Please tell me PBF does not run in any actual general newspapers! Anyway, you are warned there is an Arlo-Alert on this comic.
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Good job of showing scouts with sashes in previous panels, including showing badges displayed along a sash in panel 3, helping with comprehension of the closeup in panel 4.
BTW, now that the organization is no longer the BOY Scouts, will they be changing the protocols for earning this particular badge?
This comic reminded me of the Tom Lehrer song “Be Prepared”. (tack this on to the URL of a popular video site – watch?v=gkrheaWuShU)
Lehrer songs seem mildly subversive even today, but I imagine they must have been very controversial in the 50s!
Partly because of its irregular release schedule, I have always thought of PBF as being strictly an “online” feature, but I was surprised to read that it has “been published all over the world, from TheGuardian to Playboy [and] is the winner of Ignatz, Harvey, and Eisner awards“. Nevertheless, its strong NSFW character clearly rules PBF out as a candidate for any kind of newspaper syndication.
P.S. @ waltmorris (4) – The GC filter trap is not very sophisticated, you can often slide a URL past it simple by using MiXeD cAsE for the domain name and HTTPS elements.
Sorry, but this is a CIDU to me. The scoutmaster apparently picks up a hooker, a kid sticks his hand in a coffee cup, scoutmaster and kids are waiting for something, then there’s something like a target as a merit badge.
Ed,
The kid was reaching into the coffee cup for some money.
And that’s not a target. It’s pink, might have a tassel sometimes, might even be pierced.
Does this help?
phsiii (8): I’ll take your word for it with the money. So the scoutmaster is facilitating the kid using a hooker? Your “tassel” idea reminds me of a stripper’s pasty; so is the kid seeing a strip show rather than using a hooker? With any interpretation, I don’t see any hint of humor.
phsiii (8): I’ll take your word for it with the money. So the scoutmaster is facilitating the kid using a hooker? Your “tassel” idea reminds me of a stripper’s pasty; so is the kid seeing a strip show rather than using a hooker? With any interpretation, I don’t see any hint of humor.
I disagree. The badge is showing something in a square packet It is to show he can “Be Prepared” It is a condom.
Maybe the can is where the scout got it from, but that is more open to interpretation.
m5rammy: I do believe you’re right. I thought it was a nipple.
For those who haven’t seen my post in the Random Comments section, PBF had been hacked a little while ago.
Are you saying this cartoon may have been an unauthorized plant by attackers?
Yes, I completely agree with m5rammy’s understanding of the sequence, and in particular the nature of the badge. All that is why it had an Arlo Alert all along.
There may be an additional issue based on the apparent age of the scouts; but some of that is based on the very stylized graphic techniques. I think we can tell that their uniforms are not from the Cubs, the junior branch.
That’s right, except that the merit badge would not itself BE a condom, just represent one. Just like the Handyman badge above it has representations of the tools, not an actual hammer and screwdriver.
(So the skill this badge is for would be “Proper Condom Use”?) Nonstandard! And this scoutmaster is very very out of line of course!
It wasn’t until I read Mitch’s comment @14 that I realized that this “Boy Scouts” comic was submitted to CIDU because it had recently appeared in the GoComics rerun archive. It’s appearance there (on May 14th) had nothing to do with the hacking incident, it originally appeared on the PBF website just over eight years ago (April 2016).
Am I the only one seeing, and reading something into the progression
Short trousers -> hooker -> long trousers
?
I don’t think so. The scout in panel 2 is still busy off stage during panel 3 (clued by the scoutmaster checking his watch), so the boys pictured in panel 3,withbthe long trousers, are different individuals.
Or am I misreading your comment? Maybe the other two scouts have already passed this initiation and earned the badge, so now can wesrvthe more grown-up long trousers. Hmmm, possibly, but not really convincing.
m5rammy (11): Thank you.
I mentioned the hacking incident because I thought it might be newsworthy, not that it might have been connected to this particular comic.
True event from my days in the Cub Scouts (many, many years ago). Our pack took a bus trip to NYC to see the usual tourist sites (Statue of Liberty, Grant’s Tomb, United Nations, etc.). While we waited on the bus in Times Square waiting for a tardy group, our Pack Leader, in full uniform and accompanied by several Scouts, was solicited by some of the friendly female denizens of Times Square. Our parents on the bus thought the scene was hilarious, but refused to explain to the 8 and 9 year old boys on the bus what was so funny.
