Month / November 2024

by Kilby

Beyond the far side of reason

Over the past few weeks, I have discovered several CIDU submissions of comics from The Far Side. These were never posted for a simple reason: back in July 2023, FarWorks issued a “take-down” copyright complaint to WordPress, and WP summarily deleted about a dozen comics from various CIDU posts.

Even though CIDU has always operated under the principle of “fair use”, none of us has the time, nor the money, nor the legal standing to pursue this issue. I find it especially aggravating that CIDU has been used as a scapegoat (via WordPress): FarWorks has done nothing about the thousands of Far Side cartoons posted to Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, or Xitter. It would seem as if Gary Larson doesn’t really care so much about his work appearing elsewhere, the real sin is to present and discuss The Far Side outside of Larson’s belatedly established “hallowed grounds”.

Therefore, for this singular special occasion, I will use the same technique as in the recent “NSFW Experiment” post, providing links for the following comics (to external websites), so that everyone can confirm which one was meant, along with the text of the CIDU reader’s original submission.

Keera submitted this one (from 1981, rerun on 29-Mar-2024) as a CIDU. It shows a creature lying on its back on a standard mattress in the middle of a field, surrounded by three observers of the same kind of animal, one of which appears to have folded paws. Keera wrote: “There’s usually a caption. There are also people who comment. But I haven’t read those. I’ve decided to let you guys tell me if these are porcupines (?) at a funeral, or testing a mattress, or what.“

Solution: The animals are indeed porcupines, and it is a mattress, but it’s not a funeral. The gag is simply an inversion of the classic comic meme of a fakir “resting” on a bed of nails:

For the “Welcome POTP” comic that was originally published on 13-Aug-1988, here is the description that J-L provided: “This … appears to show a meeting/reunion of people, with a banner above reading ‘WELCOME POTP‘. The caption reads: ‘The 25th annual “Part of the Problem” convention‘.“

J-L went on to write: “I don’t get it. I found this cartoon as #3 in an article showcasing a set of ten confusing/strange ‘Far Side’ Comics from 1988 that can be found here(+). The author of the article can’t explain this one, either. Can you?“

It’s not a big laugh, but the humorous incongruity is that these idiots (for lack of a better term) are celebrating their long-term problematic status, instead of trying to correct their stupid behavior.

P.S. (+) It remains to be seen just how long FarWorks will permit Ambrose Tardive’s “Screen Rant” to remain online and unmutilated.

Finally, Maggie the Cartoonist submitted “The Old Cartoonists’ Home” (rerun on 31-May-2023) for the Sunday Funnies, because (as she put it) “… eventually you, me, and Gary Larson will all end up in The Old Cartoonists’ Home.“

P.P.S. For obvious reasons, this will be the last appearance of the Far Side at CIDU: no future submissions will be posted in any form. I wish Mr. Larson the best of luck in his mercenary campaign to close the barn doors after the horses have already left.

P.P.P.S. A similar takedown order was also executed by WordPress for “Farcus” on 22-Feb-2024, despite the fact that the authors “… are now on an extended leave of absence to pursue other creative projects… their popular comic feature continues to appear…” (as reruns). Since they have demonstrated the same lack of humor as Mr. Larson, Farcus will henceforth no longer be discussed at CIDU.

by Kilby

When is a Leg Not a Leg?

Boise Ed submitted this Lockhorns comic, asking: “What is ‘not-leg day‘ supposed to mean?“

P.S. This submission accidentally fell through the cracks. At the time, Boise Ed reported that “Comics Kingdom has apparently been on holiday since at least last night, so I’ve given the ArcaMax URL“. As I’ve explained elsewhere, Arcamax-URLs have a very limited half-life. In addition, since this comic was published, Comics Kingdom has been completely rebuilt, and The Lockhorns have changed syndicates, so that the strip is now at GoComics. Luckily, Ed’s brief, but accurate description made it easy to verify the correct comic.

by Kilby

Bonus: Synchronous Flushes

Brian in StL submitted this pair of “classic crescent-moon outhouses” last year, which seemed eminently appropriate for World Toilet Day.

…
P.S. Both of these strips were published last year on October 5th, but the Non Sequitur is actually a rerun from 2019, and was embedded into a comment in that year in Bill’s Halloween post about “Outhouses“.

by zbicyclist

Destroying the Mood

Usual John sends this in. “Curtis is supposed to be eleven, and Michelle presumably is about the same age. Catwoman. Wonder Woman, and Tinker Bell all seem like plausible costume choices for a eleven-year-old girl, even if we might think of them as having more adult physiques. Since Curtis usually is wild to get Michelle to go out with him, I don’t see why he would be turning down this opportunity.”

by Kilby

Warning: This is an NSFW Experiment

Back in mid-June, Chak submitted one of Zach Weinersmith’s SMBC comics as a partial CIDU, commenting: “I could only find eight broken Commandments, can anybody get all ten? And if so, which of the three lists of Commandments in the Bible did they use?“

(Ordinarily the comic would appear right here, but not this time.)

Here’s why: Besides the theological irreverence present in Zach’s caption, the main problem (and part of the reason for the delay in posting Chak’s submission) is that while there is nothing visually offensive (nor “Arlo”) in the artwork, the dialog is simply much too crude to post openly at CIDU (some might even call it blasphemous). I’m not willing to risk one of those fancy “swipe” frames to hide it, because that mechanism is browser-dependent.

