Not truly a pun, but still word-centered humor.
Somehow I passed by this panel several times before understanding the simple parallelism of the two signs.
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Comics I Don't Understand 
Is everyone already familiar with “Keep Calm and Carry On” as a British motivational motto dating back at least to the 1940s? In the posting today, the comment about parallelism makes sense as there is a choice for how you want your luggage taken care of, checked or you carry it on. But there is another sense of “carry on” that I suggest is involved with the recent popularity of the “Keep Calm …” poster, namely ‘indulge in shenanigans or wild behavior. ‘
That Bizarro is a nice homage to the confusion around airport procedures. Which kiosk should I use to get my boarding pass? Do I need to take off my shoes at this airport TSA? Do they want to see my boarding pass? (at ORD, no, because of the CAT system, but not all airports have that yet.) It’s particularly confusing when flying one airline on one hub out, a different airline from a different hub back.
On last weekend’s trip, I got the ominous message that our seats would be assigned at the gate, and we arrived at the gate after boarding had already started. I anticipated we’d get 2 middle seats, but no: we got the two nice seats on the 2 side of a 2-3 configuration. Why? They were the exit row! That used to be a plus because of the extra legroom, but even on this Airbus plane, nobody else wanted to sit there.
A bit of an Ewww on the first one, as another staff pick is going on in the background.
A note that Keep Calm and Carry On was designed during the war, but was rarely if ever actually used. It was pretty much unknown. It was rediscovered in the year 2000, and took off.
Haven’t we seen the Staff Picks one before, fairly recently? The same joke, if not the same panel.
And what of the pied/(p)eyed pipe(r) references in the Bizarro panel? Am I the only one lost here? Am I remembering correctly that this type of thing was always a feature of this comic??
Why is it funny that the store offers several pick designs, and names each design?
Gotta love the Wordle one, though. They’ve had some odd words lately.
I agree with Boise Ed. Not funny.
Ed, and Lord F — A “staff picks” display is something you might find at a branch library, or many kinds of store. They would display a specially recommended selection of books, or videos, or clothing accessories. But the joke here is that the items picked for special display are actually picks.
(And the names in the display are not styles of guitar pick, they are the names of the staff members who chose the corresponding items. “Staff picks” displays do not always use this feature, but it’s not uncommon.)
Camilla, yes, it’s a thing they do. For their official explanation, see https://www.bizarro.com/secret-symbols
OMG! These are hysterical!! I never knew. . . . And I’m ALL about this: “The pipe reminds us to question our assumed perceptions of reality and to remain open to higher meanings, or ‘the bigger picture’.” Thanks for enlightening me!
The Miami Public Library main library, which I and my high school buddy Barry Lane used to visit on weekends, taking two bus rides each way, had a couple of freestanding shelving units near the entrance for librarian recommendations. (There was some distinction of the name and basis of the two sides of the bookcase, but I can’t reconstruct that.) Among the books I found there, which really expanded my horizons, were Labyrinths by Borges (an anthology made for the English-language market, with translated pieces from Ficciones and other Spanish collections); and Two Novels by Robbe-Grillet (In the Labyrinth and Jealousy). The Robbe-Grillet was a Grove Press paperback which had been turned into an ersatz hardcover by embedding the paper cover in hard plastic, and re-gluing the perfect-bound pages; it had a strong smell which going forward I associated with avant-garde French writing.
Keep Calm and Carry On Sergeant, Nurse, Teacher, Constable, Regardless, Cruising …
A supermarket we use often has a selection of stuff on a section of shelving with a sign saying MANAGER’S SPECIAL
Is he, I wondered, the first time I saw it.
By the signature on the Bizarro panels is a number. That indicates how many symbols are within. This is handy, as they aren’t always as obvious as the ones this time.
Re: #5
There was also a similar story involving a US factory during the War. Since this poster was only used briefly internally for the workers, it was never seen by the public until recent decades. Unfortunately it has become conflated with Rosie The Riveter. The lady in this poster is anonymous.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/We_Can_Do_It!
@ Pete (6) – There was indeed another comic with “Staff Picks”, but it wasn’t recent; it was posted by CIDU Bill just over four years ago:
Thanks for that. I must have seen it on a search through the archives.
While I well know the WWII British expression “Keep Calm and Carry On” – I was not aware that one checks oneself in at a computer in an airport these days. Last time I flew anywhere was before Robert and I even started dating – on a trip home from Mexico – luckily from Acapulco as had we still been in Mexico City we would have been caught in the 1973 earthquake there. It was the second and last trip I took by airplane (first trip was to Dallas, TX to edit the yearbook a month or so before).
While feeling as if a giant hand was pushing me into the seat back was not that bad, I started dating Robert soon after so no flying, trains, buses, or letting me drive as he gets motion sickness.
(I do have a very nice embroidered piece which I worked on during the trip to Mexico and the one to Texas.)