Bananas give off ethylene, which makes other fruit ripen more quickly, which is kind of analogous to zombies turning other people into zombies.
Except that only ripening bananas give off ethylene, but that’s all I got…
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Comics I Don't Understand 
This is about Los Platanos vs the yellow CIA Impersonators
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Los Plantanos Are Not Yellow
Planted in the fertile jungles of politically charged South America, Pedro and Pablo Plantain grew up as products of a corrupt military regime led by the whimsically evil Sock Puppet Dictator. A cult of colored-food-hating racists, the Plantains’ third-world oppressors forced all bright fruits and vegetables to sit at the back of tractors, use dry watering holes, and obey pre-dawn curfews. The situation was less publicized than apartheid, but just as bad.
But Pedro and Pablo hated being treated like animals. The Sock Dictator’s soldiers would spray their family members with pesticides when they came home late. The mean militiamen would put Scarlet Letter-ish stickers on the Plantains’ torsos if they forgot to wear their government-sanctioned uniforms. And if any pigmented fruits or vegetables would publicly express dissent, their tormentors would hang them from trees.
Belittled and furious, the brave Plantain brothers secretly gathered together a group of freedom-fighting guerillas to wage war against colored-fruit persecution. Preaching liberation, equality, and independence for all pigmented seed plants, the charismatic Twins quickly gained a faithful following amongst farmers, tomatoes, and avocados all along the countryside.
But while the Plantains’ intentions were sincere, their resources were scarce. After months of hitchhiking in disguise to makeshift rallies and dressing up as coconuts to sell packages of Chiclets on the streets, Los Platanos realized there was only way to free themselves and their fellow vibrant fruits: mucho dinero. Yes, the Plantain Twins needed pesos, lots and lots of pesos. Burdened with responsibility and inspired by Che Guevara, the Twins left their beloved homeland and headed to America, in the hopes of raising cash on the U.S.’s politically-conscious colleges and universities.
Soon after arriving to America as stowaways on a banana boat, Los Plantanos were sidetracked from their campaign for plantain liberation by the thrill of adventure in American cities like Miami, New York, Boston and Los Angeles. Los Platanos had never before witnessed anything quite like shopping malls, swimming pools, and the Cable channel E!, so they became easily distracted by America’s opulence. Not being able to stay in one place for very long, the Plantain Twins quickly developed a reputation for low attention spans, thrill-seeking whims, and a deep love for good ol’ fashion fun. But somehow Plantain fun always turned into trouble.
Trouble found the Twins at a “Making Millions is Easy” seminar when Los Platanos stumbled upon two yellow fruits calling themselves Pablo and Pedro Plantain who were giving a motivational speech entitled, “How To Earn Billions By Pretending You’re a South American Freedom Fighter.”
As the Twins’ discovered in the lecture, the imposter plants had stolen their Social Security numbers and taken their respected Plantain name to the bank by wrestling on the underground circuit. The imposters looked like big yellow plantains (some would argue they looked similar to bananas) and they billed themselves as a tag-team wonder. Anyway, to make a long story short, the real Plantain Twins wrestled the imposters in a Grudge Match, lawfully won back their identities, and got offered contracts in Kaiju. The rest is Kaiju Big Battel history.
And whatever happened to the Plantain Twins freedom fighting South American brothers, you ask? Well, the entire extended family of Los Plantanos are now funded with monster-wrestling prize money provided by Pedro and Pablo. So, the good fight for liberation goes on: freedom-fighting Plantains battle oppression and injustice in the South American jungle, and Pedro and Pablo battel oppression and injustice in the Kaiju Big Battel ring.
http://www.kaiju.com/commentary_pedro.htm
In commercial practice, bananas are treated with ethylene to ripen them after shipping (before delivery to stores). I wasn’t aware that bananas produce as much ethylene as (for instance) apples. That said, it’s definitely a “contagious zombie” joke. You can’t expect a cartoonist to be a botanical expert about exactly when a certain fruit starts passing gas.
I think the cartoonist saw plantains in the grocery section and just thought, “Hey, they’re dead bananas” and thus went on.
I think you are all thinking too hard. It think is just rotten fruits are are equivalent of zombies.
