the cat and dog cooperating, with the guy who just got a promotion; the comment that Mark in Boston was replying to.
I never get the Bliss cartoons. Are they supposed to be funny? Serious? What are they? Why are they?
@Jason He certainly doesn’t get the “supposed to be funny” part of comics, but I guess that’s OK.
I like the cat one… the cat seems pretty blissful, and isn’t that how cats work? If there’s fun stuff to do – running, playing hunting, purring, eating – go and do it. If there isn’t, sleep 23 hours a day until things get better.
Reminds me also of Slartibartfast in The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy –
SLARTIBARTFAST:
Dead? No, we have but slept […] five million years ago the galactic economy collapsed, and seeing that custom built planets is something of a luxury commodity […] You know we built planets do you? […] Anyway, the recession came, so we decided to sleep through it. We just programmed the computers to revive us when it was all over. They were index linked to the galactic stock market prices you see, so that we’d be revived when everybody else had rebuilt the economy enough to be able to afford our rather expensive services again.
I think Bliss has a distribution of tone/attitude, on a cheerful-depressed axis. And these particular examples are from the negativity tail of the curve.
Harry Bliss and Steve Martin just co-authored a collection of one-panel cartoons called “A Wealth of Pigeons”. Generally Martin supplied the punch lines and Bliss provided the art work. From the samples I’ve seen, the humor is more Martin-esque and not Bliss-like depressing. It’s on my to-read list.
Blinky, I was going to mention that the “A Wealth of Pigeons” book was published about a year ago. But it turns out you were the one to mention it here in a comment, just over a year ago!
I like the last two Bliss comics, as a darkly satirical take on the past two years.
Depression isn’t funny.
I note that Bliss is a frequent contributor to the New Yorker. He’s required to have an obscure side. 🙂
Another version: Five million years ago both humans and cats developed skills which meant they could feed themselves efficiently, and no longer needed to spend all their time hunting food.
Humans developed art, poetry, literature, civilization … and war, slavery, poverty, and other ills of civilization.
Cats used that extra time to sleep a lot.
Who chose better?
@ Mitch-
I’ve really got to get busy with my “to read” list!
Comics I Don't Understand 
Yeah, they sure seem depressing. Nothing like opening up the comics page and getting a facefull of misery.
Why does the last one have a color/B&W slider?
Sorry, somehow missed the note about the slider.
Actually, it was accidental, in that I came across the b/w version first and saved it. Then when I saw the color one (on GoComics probably) and also saved that, I couldn’t decide which to use. Does color in itself lift one’s spirits even a little? Or just make the desperation a bit more ironic?
Incidentally, in the color version, I think the guy at the far right (not the doom prophet, the one past him) might be the same model as in the one I posted to a comment yesterday adjunct to the grouping with the cat and dog cooperating, with the guy who just got a promotion; the comment that Mark in Boston was replying to.
I never get the Bliss cartoons. Are they supposed to be funny? Serious? What are they? Why are they?
@Jason He certainly doesn’t get the “supposed to be funny” part of comics, but I guess that’s OK.
I like the cat one… the cat seems pretty blissful, and isn’t that how cats work? If there’s fun stuff to do – running, playing hunting, purring, eating – go and do it. If there isn’t, sleep 23 hours a day until things get better.
Reminds me also of Slartibartfast in The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy –
SLARTIBARTFAST:
Dead? No, we have but slept […] five million years ago the galactic economy collapsed, and seeing that custom built planets is something of a luxury commodity […] You know we built planets do you? […] Anyway, the recession came, so we decided to sleep through it. We just programmed the computers to revive us when it was all over. They were index linked to the galactic stock market prices you see, so that we’d be revived when everybody else had rebuilt the economy enough to be able to afford our rather expensive services again.
I think Bliss has a distribution of tone/attitude, on a cheerful-depressed axis. And these particular examples are from the negativity tail of the curve.
Harry Bliss and Steve Martin just co-authored a collection of one-panel cartoons called “A Wealth of Pigeons”. Generally Martin supplied the punch lines and Bliss provided the art work. From the samples I’ve seen, the humor is more Martin-esque and not Bliss-like depressing. It’s on my to-read list.
Blinky, I was going to mention that the “A Wealth of Pigeons” book was published about a year ago. But it turns out you were the one to mention it here in a comment, just over a year ago!
https://comicsidontunderstand.com/2020/11/13/at-the-gallery/comment-page-1/#comment-71520
I like the last two Bliss comics, as a darkly satirical take on the past two years.
Depression isn’t funny.
I note that Bliss is a frequent contributor to the New Yorker. He’s required to have an obscure side. 🙂
Another version: Five million years ago both humans and cats developed skills which meant they could feed themselves efficiently, and no longer needed to spend all their time hunting food.
Humans developed art, poetry, literature, civilization … and war, slavery, poverty, and other ills of civilization.
Cats used that extra time to sleep a lot.
Who chose better?
@ Mitch-
I’ve really got to get busy with my “to read” list!