Saturday, March 3, 2012

The gangster with the golden arm plays death cards for the girls

"And the bad thing about the skeletal tarot is all the cards look like DEATH," tigris observed.

"A clearly-expressed wish was uttered," as they say Kai Lung said, so here are some more cards from the skeletal tarot:


In fact the right-hand one was originally a Gravatar in a 17th-century blogger interface, and the artist recycled the woodcut.

Bonus 1617 Gravatars:


And this scene doesn't really belong in the deck at all; it illustrates the popular backlash against a 1608 attempt to place a tax on Zorbing. These three gentlemen are saving half-a-thaler each by riding on top of the Zorb instead of inside, but they're wishing they had hand-holds to help them stay on.

9 comments:

ifthethunderdontgetya™³²®© said...

As a person headed to Las Vegas (Lost Wages) for the Ides of March, I feel this post has enhanced my luck.

Thank you, ladles and jelly-spoons of Riddled!
~

ifthethunderdontgetya™³²®© said...

P.S. Best not to taunt the orbs by poking them with sticks.
~

tigris said...

"The man who overcooks Hollandaise is shown by an arrow shot into a sand clock dividing goose from gander."

Substance McGravitas said...

Ha ha, the horn-tooting skeleton is so stinky the plants have wilted.

wiley said...

You know what scares me?

Skeleton geese with things sticking out of them with seemingly random do-hickies stuck on the things, while the skeleton geese stand on a strange orb or other thing that has a shape and that might symbolize something.

That sorta thing really rattles, ya know.

shudder

Hamish Mack said...

I had clean forgotten about Jim Skellington and his Horns of Doom. Sadly out of place in 1980's Aramoho the kids said,"We don't don't give a damn about some trumpet playin' band. It ain't what we call rock 'n roll."
Shooting arrows into the crowd did not win new fans, marketing department.

Smut Clyde said...

an arrow shot into a sand clock
I mistook it for a badly-drawn tulip. My bad.

Smut Clyde said...

Skeleton geese with things sticking out of them with seemingly random do-hickies stuck on the things, while the skeleton geese stand on a strange orb

I imagine that as a scene in a Svankmajer movie.

M. Bouffant said...

Hello, thaler.