Is this supposed to to be a Family Circusized version of Baldo?
And if so, to what end?
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[GEEZER ALERT] ‘Three, three, three jokes in one’ [strip].
There is something both clever but awkward about the way “over” is used with dual functions.
My first thought was Family Circus, but looking at it again, that only applies to the middle panel. The left panel looks more like Pardon My Planet. I’m not sure about the last panel.
@ Andréa – That sounds vaguely familiar, but I can’t pin down the antecedent.
P.S. One of the reasons I enjoy reading Bug Martini is that there are generally 3 and frequently 4 pretty good gags in a four-panel strip.
‘Two, Two, Two mints in one’ is the CERTS theme. (I thought it was the DoubleMint Twins, but I was wrong.)
LOL! I thought it was DoubleMint, too. I think this strip was just “I have 3 that don’t really make a whole comic in themselves, so I’ll serve up a buffet.”
Which, BTW, I liked, especially the last one.
Oh as if “I have 3 that don’t really make a whole comic in themselves.” has EVER stopped anybody.
Some panel strips, such as the Lockhorns, The better half, etc. will for Sundays do three gags with varying layouts and title is such a way. I think it’s clear that Baldo is do an playful homage to that panel strip Sunday style. What isn’t clear is …. for what purpose. But I’m willing to accept “Just for the heck of it” or a “It’s amusing to imagine our strip as another style”. But it does seem kind of strange without an explanation.
Does the fact that the Grandmother features in all of them have any significance? Some meta reference to; for Baldo life is a graphic novel narrative, but the the grandmother life is a gentle collection of single panel gags?
I initially misread that as “Family Circumcised version”.
The only reason you’re thinking “Family Circus” is because of the circular middle panel.
Hmmm … does the name “Family Circus” have anything to do with the fact that the panel so often is circular?
Family Circus is evil, a pox upon the planet. The Dysfunctional Family Circus is MUCH better. Check it out.
Mark: Yes, the strip was originally to be called The Family Circle but the popular women’s magazine Family Circle objected.
woozy: Isn’t the “grandmother” Tia Carmen? And isn’t “Tia” Spanish for “Aunt”?
“Isn’t the “grandmother” Tia Carmen? And isn’t “Tia” Spanish for “Aunt”?”
Yes and yes.
Powers, thanks for that history note.
I’m only vaguely acquainted with the magazine Family Circle, but I expect the main import of “Circle” in their name was meant to be like that of “social circle” or “circle of friends”, but putting family at the focus.
But perhaps it is worth adding that “family circle” has long been used to designate a section of seating in some large auditoriums or opera houses. These would be priced low to allow for bringing the whole family.
As an aside, though I never made the connection between Family Circus comic and Family Circle magazine, I did think the comic might be secondarily playing off the idea of a circus as a roundabout or traffic circle.
Tia Carmen is not their grandmother. She’s their father’s aunt, so their great-aunt. In strip history, she moved in when their mother died.
My mom’s family used to have a family circle so it is a real thing. I was preteen when it ended (and we all got to go to Bear Mountain – my first time on a ship/boat – with what was left of the treasury). Basically it was a group of my mom’s extended relatives on one side of her family and was a way for the family not to lose touch – the adults would meet at each other’s houses (which is how I got to involved with one once when it was at our house – and that was when my cousin borrowed my Mad magazines never to return them – he had come with his parents) and “schmooze” It had an actual name of The “so and so” Family Circle.
I have also heard the term used (totally separately from above) as one being within the family circle meaning that one was part of the family.
Not having heard that there was a problem with the name, I always have assumed that “Family Circus” was named that as what went on the with the family was such an assortment of the normal odd things that happen in a family that it was a like a circus.
Ah, as I posted I realized more of what I meant by the family being a circus – sort of like when someone says someone (or their) house is like a zoo, some also say it is circus.
In the past, the Sunday Family Circus strips had a “sideshow”, little illustrated jokes and puns off to one side. “This the drawing of the H of asparagus”, that sort of thing.
