If the shading is intended to mean wet sand, then this might be an accurate representation of the tide going out just before the arrival of a tsunami (a.k.a. “tidal wave”).
I was sure that the spiral in the lower right corner was just a vortex in the water, but closer examination shows that Arthur was right: there is just a hint of a dot that looks like a pupil, turning the whole thing into the whale’s “angry eye”.
I wanted to point out that there’s an actual joke without (what we are assuming is) a whale’s eye, i.e., the fact that everyone is running away except you, should make you run with them; only idiots would casually ponder the situation without reacting.
The idea of a tsunami makes more sense; a whale couldn’t come that close to shore if it wasn’t ill; no one runs away from whales; and even if it DID come up to shore, it would be more an object of curiosity and/or rescue than running-away-fear.
It probably is supposed to be a whale, but the shading round the edge of the grey object actually makes it look like a vertical lip, as if of a very wide and shallow paddling pool. Also, the shiny reflection of the guy’s rubber ring and the ripples round it, and the waves escaping behind it, conspire to make the image hard to read.
Also, the crowd is hard to make out. At first I just thought it was a big crowd; I had to look closely to spot a leg running away. Instead of vertical beach umbrellas it would been better to leave some of them and beach towels etc abandoned on the sand sward between the whale and the crowd (if that’s what it is and not actually water). Finally, the running-away peeps seem to be splashing in water, making it look as though they are running off the sand and into the sea. All a bit mysterious.
I’ve been following CIDU off and on since well before the 2000 election and I have to say that the amount of time and thought this community puts into really really stupid cartoons is inspiring.
“a whale couldn’t come that close to shore if it wasn’t ill; no one runs away from whales”
Well, I’m sure *some* people run away from whales, especially if they think it’s ill/crazy because it’s about to crash into the shore.
Also, if I were plankton, I’d run away from a whale (as best I could, for some values, of “running,”) and the drawing of the crowd is so lousy that who’s to say it wasn’t meant to represent a bunch of plankton? Makes as much sense as anything else.
I didn’t notice the swirl (where it is, it could be a piece of artist signature or the like) and assumed it was a repulsive old fat white guy joke. :-|
I think the pro-tsunami crowd are attributing the public with too much knowledge on the part of the public. Furthermore, the darker bit there is the water. It hasn’t receded. You can see people splashing out of the water to get away from him. He is definitely on the head of some large creature. I doesn’t have to be a whale. I could be a kaiju.
In a way it’s a pretty impressive how a very simple joke– some guy sees people running off in fear by some scary thing behind him assumes he’s the one who scared them off– and be *soo* weirdly and incomprehensibly executed. It’s almost surreal.
What the heck is that in the inner tube? A cat? Is the cat talking? Why on earth would a guy and his cat think he would be scary? If he were wearing a shark suit or a frankenstein mask, maybe but just a guy in tube? Huh? Or is it his “cat” that is scary? Maybe it’s a Flerken? What the heck is being drawn (I’m of the giant whale school but … who knows)? Is the crowd running away? Or are just standing above a tidal bar? Is the gray strip between the crowd and the line of supposed whale thingy supposed to be water or sand. It looks like wet sand of a tidal bar but if the line is an outline of a whale thingy it make sense it is water but… nothing is clear.
I’d be really hard to be that incomprehensible on purpose that to achieve it accidentally is …. almost impressive.
In addition to all the other art complaints, the perspective is way off. The people on the beach are much too small compared to the size of the floating guy, given the implied distance.
That does appear to be a cat in the float with the guy. The strip is titled PC and Pixel, which I don’t follow, so I can only surmise those are the characters’ names, but I couldn’t tell you which is which.
I can tell you, though that the commenters there are just as confused and slightly annoyed at this comic as we are here.
To be fair the image quality on Go comics seems to be about 4 times better. Th crowd *does* look better– not good but you can see they are running; — And the whale eye, it *IS* a whale is much clearer. Still not great.
I can kind of see both, sort of like those “are the wineglasses or faces?” pictures. But it looks more like the waterline than the edge of a creature to me.
Comics I Don't Understand 
No, there’s probably something scary behind you that *you* should be running from, too.
LikeLike
If the shading is intended to mean wet sand, then this might be an accurate representation of the tide going out just before the arrival of a tsunami (a.k.a. “tidal wave”).
LikeLike
The artwork is such that at first I thought they were on the back of a big whale.
Some jokes work equally well with good and bad artwork. Some don’t.
LikeLike
Arthur’s first impression is correct. The detail in the lower right corner is an angry eye.
Many cartoonists have done this gag, most often with castaways crawling onto a small island that turns out to be some huge beastie.
LikeLike
I was sure that the spiral in the lower right corner was just a vortex in the water, but closer examination shows that Arthur was right: there is just a hint of a dot that looks like a pupil, turning the whole thing into the whale’s “angry eye”.
LikeLike
P.S. Nuts, forgot to refresh before posting.
LikeLike
The thing is, why would the guy think he and his pet scared people off the beach?
LikeLike
I wanted to point out that there’s an actual joke without (what we are assuming is) a whale’s eye, i.e., the fact that everyone is running away except you, should make you run with them; only idiots would casually ponder the situation without reacting.