Since we do not have access to Bill’s “Arlo Page” to use as an asylum for this kind of material, the experiment I propose is to provide non-embedded (text) links, which may be used to open the corresponding images in a separate browser tab or window. Everyone should remember that the images behind these links should not, repeat not be opened by anyone who is easily offended (in this case, by F-bombs and other gratuitous crudeness).

Here is the link to the SMBC comic (NSFW).
Reminder: you have been warned!

This second link is for the bonus “votey” panel (also NSFW).
Again: you have been warned!

Anyone who wishes to answer Chak’s questions or participate in the discussion may do so in the comments below, but please remember, even though Zach used crude language in his comic, there are still standards of decorum here at CIDU, so please keep everything civil. I wouldn’t expect that this conversation will qualify for a G-Rating, but it would be nice if we could keep it below PG-13.

P.S. If this discussion method works, we might consider using it with other (especially “Arlo”) comics that would otherwise not qualify to be posted at CIDU.

P.P.S. Those of you who may feel that this experiment was a bad idea, please say so. CIDU is a community; it cannot function properly without honest, open communication. (I’m referring here to the method of discussing NSFW material, and not the SMBC comic itself, which is sure to offend a certain percentage of readers.)

by multipleciduers

Sunday Funnies – LOLs, November 17th, 2024

This “Dog Eat Doug” was submitted by Usual John as an LOL, but this feature hasn’t been seen at CIDU since August 2020 (a pair submitted by Andréa and posted by Bill), so I’m adding a CIHS tag.

…
John added, “While this is mainly a LOL, I am unclear on why the messenger thought the blue jay general, or whoever he thought he was reporting to, would be in a baby carriage.“

Boise Ed submitted this Rhymes with Orange as a CIDU, asking “It’s the old Adam-and-Eve scene, but why is his leaf attracting flies or other bugs and what’s with the days of the week?” – I think the answer is obvious enough to reclassify this as an LOL-Ewww:

…
P.S. The “days of the week” are of course a reference to a type of underwear that I have often heard about, but never actually seen. I thought they were usually intended for girls, but when I hunted for a screenshot, I discovered that they were also available for boys, and even came in men’s sizes:

…
In order, the names of the ghosts would be Blolga (red), Polga (pink), Olga (cyan), and Clyde (orange). Since Olga is always that color, maybe he has more reason to fear than the other three.

Bob Ball send in this as a LOL / synchronicity. We don’t publish synchronicities much anymore, but this is worthy of LOL. This is part of a thread on Pearls, where Pastis makes fun of oversensitivity towards certain terms by labelling junk drawer as an insult. But while I understand the term junk drawer, mine is a miscellany drawer; there are things in there that occasionally get used (e.g. double-sided tape). What do you call yours?

The start of that Pearls storyline:

Chak sends in this gem:

by multipleciduers

Saturday Morning OYs – November 16th, 2024

Danny Boy sends this in, and notes that the reason helium does this is not as settled as you might think. But your editor is tired of thinking right now, so feel free to put this controversy into the comments.

Yes, I’ll speak highly of you. Hehe!

by zbicyclist

Octo

Jack Applin sends this in. “Bob states that all the sides and angles are equal, which is true for a (regular) octagon. Yes, and … ? Is it a gag about the word “side”, that there’s no need to get to the other side, because all sides are equal?“

…
Unless someone can think of a reason why it might be meaningful, let’s assume that “⦣BDC” is simply a typo for “⦣BCD“.

Here are a couple of octagons that are not regular. After someone explains what the joke is, we can consider whether the joke would apply to these octagons.

by Kilby

Never use a neologism without looking it up first

Usual John submitted this Curtis as a possible Arlo candidate two years ago, commenting: “It’s interesting that Ray Billingsley managed to get this into print and, given that he isn’t known for testing the limits, maybe it was accidental“. I sincerely doubt that the author was aware of the definition to which John was referring, and the fact that the strip got published almost certainly means that his editor didn’t bother to look it up, either.

…
For the [offensive slang] meaning, here is John’s link to “choad” in “Green’s Dictionary of Slang” (warning: extremely NSFW for strong language, of course). For those who just want the meaning, without the coarse citations, Wiktionary also offers a listing for “choad“.

P.S. Besides the indeterminant nature of the Arlo intent, I think another reason why this strip didn’t get posted may be because the gag is sub-standard: the telescoped neologism isn’t really convincing, and there’s no explanation whatsoever as to why both boys suddenly shifted from laughing in the third panel to fighting in the fourth panel.

by Kilby

Going Bananas?

Boise Ed submitted this Carpe Diem as a CIDU, commenting: “There’s a stereotypical guy stranded on a tiny island and a ship passes by. We’re supposed to laugh at this? The boat is labelled ‘United Bananas’, so that apparently has something to do with the apparently intended humor.“

…
P.S. At first I was completely puzzled and in total agreement with Ed, but only after I created this post (and examined the comic about a dozen times) did I finally discover the critical detail. Now I feel pretty silly (and I understand why this didn’t get posted before), but I’m still not going to reveal the answer.