Comics I Don't Understand 
[GEEZER ALERT] ‘Three, three, three jokes in one’ [strip].
There is something both clever but awkward about the way “over” is used with dual functions.
My first thought was Family Circus, but looking at it again, that only applies to the middle panel. The left panel looks more like Pardon My Planet. I’m not sure about the last panel.
@ Andréa – That sounds vaguely familiar, but I can’t pin down the antecedent.
P.S. One of the reasons I enjoy reading Bug Martini is that there are generally 3 and frequently 4 pretty good gags in a four-panel strip.
‘Two, Two, Two mints in one’ is the CERTS theme. (I thought it was the DoubleMint Twins, but I was wrong.)
LOL! I thought it was DoubleMint, too. I think this strip was just “I have 3 that don’t really make a whole comic in themselves, so I’ll serve up a buffet.”
Which, BTW, I liked, especially the last one.
Oh as if “I have 3 that don’t really make a whole comic in themselves.” has EVER stopped anybody.
Some panel strips, such as the Lockhorns, The better half, etc. will for Sundays do three gags with varying layouts and title is such a way. I think it’s clear that Baldo is do an playful homage to that panel strip Sunday style. What isn’t clear is …. for what purpose. But I’m willing to accept “Just for the heck of it” or a “It’s amusing to imagine our strip as another style”. But it does seem kind of strange without an explanation.
Does the fact that the Grandmother features in all of them have any significance? Some meta reference to; for Baldo life is a graphic novel narrative, but the the grandmother life is a gentle collection of single panel gags?
I initially misread that as “Family Circumcised version”.
The only reason you’re thinking “Family Circus” is because of the circular middle panel.
Hmmm … does the name “Family Circus” have anything to do with the fact that the panel so often is circular?
Family Circus is evil, a pox upon the planet. The Dysfunctional Family Circus is MUCH better. Check it out.
Mark: Yes, the strip was originally to be called The Family Circle but the popular women’s magazine Family Circle objected.
woozy: Isn’t the “grandmother” Tia Carmen? And isn’t “Tia” Spanish for “Aunt”?
“Isn’t the “grandmother” Tia Carmen? And isn’t “Tia” Spanish for “Aunt”?”
Yes and yes.
Powers, thanks for that history note.
I’m only vaguely acquainted with the magazine Family Circle, but I expect the main import of “Circle” in their name was meant to be like that of “social circle” or “circle of friends”, but putting family at the focus.
But perhaps it is worth adding that “family circle” has long been used to designate a section of seating in some large auditoriums or opera houses. These would be priced low to allow for bringing the whole family.
As an aside, though I never made the connection between Family Circus comic and Family Circle magazine, I did think the comic might be secondarily playing off the idea of a circus as a roundabout or traffic circle.
Tia Carmen is not their grandmother. She’s their father’s aunt, so their great-aunt. In strip history, she moved in when their mother died.
My mom’s family used to have a family circle so it is a real thing. I was preteen when it ended (and we all got to go to Bear Mountain – my first time on a ship/boat – with what was left of the treasury). Basically it was a group of my mom’s extended relatives on one side of her family and was a way for the family not to lose touch – the adults would meet at each other’s houses (which is how I got to involved with one once when it was at our house – and that was when my cousin borrowed my Mad magazines never to return them – he had come with his parents) and “schmooze” It had an actual name of The “so and so” Family Circle.
I have also heard the term used (totally separately from above) as one being within the family circle meaning that one was part of the family.
Not having heard that there was a problem with the name, I always have assumed that “Family Circus” was named that as what went on the with the family was such an assortment of the normal odd things that happen in a family that it was a like a circus.
Ah, as I posted I realized more of what I meant by the family being a circus – sort of like when someone says someone (or their) house is like a zoo, some also say it is circus.
In the past, the Sunday Family Circus strips had a “sideshow”, little illustrated jokes and puns off to one side. “This the drawing of the H of asparagus”, that sort of thing.