And then, do we think it was intentional, or something went wrong along the way?
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Just like the version shown by GoComics last Monday, the Andertoons website doesn’t provide a caption for comic #9203, and the description shown there seems to indicate that it was not proofread very carefully: “Mice having enjoying cheese from maze charcuterie board“. Either verb would make sense, but including both does not.
One can suppose that their heritage from many generations ago as small lab mice led “culturally” to a tradition that cheese and similar rewards must be earned in some way involving a maze. In the present-day scene as drawn, they don’t seem to need to actually solve the maze to access the treats, as they have the size and position to just look at it from the vertical open view.
So no, I don’t think it needs a text caption.
I can buy that the charcuterie board is an enhanced reward for working through the maze, but why is the male mouse’s mouth open if he’s not saying something?
“This whole maze thing is a lot more fun now that they added wine to the cheese.”
There is no caption possible in any language on Earth that would not have destroyed this panel. To me, it is completely intentional for it to not have a caption because the humor is (heightened?} by the effort of the reader’s brain to see what’s happening.
That said, I didn’t recognize, fully, that the characters were mice at first. When I say “didn’t fully”, I mean that my cerebral cortex didn’t take it in as I mostly stared at the maze and slowly widened my view of the situation.
There are many distractions in the panel (e.g. the background); I would smile inside to find out that the author did every one on purpose. (i.e. crafted it)
There are many folks who do not re-read or re-examine the panel or strip before commenting (or submitting). I am very happy that this was put in the CIDU category this time.
I think the mouse is saying something conversational. We don’t need to know what he is saying to appreciate the situation.
@ SteveHL (4) – While it may be true that no caption is absolutely necessary for the panel to work, your suggestion is truly excellent, and would be a definite improvement over the “silent” version.
P.S. A little additional research indicates that this comic is a relatively recent addition to the Andertoons catalog: it is just 30 titles short of the most recent (highest) number currently available (#9233).
Ah, come on, you guys. I came looking for one of your caption contests. I confess to being seriously disappointed in you all, even though I couldn’t think of any caption at all, let alone a good one.
Something went wrong, because the description at Andertoons is (Mice having enjoying cheese from maze charcuterie board.)
“This cheese is AMAZING!”
“And so I realized that reversing the polarity on the DeLorean equipment would put THEM in the maze, and us here enjoying this nice wine and cheese. Cheers!”
“Dressing up as mice for the lab Halloween party was an inspired idea, and the maze was a nice touch.”
zbicyclist: “This cheese is AMAZING!”
I once had an assigned paper on “Book IX” of Paradise Lost, and learned while discussing “the mazy serpent” that there is a genuine etymological connection between maze (n) “labyrinth, baffling network of paths or passages” and amaze/amazing/amazed (v + verbals), back at least to the late 14th century. Also https://www.etymonline.com/word/maze gives an even earlier (c. 1300) noun sense without reference to physical mazes but still fitting:
maze (n.)
c. 1300, “delusion, bewilderment, confusion of thought,” possibly from Old English *mæs, which is suggested by the compound amasod “amazed” and verb amasian “to confound, confuse” (compare amaze). Of uncertain origin; perhaps related to Norwegian dialectal mas “exhausting labor,” Swedish masa “to be slow or sluggish.”
I loved it as is, no caption. Any caption would dull the enjoyment of figuring it out: Polite conversation over a cheese board which, for these mice, has a maze on it.
If the caption was “This cheese is amazing” I wouldn’t have gotten it until someone pointed it out.
It could be a no-caption one, but as noted the male mouse apparently speaking throw it out of whack. If that was the intention, it could have had both just looking at the cheese.
I will confess that I didn’t notice at first that the female figure was also a mouse, so I contemplating a large mouse working at an office with people. I blame the flowing hair.
Male mouse: Can you please hand me a piece of cheese?
Female mouse: No, sorry, you’ll have to work for it.
For the record, I am disgusted and annoyed by all the errors in my most recent comment.
Sorry I’m late to the party. I got lost on the way here.
Brian: Don’t be so hard on yourself, your post is fine.
“You may have noticed, but now that I’m retired, I sometimes miss the rat race.”
“Gouda. Brie. Crackers. Maize. What?”
In case it’s unclear, those should be two completely different caption contest entries, although it may not look that way. This comment thing made me make a numbered list when I put in those comments, and then it didn’t provide the numbers when the comments were posted. I dunno’. I tried.
Stan, it seems it depends on the interface. I use Word Press Reader, and your numbered list shows up fine.
Oh, I’m just using the Chrome browser on my PC. No numbers, and no spaces between the comments. Annoying, but not a big deal.
While at my second look, even before reading the existing posts, I saw a Mah Jong set with the outer walls of the maze being the game boards to hold the tiles (talking American/Jewish ladies Mah Jong here – not Chinese men) and the inner walls being tiles which were waiting to be used.
Figuring I have not played Mah Jong since some time before my 20s (husband does not enjoy playing this either and it also needs at least 3 to play) I have no idea why that jumped into my head as my thought about what was going on. I have not even thought about which niece I will one day pass the set along to (it was my great aunt’s set) as I am sure that none of them play or even know what it is.
