Also published as single-panel (under the title Reply All Lite), with revised drawing for another view, but retaining same dialog. Dee Lewis had long been maintaining two versions in parallel, but with the one-panel “Lite” version having a different (not just re-cropped) scene drawn, and a different (not just printed more compactly) dialog and story, with some thematic resemblance but that would be it.
Hopefully, this closer-to-identical protocol makes it easier for her to fulfill the need to provide both footprints. Wayno, on his blog for the daily Bizarro comic, sometimes discusses how he similarly has to rearrange elements to provide both a squareish panel and an elongated strip (tho the strip is not multi-panel).
The two-panel version gives a more complete view of the car in its space, revealing it as somewhat askew. Does the one-panel version still work without this being so clear? Is he there still complaining about her active advisement even if it didn’t so obviously lead to a bad result (in his version of the story!)?
And indeed, is some passenger-seat advisement the main burden of his complaint? I mean, she didn’t hop out and try to flag him into the space, did she?
Maybe this one from a following day can cast some light on this couple’s driving habits.
Comics I Don't Understand 
I guess she gets out and gestures wildly while he’s trying to park, being Helpful.
@ Dvandom (1) – … or she just sat in the car, making critical comments.
I agree with Mitch that the detail of the tire touching the line is a worthwhile added feature (implying that despite her “help”, he still did not do a good job of parking), but I don’t think that it’s a critical detail, the comic still works in the reduced version. However, although the smaller (single panel) version was clearly not “cropped” from the strip, it is a slight exaggeration to say that it was drawn differently: the hand positions on the characters are identical, showing that they were recorded on a separate digital layer, and then simply composed in different positions for the smaller format.
P.S. The relationship dynamics in both strips reminded me of this (very) old comic by H.T. Webster, which ran under the title of “How to Torture Your Wife“:
…
There’s no date, but the split-screen windshield indicates that it was probably drawn at some time in the 1930s.
I’m amazed that with the economics of cartooning that it would make sense to do two different versions, plus the added mental work of thinking of a gag that would work both as a multi-panel and a single panel comic.
Also, I think parallel parking IS a team sport. There’s a lot to watch, particularly in a tight space with stuff near the curb, like a tree. [and, yes, I can see this isn’t a parallel parking spot, but backing out of that spot in a shopping center parking lot will have similar issues.]
@ zbicyclist (3) – An artist who has only a low number of client newspapers is more likely to be willing to do whatever is necessary to keep those few clients happy. Just a month ago when we were discussing a “Tundra” strip, I discovered that Chad Carpenter provides his daily strips in three different formats (PDF, TIFF, & WEB), and on top of that, he also adds five different custom formats for his Sunday strips (for the Boulder, Chicago, Edmonton, Nanaimo, & Trenton papers).
I don’t know where Wayno (pictured below, with Hilary Price) fits into the food chain, except that his panel cartoon branch of Dan Piraro’s Bizarro is pretty popular, and just won an award at the Reubens. But he apparently always prepares a squarish panel version and an elongated strip version (not multi-panel in general) of every daily cartoon in the series. On his weekly blog he usually picks out one (rarely, two different ones) to show us both versions and discuss the considerations that went into moving things around and making the joke still work.
In an upcoming CIDU OYs post (21 September) we note that and show an example, where the elongated version gets rotated to a vertical strip. (Sorry, that link is not yet valid!) It’s the “Antonym and Cleopatra” cartoon, already discussed at Daily Cartoonist (I think but cannot find it) and Arnold Zwicky’s Blog. But that doesn’t make us cringe from reprinting for entertainment value!
Backseat driver!
I kind of tuned out the detail of the car being askew since I’m just not fond of the art style. I got the joke despite the background artwork so the single-panel version did work for me.
One of the biggest downgrades in moving from The Suburban House to The Fancy New Apartment is the parking situation. That means going from a two-car garage to a spot (no particular one) in a parking garage. The spaces are decent-sized, which is good because the Venerable Bronco is far from the largest vehicle parking there.
The problem is that the garages are the first two levels of the building, so there is a lot of weight above. So there are many many many support posts. These are in the front of the rows and are on the lines, so parking in one shaves about three inches from your maneuvering room.
I have been driving vehicles like the VB since I was a kid, so I’ve very skilled at backing into spaces. Still, it’s a chore when the garage is fairly full. Sometimes, even when technically legal in their parking, another’s closeness to line on one side, and a post on the other side, makes the spot a “nope”.
Any time he is parking in a garage/lot and there is a car on either or both sides at his request I will have to get out of the car and direct him into the space. I have never had a problem doing this alone when driving.
Brian in STL – We live on a 4 lane main road. Soon after we moved in we had the straight driveway expanded to also have a semicircular driveway in front of the house. Since we are are on a rather small sized property this is all rather close together and we have be EXTREMELY careful when pulling out as there are curves in the street which means vehicles SUDDENLY appear as one is pulling out.
We have our RV (Chevy van conversion) parked at the top of our driveway. Behind, also the straight original driveway is our car. Our van is parked on the grass in the semicircle at the bottom of the driveway.
The car can be pulled out forward and then returned to its position when we return with not problem and is what we normally drive (back when we did things separately before Covid I would normally drive this unless we both we were together – so he would be driving). The van can be pulled forward and out the front driveway cut – but if doing so the car has to first be parked next to the van so the van can come back into the driveway (through where the car is otherwise normally parked). Now the RV is the most fun. To get it out to drive the car has be moved to next to the cross section of the driveway semi-circle (blocking access to front door) and next to the van. I then go out in the street – remember, 4 lane main road – with a walkie talkie. He backs down the driveway to the street and waits there until I yell “NOW”. He then backs the RV out and pulls over in front of our house as I run there to get into the car so we can leave before some vehicle comes along and hits it.
Back when we lived a few blocks away in an apartment we had a parking lot with unassigned spaces behind the building and no real parking problem.