I’m with woozy. I’m guilty of buying bananas and letting the last few of them go bad. Cartoonist’s imagination probably just went from there. First the bananas turn, then they go after the others.
“Bananas give off ethylene, which makes other fruit ripen more quickly, which is kind of analogous to zombies turning other people into zombies.“
I certainly admire your knowledge about fruit, but yeah I think the previous commenters have got it.
Mark M, I did say “best guess”: if I had any real confidence this is what Pagelow meant, I wouldn’t have posted it.
Bananas take a very long time to be unusable. The use changes. My brother-in-law is friends with a guy that owns a small market who often give BIL bananas that have gone pretty ripe. My sister uses some in smoothies and has been making banana bread. I suggested that the owner should start selling “bag bananas” by putting the overripe ones in a paper bag and selling cheap. Even .50/lb is better than giving or throwing away.
“Bananas take a very long time to be unusable.” No, they don’t. They are always unusable.
” Even .50/lb is better than giving or throwing away.” No, the only thing better than throwing the disgusting things away is never having them enter the store in the first place.
Bananas are vile and gross. I hate them with a passion.
Don’t hold back, woozy, tell us what you really think.
Most people have fruit varieties they don’t like. I can’t stand grapefruit and don’t care for apricots. Bananas I like. I eat four to five per week. Some on oatmeal, which my niece shuddered at because she hates both components.
“which my niece shuddered at because she hates both components”
I’ve never met anyone else who hates bananas. Most people like them and many many people love them. People who are *proud* of disliking liver, or lamb or even eggs or cheese are often *offended* I dislike bananas.
Lot’s of people dislike oatmeal. I haven’t had it in a long time. I kind of miss it because I sort of like it. (Oh, except I can’t *stand* watching someone eat it and I can’t stand anyone watching me eat it.) Anyway I like grapefruit on the side with my oatmeal but in my oatmeal would be gross. I really like grapefruit and grapefruit juice by the way.
Oh, and strawberries. I’ve never met anyone who dislikes strawberries yet.
If I don’t eat 1/2 banana every day. I get leg cramps (Charley horse), so they are medicinal for me. Otherwise I probably wouldn’t eat them.
I have a friend whose face involuntarily puckers up if she see someone eat lemons. I eat lemons. Fun to watch her face. I’m surprised we’re still friends.
“If I don’t eat 1/2 banana every day. I get leg cramps (Charley horse), so they are medicinal for me. ”
Oh, F###! Seriously? I’m getting Charlie Horses with increasing frequency. The idea that bananas might help is terrifying to me.
Currently increasing frequency means unpredictably ever few months or so so it’s not that bad but when the do happen they are close to the most intense minute of pain I ever experience.
@ Woozy – In lieu of bananas, try mineral supplements (magnesium and/or potassium).
https://www.livestrong.com/article/426650-why-do-bananas-release-leg-cramps/
In Germany they have great magnesium supplements — the popular (not quite) drug store DM has fructose tablets(*) with magnesium; each tablet has about 1% of the daily magnesium dose, which I find great for keeping magnesium levels up all through the day as needed, and I’m convinced that taking it in fructose form greatly speeds up getting it into the blood stream vs. the horse pills I used to take. They also have (among others) magnesium in seltzer pill form. I take one in a glass of water every day; it has about 50% daily dosage of magnesium. (And again I think uptake is much faster than some magnesium pill that needs to be digested in your stomach first before getting out into the blood stream.)
Since discovering these two great ways to take magnesium, I haven’t really suffered from the back spasms I used to be prone to. Once or twice now I have felt the incipient oncome of a spasm, and have dissolved a fructose tablet in my mouth, and thus actively avoided a spasm.
(*) Germans have this belief that fructose is a healthy nutrient, and not just a dose of sugar, so it’s a great ruse to get candy under the guise of eating a healthy supplement. There are all kinds of fructose tablets that dissolve wonderfully in the mouth, a dose of pure sweetness, that doesn’t have the stigma of sugar, because fructose is the natural sweetness you get from fruits, see, and it doesn’t cause cavities, and it’s good for you, unlike sugar. Yes, that’s what they tell you — my father was a doctor, and he told me this. So adding magnesium to fructose really is seen as a nutritional supplement, to be sold in the (non-pharmacy) drug store, and not in the candy isle…