Besides the popular candy collection event, today is “Reformation Day” (in honor of Luther’s 95 theses), and here at CIDU it just happens to be Meryl A.’s birthday. Since she hasn’t been able to reschedule her day of honor, we will just have to wish her a very “Happy Birthday!” today.
Halloween is supposed to be a nice, innocent holiday, but some folks misinterpret it:
Then there are others who go really overboard:
Some kids are more scary than others:
Although very dated, this costume is still scary, too:
Finally, one bastion of sanity in a lunatic world:
P.S. All of the previous appearances of Pumpkin Spice at CIDU were posted by Bill in the Fall of 2019; three of these presented some fairly hideous pumpkin spice flavored products (some real, some fictitious); click on the link if you are interested in seeing them. (Please note that the whole “pumpkin spice” collection will be presented in reverse chronological order, so you will have to scroll down past this one to get to Bill’s “spicy” material.)
P.P.S. – Edit: both links have been corrected, thanks to deety!
Janice wonders, “Are we keeping up the tradition of guessing Caulfield’s costume?”
Why not? Put your guesses in the comments. I’ll try to remember to update this post with the next clue each day; if not, feel free to add that in the comments.
Tuesday:
Wednesday:
Thursday. And the answer is:
The day after Halloween, the explanation. But we don’t find out what Caulfield’s actual costume was, at least not yet.
I understood the primary gag in the final panels, but I do not understand the meteorological setup in the first panel:
… Perhaps it’s just the awkward expression: how can a hurricane “drop a millibar“? Did anything like this actually happen during either of the recent hurricanes?
I might as well include the previous two B&C strips, which feature Horace’s “intentional CIDUs. The solution to the first one was explained in Week 94 of the Invitational, in which Gene Weingarten solicited even more obscure “Horace” material. (The results will appear in the Invitational on Halloween, and the better ones will probably be immortalized in future Barney & Clyde strips.)
The second one I had to look up myself, but Barney’s tip in the last panel was a big help:
P.S. Given the solution, this one might also need a “geezer” tag.
Here’s a third “Horace” strip from last year, which was also included (with its solution) in the Invitational article:
Back in August(†), Usual John submitted this One Big Happy strip as a partial CIDU, commenting: “I guess I sort of understand the comic, but I have no idea what movie star Ruthie has in mind.“
… I agree with John: I cannot recognize any resemblance to a specific actress; she just looks generically old and ugly (both with and without the “app”, which I assume is the intended gag).
P.S. (†) I had a little difficulty finding this strip, because the URL was incomplete. Please remember to make sure the URL you submit is specific to the date of the intended comic, and not just the general “front page” URL for “today’s” comic.
Kilby comments: This Macanudo isn’t really “laugh out loud” funny (it’s closer to an “Awww”), but I found the diagonal framing (and the “lensing” effect in the title panel) so impressive that wanted to share it with everyone:
… The strip is even better if you open the image in a new tab (or window), and let it fill the screen.
P.S. As long as we are reminiscing about summer, here’s how Calvin & Hobbes spent a similar day (three decades ago):
… P.S. The fact that Bil Keane drew a few of his own “grown up children” strips doesn’t make that Ink Pen any less funny.
Danny Boy was kind enough to send in these LOLs.
Nancy Classics this week gave us this comic from 1955. Half dollars almost call for a geezer alert. Relatively few of them are still made in the U.S.
Dollar coins are no longer minted after multiple failures to gain acceptance (Susan B. Anthony, Sakagawea, U.S. Presidents). The U.S. Mint does produce some American Innovation Dollars, but these are not intended for circulation and are sold at a premium.
From 2001-2020, the U.S. Mint produced half dollars only for collectors because the Federal Reserve already had plenty, but limited production has now resumed.
In 2023, the United States Mint produced a total of 11.38 billion coins for circulation. Here’s the breakdown by denomination:
The following pair was submitted by Chipper 42; today happens to be “Hug a Sheep Day” (make of that what you will: both of these comics were originally published on April 5th).
P.S. While I understand the editorial position that CIDU should not actively solicit “Synchronicity” comics (primarily because the result tends to be far too many mild, random coincidences), I’m not about to ignore a superb example when I see one, especially when there is an ideal date on which to present it.
Mark H. submitted this Frazz as an OY, admitting that it “Took me a minute…” (to get the joke). However, since at least one Editor still doesn’t understand it, a CIDU has been added to the tags. Perhaps Mark would be so kind…?
This Carpe Diem panel was submitted back in July by James Riendeau, who wrote, “Carpe Diem tends to be one I frequently do not get, but today’s was a real head-scratcher. It must be a cultural reference I’m not familiar with.”
Niklas Eriksson is Swedish; those “P”-Jackets might actually be worn there, but I sort of doubt it.
… Solution: The “P” stands for “parking”; the guy is a meter reader, and he’s writing a ticket for the “parked” whale.
… P.S.Claes Oldenberg was the only real mystery, the rest of them were fairly clear.
Early voting has started. The US election will soon be over … maybe.
Some of you likely came across this a few days ago, when Danny Boy in the comments, but it’s worth another chuckle.
This cartoon circulating around the internet probably qualifies as a CIDU, but the joke depends on a wordplay, so I’m posting it here.
I searched for the original source, but couldn’t find it in the many, many times it has been posted on the internet before I saw it this week.
I had originally set Mark H.’s suggestion to appear on Valentine’s Day, but then Kilby used this comic in his post earlier today. All of this exposure proves that the text below is still relevant, so I’m posting it as a bonus for today.
Bill Bickel set up the Arlo Award tag to indicate comics that seem to have snuck in sexual references past a newspaper comic censor. Of course, the state of the newspaper business is such that comic censors, or copy editors in general, seem to be in short supply. Web comics are, of course, inedible (I mean ineligible) for an Arlo Award.
The award is a nod to Jimmy Johnson’s Arlo & Janis comic, which still has innuendos with some subtlety. But a special Arlo Lifetime Achievement Award has to go to Brooke McEldowney’s 9 Chickweed Lane.
Here’s one sent in by Mark H., who notes “Given that they’ve never been intimate, it’s not clear how she knows how big his macadamias are – except that, being a few years older, she probably baby-sat him in younger days.”
But, yes, McEldowney established 3 days earlier that they haven’t had, well, you know what.
So, with the tiny power invested in me as one of the editors of Comics I Don’t Understand, I hereby give 9 Chickweed Lane a Lifetime Arlo Achievement Award.
Comics I Don't Understand 