I’m not sure where you found the tilted version but it’s square on Tom’s website, on page 2 of tomfalco dot com. It’s tilted and shows a frame because Tom sells prints of his cartoons, although Tom’s Etsy listing has it square (but does show the frame).
Odd but trivial: The attribution line on the cartoon flips between the website and Etsy versions. One has name/website, the other website/name.
Not sure where the tilted version came from but the one on tomfalco dot com is square. His wall print on Etsy has the frame but isn’t tilted. Odd but trivial: The two versions have inverted attribution lines. One is name / website, the other is website / name.
Also apologies in advance if this comment gets duped. My first two attempts to comment got eaten and I’m not seeing them after a minute.
If you follow his blog or newsletter, Tom Falco seems like such a nice guy! His sense of humor, though, is more straightforward than subversive, and does not shy away from making a very simple joking observation. Which is what we have here, I think. Granite countertops are modern and trendy — but back in Flintsto days, everything was granite!
Maybe a better joke would have had Wilma saying she liked the granite countertops and Fred replying that everything is granite; the counters aren’t special.
The tilted version is an advert for Tom’s wall art. The original version is not tilted. I scrolled down and saw it right way up just a bit further down.
All these surveys! Another reason for us not to give out our cell phone numbers to everyone!
We have each other’s cell numbers (obviously), so do our siblings, their spouses & children and the other officers of the the reenactment unit we belong to & ditto my embroidery chapter – anyone else gets our, yes – we still have one – landline number. Don’t need to be called while we are out doing things other than in emergencies.
(Oh, and the email address used for comics and other online things plus anything which would not get our cell phone number is one just for use for online activities. NO insult intended.)
That was one of Bill’s principles, though perhaps more honored in the breach than the observance. The idea was “Well, they already had their chance to be clear/funny”.
I’m not getting anywhere scanning from the linked archives (https://cidu.info/tag/tom-falco/), but to the best of my recollection the first (or an early) time when we ran a Tomversations cartoon as a CIDU, he commented in the thread, and some of the responses cited Bill’s rule.
The rule itself can be found in a preserved version of Bill’s list of “cidus-and-don’ts” (hhttps://cidu.info/cidus-and-donts-the-faq/), at list position 11, reading “We don’t encourage artists to explain their own comics, because they’ve already had their chance to make us understand. Also, it’s more fun this way.”
Also in successor editors’ “current” version (actually from 2021 – this is linked as “CIDU FAQ” in the left side menu) at list item 12, where I added “However, when a comics-creator does drop by, please don’t invoke this principle in such a way as to make them feel unwelcome.” Presumably that addition was in response to some occasion of commenters pointing out the rule in a maybe over-emphatic way… and that may have been from Tom Falco’s drop-in.
Comics I Don't Understand 
About the kitchen counter: I would just take it for granite.
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I’m not sure where you found the tilted version but it’s square on Tom’s website, on page 2 of tomfalco dot com. It’s tilted and shows a frame because Tom sells prints of his cartoons, although Tom’s Etsy listing has it square (but does show the frame).
Odd but trivial: The attribution line on the cartoon flips between the website and Etsy versions. One has name/website, the other website/name.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Not sure where the tilted version came from but the one on tomfalco dot com is square. His wall print on Etsy has the frame but isn’t tilted. Odd but trivial: The two versions have inverted attribution lines. One is name / website, the other is website / name.
Also apologies in advance if this comment gets duped. My first two attempts to comment got eaten and I’m not seeing them after a minute.
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I agree with both Andrew and Millar!
If you follow his blog or newsletter, Tom Falco seems like such a nice guy! His sense of humor, though, is more straightforward than subversive, and does not shy away from making a very simple joking observation. Which is what we have here, I think. Granite countertops are modern and trendy — but back in Flintsto days, everything was granite!
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So of what are the counters made if not granite?
Maybe a better joke would have had Wilma saying she liked the granite countertops and Fred replying that everything is granite; the counters aren’t special.
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The tilted version was in Tom Falco’s newsletter. Interesting that it’s not tilted in other versions.
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The tilted version is an advert for Tom’s wall art. The original version is not tilted. I scrolled down and saw it right way up just a bit further down.
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… marooned on AN desert island?
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Lord Flatulence, maybe it started as “an island” and when the artist decided to add the qualifier, they forgot to adjust the article.
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What percentage of house hunting jokes are a variation of “Just a stone’s throw from …”, followed by a thrown stone?
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bensondonald, I hope that wouldn’t be in a glass house.
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All these surveys! Another reason for us not to give out our cell phone numbers to everyone!
We have each other’s cell numbers (obviously), so do our siblings, their spouses & children and the other officers of the the reenactment unit we belong to & ditto my embroidery chapter – anyone else gets our, yes – we still have one – landline number. Don’t need to be called while we are out doing things other than in emergencies.
(Oh, and the email address used for comics and other online things plus anything which would not get our cell phone number is one just for use for online activities. NO insult intended.)
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Tom Falco responds!
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Mitch4: Great find!
Do we object to cartoonists weighing in?
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That was one of Bill’s principles, though perhaps more honored in the breach than the observance. The idea was “Well, they already had their chance to be clear/funny”.
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OK, fine by me. Just figured I’d ask–publicly, as I likely wasn’t the only one wondering!
Do we know how TomF knew this? (Also just curious!)
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I’m not getting anywhere scanning from the linked archives (https://cidu.info/tag/tom-falco/), but to the best of my recollection the first (or an early) time when we ran a Tomversations cartoon as a CIDU, he commented in the thread, and some of the responses cited Bill’s rule.
The rule itself can be found in a preserved version of Bill’s list of “cidus-and-don’ts” (hhttps://cidu.info/cidus-and-donts-the-faq/), at list position 11, reading “We don’t encourage artists to explain their own comics, because they’ve already had their chance to make us understand. Also, it’s more fun this way.”
Also in successor editors’ “current” version (actually from 2021 – this is linked as “CIDU FAQ” in the left side menu) at list item 12, where I added “However, when a comics-creator does drop by, please don’t invoke this principle in such a way as to make them feel unwelcome.” Presumably that addition was in response to some occasion of commenters pointing out the rule in a maybe over-emphatic way… and that may have been from Tom Falco’s drop-in.
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Falco didn’t post here, so I would say that the rule is not violated.
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