Comics I Don't Understand 
Good job of showing scouts with sashes in previous panels, including showing badges displayed along a sash in panel 3, helping with comprehension of the closeup in panel 4.
BTW, now that the organization is no longer the BOY Scouts, will they be changing the protocols for earning this particular badge?
This comic reminded me of the Tom Lehrer song “Be Prepared”. (tack this on to the URL of a popular video site – watch?v=gkrheaWuShU)
Full URL is https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gkrheaWuShU , I forgot I wasn’t commenting on GoCOmics 🙂
Lehrer songs seem mildly subversive even today, but I imagine they must have been very controversial in the 50s!
Partly because of its irregular release schedule, I have always thought of PBF as being strictly an “online” feature, but I was surprised to read that it has “been published all over the world, from The Guardian to Playboy [and] is the winner of Ignatz, Harvey, and Eisner awards“. Nevertheless, its strong NSFW character clearly rules PBF out as a candidate for any kind of newspaper syndication.
P.S. @ waltmorris (4) – The GC filter trap is not very sophisticated, you can often slide a URL past it simple by using MiXeD cAsE for the domain name and HTTPS elements.
Sorry, but this is a CIDU to me. The scoutmaster apparently picks up a hooker, a kid sticks his hand in a coffee cup, scoutmaster and kids are waiting for something, then there’s something like a target as a merit badge.
Ed,
The kid was reaching into the coffee cup for some money.
And that’s not a target. It’s pink, might have a tassel sometimes, might even be pierced.
Does this help?
phsiii (8): I’ll take your word for it with the money. So the scoutmaster is facilitating the kid using a hooker? Your “tassel” idea reminds me of a stripper’s pasty; so is the kid seeing a strip show rather than using a hooker? With any interpretation, I don’t see any hint of humor.
phsiii (8): I’ll take your word for it with the money. So the scoutmaster is facilitating the kid using a hooker? Your “tassel” idea reminds me of a stripper’s pasty; so is the kid seeing a strip show rather than using a hooker? With any interpretation, I don’t see any hint of humor.
I disagree.
The badge is showing something in a square packet
It is to show he can “Be Prepared”
It is a condom.
Maybe the can is where the scout got it from, but that is more open to interpretation.
m5rammy: I do believe you’re right. I thought it was a nipple.
For those who haven’t seen my post in the Random Comments section, PBF had been hacked a little while ago.
https://pbfcomics.com/comics/hacked/
Thanks for the alert, Grawlix!
Are you saying this cartoon may have been an unauthorized plant by attackers?
Yes, I completely agree with m5rammy’s understanding of the sequence, and in particular the nature of the badge. All that is why it had an Arlo Alert all along.
There may be an additional issue based on the apparent age of the scouts; but some of that is based on the very stylized graphic techniques. I think we can tell that their uniforms are not from the Cubs, the junior branch.
That’s right, except that the merit badge would not itself BE a condom, just represent one. Just like the Handyman badge above it has representations of the tools, not an actual hammer and screwdriver.
(So the skill this badge is for would be “Proper Condom Use”?) Nonstandard! And this scoutmaster is very very out of line of course!
It wasn’t until I read Mitch’s comment @14 that I realized that this “Boy Scouts” comic was submitted to CIDU because it had recently appeared in the GoComics rerun archive. It’s appearance there (on May 14th) had nothing to do with the hacking incident, it originally appeared on the PBF website just over eight years ago (April 2016).
Am I the only one seeing, and reading something into the progression
Short trousers -> hooker -> long trousers
?
I don’t think so. The scout in panel 2 is still busy off stage during panel 3 (clued by the scoutmaster checking his watch), so the boys pictured in panel 3,withbthe long trousers, are different individuals.
Or am I misreading your comment? Maybe the other two scouts have already passed this initiation and earned the badge, so now can wesrvthe more grown-up long trousers. Hmmm, possibly, but not really convincing.
m5rammy (11): Thank you.
I mentioned the hacking incident because I thought it might be newsworthy, not that it might have been connected to this particular comic.
True event from my days in the Cub Scouts (many, many years ago). Our pack took a bus trip to NYC to see the usual tourist sites (Statue of Liberty, Grant’s Tomb, United Nations, etc.). While we waited on the bus in Times Square waiting for a tardy group, our Pack Leader, in full uniform and accompanied by several Scouts, was solicited by some of the friendly female denizens of Times Square. Our parents on the bus thought the scene was hilarious, but refused to explain to the 8 and 9 year old boys on the bus what was so funny.