One reading the posts and looking again – of course it is a maze for the mice.
Comics I Don't Understand 
Just like the version shown by GoComics last Monday, the Andertoons website doesn’t provide a caption for comic #9203, and the description shown there seems to indicate that it was not proofread very carefully: “Mice having enjoying cheese from maze charcuterie board“. Either verb would make sense, but including both does not.
One can suppose that their heritage from many generations ago as small lab mice led “culturally” to a tradition that cheese and similar rewards must be earned in some way involving a maze. In the present-day scene as drawn, they don’t seem to need to actually solve the maze to access the treats, as they have the size and position to just look at it from the vertical open view.
So no, I don’t think it needs a text caption.
I can buy that the charcuterie board is an enhanced reward for working through the maze, but why is the male mouse’s mouth open if he’s not saying something?
“This whole maze thing is a lot more fun now that they added wine to the cheese.”
There is no caption possible in any language on Earth that would not have destroyed this panel. To me, it is completely intentional for it to not have a caption because the humor is (heightened?} by the effort of the reader’s brain to see what’s happening.
That said, I didn’t recognize, fully, that the characters were mice at first. When I say “didn’t fully”, I mean that my cerebral cortex didn’t take it in as I mostly stared at the maze and slowly widened my view of the situation.
There are many distractions in the panel (e.g. the background); I would smile inside to find out that the author did every one on purpose. (i.e. crafted it)
There are many folks who do not re-read or re-examine the panel or strip before commenting (or submitting). I am very happy that this was put in the CIDU category this time.
I think the mouse is saying something conversational. We don’t need to know what he is saying to appreciate the situation.
@ SteveHL (4) – While it may be true that no caption is absolutely necessary for the panel to work, your suggestion is truly excellent, and would be a definite improvement over the “silent” version.
P.S. A little additional research indicates that this comic is a relatively recent addition to the Andertoons catalog: it is just 30 titles short of the most recent (highest) number currently available (#9233).
Ah, come on, you guys. I came looking for one of your caption contests. I confess to being seriously disappointed in you all, even though I couldn’t think of any caption at all, let alone a good one.
Something went wrong, because the description at Andertoons is (Mice having enjoying cheese from maze charcuterie board.)
“This cheese is AMAZING!”
“And so I realized that reversing the polarity on the DeLorean equipment would put THEM in the maze, and us here enjoying this nice wine and cheese. Cheers!”
“Dressing up as mice for the lab Halloween party was an inspired idea, and the maze was a nice touch.”
zbicyclist: “This cheese is AMAZING!”
I once had an assigned paper on “Book IX” of Paradise Lost, and learned while discussing “the mazy serpent” that there is a genuine etymological connection between maze (n) “labyrinth, baffling network of paths or passages” and amaze/amazing/amazed (v + verbals), back at least to the late 14th century. Also https://www.etymonline.com/word/maze gives an even earlier (c. 1300) noun sense without reference to physical mazes but still fitting:
maze (n.)
c. 1300, “delusion, bewilderment, confusion of thought,” possibly from Old English *mæs, which is suggested by the compound amasod “amazed” and verb amasian “to confound, confuse” (compare amaze). Of uncertain origin; perhaps related to Norwegian dialectal mas “exhausting labor,” Swedish masa “to be slow or sluggish.”
I loved it as is, no caption. Any caption would dull the enjoyment of figuring it out: Polite conversation over a cheese board which, for these mice, has a maze on it.
If the caption was “This cheese is amazing” I wouldn’t have gotten it until someone pointed it out.
It could be a no-caption one, but as noted the male mouse apparently speaking throw it out of whack. If that was the intention, it could have had both just looking at the cheese.
I will confess that I didn’t notice at first that the female figure was also a mouse, so I contemplating a large mouse working at an office with people. I blame the flowing hair.
Male mouse: Can you please hand me a piece of cheese?
Female mouse: No, sorry, you’ll have to work for it.
For the record, I am disgusted and annoyed by all the errors in my most recent comment.
Sorry I’m late to the party. I got lost on the way here.
Brian: Don’t be so hard on yourself, your post is fine.
In case it’s unclear, those should be two completely different caption contest entries, although it may not look that way. This comment thing made me make a numbered list when I put in those comments, and then it didn’t provide the numbers when the comments were posted. I dunno’. I tried.
Stan, it seems it depends on the interface. I use Word Press Reader, and your numbered list shows up fine.
Oh, I’m just using the Chrome browser on my PC. No numbers, and no spaces between the comments. Annoying, but not a big deal.
While at my second look, even before reading the existing posts, I saw a Mah Jong set with the outer walls of the maze being the game boards to hold the tiles (talking American/Jewish ladies Mah Jong here – not Chinese men) and the inner walls being tiles which were waiting to be used.
Figuring I have not played Mah Jong since some time before my 20s (husband does not enjoy playing this either and it also needs at least 3 to play) I have no idea why that jumped into my head as my thought about what was going on. I have not even thought about which niece I will one day pass the set along to (it was my great aunt’s set) as I am sure that none of them play or even know what it is.
One reading the posts and looking again – of course it is a maze for the mice.