Periscope is bent down towards the person looking thru it, rather than out on the ocean. Where the ‘selfie’ comes in, I don’t know, unless someone is taking a picture THRU the periscope?
Worth a chuckle, but NOT overthinking.
The periscope should have been bent 90 degrees for a selfie, rather than the 180, but I think that’s the joke.
But if a periscope is bent at all, it’s bent 90 degrees so it’s not staring at the sky.
WWII periscopes did sometimes have a camera attachment. However, I won’t try to explain here why a curved one wouldn’t work.
The periscope operator down in the sub was taking the selfies… presumably with a camera put to the eyepiece while he, or possibly she, gurned up at the lens.
From what very little I know about periscope design, a periscope having an inverted L-shape to the top, with the front lens like an eyeball on a short horizontal stalk, is a cartoon convention; real periscopes are <more like vertical poles with all the mirrors and lenses maybe making a bulbous shape but broadly internal.
@ narmitaj – For two reasons: the pipe needs to be withdrawn into the submarine when submerging, and when in use, it needs to have the smallest possible profile, to minimize any effect it might have on the water on the surface.
I agree with you, Arthur, on the orientation, but I don’t think it’s the joke. I think it’s just commentary on our brave new world.
@narmitaj, Ooh, ‘gurned’. I gots me a new word today. Thanks!
Comics I Don't Understand 
Periscope is bent down towards the person looking thru it, rather than out on the ocean. Where the ‘selfie’ comes in, I don’t know, unless someone is taking a picture THRU the periscope?
Worth a chuckle, but NOT overthinking.
The periscope should have been bent 90 degrees for a selfie, rather than the 180, but I think that’s the joke.
But if a periscope is bent at all, it’s bent 90 degrees so it’s not staring at the sky.
WWII periscopes did sometimes have a camera attachment. However, I won’t try to explain here why a curved one wouldn’t work.
The periscope operator down in the sub was taking the selfies… presumably with a camera put to the eyepiece while he, or possibly she, gurned up at the lens.
From what very little I know about periscope design, a periscope having an inverted L-shape to the top, with the front lens like an eyeball on a short horizontal stalk, is a cartoon convention; real periscopes are <more like vertical poles with all the mirrors and lenses maybe making a bulbous shape but broadly internal.
@ narmitaj – For two reasons: the pipe needs to be withdrawn into the submarine when submerging, and when in use, it needs to have the smallest possible profile, to minimize any effect it might have on the water on the surface.
I agree with you, Arthur, on the orientation, but I don’t think it’s the joke. I think it’s just commentary on our brave new world.
@narmitaj, Ooh, ‘gurned’. I gots me a new word today. Thanks!
@Chak – see some pics of top gurners here! There’s even a World Gurning Championship: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cumbria-41299102
When I first saw it this comic, it really made no sense because I thought that was the snorkel, not the periscope.