LikeLike
The idea of a tsunami makes more sense; a whale couldn’t come that close to shore if it wasn’t ill; no one runs away from whales; and even if it DID come up to shore, it would be more an object of curiosity and/or rescue than running-away-fear.
LikeLike
It probably is supposed to be a whale, but the shading round the edge of the grey object actually makes it look like a vertical lip, as if of a very wide and shallow paddling pool. Also, the shiny reflection of the guy’s rubber ring and the ripples round it, and the waves escaping behind it, conspire to make the image hard to read.
Also, the crowd is hard to make out. At first I just thought it was a big crowd; I had to look closely to spot a leg running away. Instead of vertical beach umbrellas it would been better to leave some of them and beach towels etc abandoned on the sand sward between the whale and the crowd (if that’s what it is and not actually water). Finally, the running-away peeps seem to be splashing in water, making it look as though they are running off the sand and into the sea. All a bit mysterious.
LikeLike
Very poorly drawn. I had to enlarge the image to recognize the figures on the beach as people and not debris.
LikeLike
I’ve been following CIDU off and on since well before the 2000 election and I have to say that the amount of time and thought this community puts into really really stupid cartoons is inspiring.
And weird.
So with that said, I’m going to post a link that should make at least most of us confidant that he was drawing a whale’s eye: https://share.icloud.com/photos/0MMG6koBON9thKFqhjzkXjq5w#Home
LikeLike
Count me out on the whale eye thing . . . just doesn’t make sense to me, whereas the tsunami thing does.
CIDU has been my ‘safe spot’ since the election . . . of 2016. And ’nuff said ’bout that.
LikeLike
Eye or blowhole?
LikeLike
Looks more blowhole to me, yeah.
LikeLike
Has anyone else been able to open CloonBounty’s link without registering an iCloud account first?
LikeLike
I was able to, Kilby.
LikeLike
“a whale couldn’t come that close to shore if it wasn’t ill; no one runs away from whales”
Well, I’m sure *some* people run away from whales, especially if they think it’s ill/crazy because it’s about to crash into the shore.
Also, if I were plankton, I’d run away from a whale (as best I could, for some values, of “running,”) and the drawing of the crowd is so lousy that who’s to say it wasn’t meant to represent a bunch of plankton? Makes as much sense as anything else.
Shrug, Speaker to Plankton
LikeLike
That would make me Andréa, Spouse of Swimmer-with-Whales
LikeLike
I’m sticking with tsunami. It looks like the water has pulled back from the beach, the classic precursor to a tsunami coming ashore.
That said, tsunami = hilarious does not compute.
LikeLike
Does it have to be a whale? Can’t it be some other type of scary sea monster? :-)
LikeLike
I didn’t notice the swirl (where it is, it could be a piece of artist signature or the like) and assumed it was a repulsive old fat white guy joke. :-|
LikeLike
“Does it have to be a whale? Can’t it be some other type of scary sea monster?”
Like what?
LikeLike
I think the pro-tsunami crowd are attributing the public with too much knowledge on the part of the public. Furthermore, the darker bit there is the water. It hasn’t receded. You can see people splashing out of the water to get away from him. He is definitely on the head of some large creature. I doesn’t have to be a whale. I could be a kaiju.
LikeLike
In a way it’s a pretty impressive how a very simple joke– some guy sees people running off in fear by some scary thing behind him assumes he’s the one who scared them off– and be *soo* weirdly and incomprehensibly executed. It’s almost surreal.
What the heck is that in the inner tube? A cat? Is the cat talking? Why on earth would a guy and his cat think he would be scary? If he were wearing a shark suit or a frankenstein mask, maybe but just a guy in tube? Huh? Or is it his “cat” that is scary? Maybe it’s a Flerken? What the heck is being drawn (I’m of the giant whale school but … who knows)? Is the crowd running away? Or are just standing above a tidal bar? Is the gray strip between the crowd and the line of supposed whale thingy supposed to be water or sand. It looks like wet sand of a tidal bar but if the line is an outline of a whale thingy it make sense it is water but… nothing is clear.
I’d be really hard to be that incomprehensible on purpose that to achieve it accidentally is …. almost impressive.
LikeLike
In addition to all the other art complaints, the perspective is way off. The people on the beach are much too small compared to the size of the floating guy, given the implied distance.
LikeLike
That does appear to be a cat in the float with the guy. The strip is titled PC and Pixel, which I don’t follow, so I can only surmise those are the characters’ names, but I couldn’t tell you which is which.
I can tell you, though that the commenters there are just as confused and slightly annoyed at this comic as we are here.
LikeLike
To be fair the image quality on Go comics seems to be about 4 times better. Th crowd *does* look better– not good but you can see they are running; — And the whale eye, it *IS* a whale is much clearer. Still not great.
LikeLike
I can kind of see both, sort of like those “are the wineglasses or faces?” pictures. But it looks more like the waterline than the edge of a creature to me.
LikeLike
Happening now a few miles south of us . . .
https://www.abcactionnews.com/crews-working-to-free-five-beached-whales-in-redington-beach
LikeLike