Thanks to ZBicyclist, who says “Even if I understood what’s going on here, would it be funny?”.
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As the headline indicates, the cartoonist’s idea was a play on oddballs warning about the impending “End of the World!” – as if the warning would help at all.
P.S. Alternative dialog: “How fast can one of us get Netherlands citizenship?“
But note the crack in the tank where the water is pouring out. The speaking fish is not one of those oddballs randomly selecting a date for the end of the world. It really is coming soon in their world. It’s not unlike humans who suddenly find God when they face doom.
This feels like a ‘we’re doomed better get right with God while we can’ situation.
In any early episode of Moonlighting, Dave and Maddy are hiding behind a barrier while getting shot at, and she asks what he’s going to do, and he says ‘I’m going to take a moment to contemplate most Western religions. I’m looking for something soft on morality, generous with holidays, [ bullet ricochets near his head ] and with a very short initiation period.’
(Of course, one of the goldfish could just lay sideways over the hole and probably stop it up enough that they could survive until rescued, but if you’re doing engineering analysis of a cartoon maybe it wasn’t funny enough.)
Speaking of the pin/pen merger, the first time I heard that song (in a noisy environment, and from a juke box) I thought it was about The Inn of the World, some sort of universal-gathering tavern. It was only later that I realized I couldn’t make sense of “it ind-ed when you said good-bye”.
@billytheskink, at least one cartoonist has said that when the word balloon is much larger than necessary, it indicates that he was forced to change the dialog after drawing and inking the panel.
We’ve seen a couple of features at CIDU that have been shown to recycle artwork, replacing an earlier joke with an alternative caption (or dialog). In at least one case the author was forced to use a different font in order to squeeze the text into the available space. I’m not going to name any names, first of all because I’m not 100% sure that I would identify the right strips, and second of all because I don’t think that kind of “artistry” is worthy of a directive link.
MyActualRealName reminds me of and old joke: Sammy Davis Jr. (who famously adopted the Jewish religion) is about to get run down by a semi truck and crosses himself, like Catholics. He survives and a friend asks him why he crossed himself when he’s Jewish. He replies “Just covering all the bases.”
Looking over a number of Carpe Diem cartoons, it looks like filling half the panel with a mostly-empty speech balloon is Eriksson’s style. It appears he always does that unless he needs the space for something else, like another speech balloon.
Comics I Don't Understand 
As the headline indicates, the cartoonist’s idea was a play on oddballs warning about the impending “End of the World!” – as if the warning would help at all.
P.S. Alternative dialog: “How fast can one of us get Netherlands citizenship?“
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But note the crack in the tank where the water is pouring out. The speaking fish is not one of those oddballs randomly selecting a date for the end of the world. It really is coming soon in their world. It’s not unlike humans who suddenly find God when they face doom.
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The speech bubble is really large. I’m guessing this was drawn before written.
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There are no atheists in a foxho…goldfish bowl with a crack in it.
I thought it was funny, but what’s confused me is the angry look on the speaking goldfish’s face. A look of panic may have been more appropriate.
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Stan: I took it to be zealotry rather than anger. They’re hard to tell apart, after all…and often related.
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This feels like a ‘we’re doomed better get right with God while we can’ situation.
In any early episode of Moonlighting, Dave and Maddy are hiding behind a barrier while getting shot at, and she asks what he’s going to do, and he says ‘I’m going to take a moment to contemplate most Western religions. I’m looking for something soft on morality, generous with holidays, [ bullet ricochets near his head ] and with a very short initiation period.’
(Of course, one of the goldfish could just lay sideways over the hole and probably stop it up enough that they could survive until rescued, but if you’re doing engineering analysis of a cartoon maybe it wasn’t funny enough.)
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Welcome to the great climate debate, and Hello to Skeeter Davis.
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Thanks for id’ing that song, R Levesque!
Speaking of the pin/pen merger, the first time I heard that song (in a noisy environment, and from a juke box) I thought it was about The Inn of the World, some sort of universal-gathering tavern. It was only later that I realized I couldn’t make sense of “it ind-ed when you said good-bye”.
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According to Wikipedia (usual caveats) she’s originally from Kentucky and was primarily a Country singer, so the merger isn’t too surprising.
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@billytheskink, at least one cartoonist has said that when the word balloon is much larger than necessary, it indicates that he was forced to change the dialog after drawing and inking the panel.
LikeLiked by 1 person
We’ve seen a couple of features at CIDU that have been shown to recycle artwork, replacing an earlier joke with an alternative caption (or dialog). In at least one case the author was forced to use a different font in order to squeeze the text into the available space. I’m not going to name any names, first of all because I’m not 100% sure that I would identify the right strips, and second of all because I don’t think that kind of “artistry” is worthy of a directive link.
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But this is artistry which is worthy of one.
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MyActualRealName reminds me of and old joke: Sammy Davis Jr. (who famously adopted the Jewish religion) is about to get run down by a semi truck and crosses himself, like Catholics. He survives and a friend asks him why he crossed himself when he’s Jewish. He replies “Just covering all the bases.”
LikeLike
Looking over a number of Carpe Diem cartoons, it looks like filling half the panel with a mostly-empty speech balloon is Eriksson’s style. It appears he always does that unless he needs the space for something else, like another speech balloon.
LikeLike
As for longer dialogue that could help fill up the speech balloon, how’s this:
And maybe now you’ll listen to your mother! Even just a little crack WILL ruin your lives!
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I was kind of amused by the fact there were only three of them.
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