In memory of Bill Bickel, the founder of this site, I’m going to link to the tribute page on this site. This is always available, but it’s particularly appropriate to highlight it today. Bill died September 16, 2020.
Bill Bickel and the history of CIDU | Comics I Don’t Understand
Ian C sends this in: “This is probably obvious with the correct cultural context but I have no idea what it is named.
Andrew Miller sends this in: “This sounds like a reference to some phrase. ‘Friends with benefits’ is the only similar thing I can think of and would be a stretch at best. Also not sure why one dog has opposable thumbs and a smartphone. Is the joke just “fleas are contagious?” That would be less of a joke and more of a useful tip for a child that just discovered them.
Since I have space in the comment box and it’s come to mind, I’ll recite De Morgan’s Siphonaptera:
Great fleas have little fleas upon their backs to bite ’em,
And little fleas have lesser fleas, and so ad infinitum.
And the great fleas themselves, in turn, have greater fleas to go on;
While these again have greater still, and greater still, and so on.”
Uncle $crooge sends this in: “It’s probably some kind of weird McEldowney fetish so I probably will regret sending this in and learning something that I really don’t want to know. Still, maybe it’s just a harmless joke; I just have no idea what this strip is about.”
I don’t really understand it, either, but I’m giving it an Arlo tag just because it’s McEldowney. The ones before and after this one are also themed The Thorax Clinic, but have a different patient.
Boise Ed asks the musical question: “Is there some romantic attachment to a CM7 chord? And how does he make a chord with one string, anyhow?”
Happy Labor Day, the unofficial end of summer!
Most schools no longer start the day after Labor Day. Something that used to be true, but isn’t any longer:
Christian sends this in: “I often find philosophical debate/discussion to be tedious. Consuming philosophical subject matter humorously/satirically in the SMBC way is tolerable… but I don’t think I entirely understand the main comic…. but I think I understand the votey comic better… which only kinda-sorta helps explain the main one…”
Christian sends in this comic, which is a new one for me. “Y’all need submissions… and I like visiting, so here’s a webcomic that I frequently enjoy even when I have little clue as to what any of it is about…. and the paragraphs of commentary that accompany each comic often don’t help… not because the jokes are flawed (although sometimes they are … and sometimes on purpose…?) … but because these comics are usually about video game culture/industry/playing… and the last time I was able to be not awful at a video game was when the controls were up, down, let, right, shoot.”
This one is a vocabulary lesson.
“Friendslop is a slang word, used to describe a subgenre of cooperative indie games oriented around a low barrier of entry and social interaction, emphasizing gameplay in social groups … Common elements of friendslop games include a low entry difficulty, frequently described in relation to Bushnell’s Law, that allows people of any gaming skill to participate, and a focus on social interaction. Usually these games will feature a team working towards a common goal, such as climbing a mountain in Peak“ (Wikipedia)
