Category / Arlo (Page-worthy)

by Kilby

Hägar the Enabler

Carl Fink submitted this Hägar the Horrible strip, commenting: “I think this is way too obvious to actually be an Arlo. Is there a category for ‘The Funnies just showed a young couple having sex in front of their neighbors, only slightly off panel’?“

There are a series of fine distinctions related to CIDU Bill’s “Arlo” designation. Carl is absolutely correct in recognizing that this comic does not qualify for an “Arlo Award“, because there isn’t any hidden wordplay, and nothing has been secretly smuggled past the syndicate’s censors; the hot action is right there (to the left of the second panel), for all of us (not) to see.

Whether or not this is “Arlo material” is a matter of subjective opinion. There is nothing objectively offensive about two pairs of underwear, and especially not with such frumpy ones as shown here. I don’t think that even Bill would have thrown this comic into his “Arlo Page” purgatory, and he was especially careful about not wanting to offend even the most sensitive of CIDU readers.

Nevertheless, this example is surprisingly risqué for a syndicated comic, and all the more so for one published by King Features, which in my experience has always been the most “sanitized” of all the syndicates. It also shows that someone else (presumably Gary Hallgren, for lack of any official information) has taken over the writing duties for “Hägar”. I cannot imagine that Dik or Chris Browne would ever have produced a comic like this one (even if their name still appears on it).

If this strip (pun intended) didn’t trigger the KF-censors, then it’s probably because the editor decided that the “sex” is indefinite and unprovable: concerned parents could theoretically explain to their curious kids that the new couple have just changed into their pajamas (to go to Hägar’s bed). The duplicity is psychotic, but that’s the way Americans behave about this subject: remember the “wardrobe malfunction“?

by Kilby

Messenger I Don’t Understand

Warning: This is probably the first time that an Oglaf comic has ever been posted to CIDU, and it may also be the last. Even though the strip presented below does not contain anything explicit or offensive, please be forewarned that the vast majority of Oglaf strips are (to quote one reviewer) “extremely, extraordinarily NSFW“. Please do not go searching for the Oglaf website unless you are prepared for (and approve of) its signature type of “pornographic sex comedy”.

This strip was published Sunday, 18-Aug-2024; there is one specific aspect that puzzles me:

…
The plot action is perfectly clear, in particular what the younger ruler is planning. What I simply do not understand is why the messenger appears to be supporting this plan, instead of informing the older ruler (who is supposed to be his boss) what the ostrich trap is intended to accomplish.

by EditorM

(New Arlo Page) Under the Zowie Moon

Today’s CIDU appears not in this post, which is visible at the “front page” , but at a separate “Arlo Page” that is not accessed unintentionally — though all you need do is follow that link. That’s because it’s arguably (barely) NSFW, as the drawing of the comic includes a (tasteful) nude. It’s this Monday’s Lay Lines by Carol Lay.

And also, frankly, because we just wanted to try out this mechanism for placing the theoretically provocative comic on a Page within this same CIDU site, as we cannot place it on the external Arlo Page site that CIDU Bill used for that purpose.

If you drop in over there, and read Bill’s intro to the Arlo Page idea and the different Arlo Award concept, that may answer questions you had about the distinction. As implied there, “Arlo Award” is a label applied to a comic entered on this site, in the main flow of Posts, and not a sign that it is hidden from unintentional eyes, like “Arlo Page” items.

While we’re at it, Bill’s intro on the aforementioned external Arlo Page site also has this to say about Arlo Award: The Arlo Award goes to a cartoonist who sneaks something blatantly inappropriate past the syndicate’s censors. Obviously this doesn’t apply to Internet-only or self-published comics. But nowadays there is little that literally qualifies as subject to potential censorship in that same sense, so we are modifying the definition:

An Arlo Award label (tag or category, don’t fuss) can go to “A comic with somehow ‘racy’ or provocative content, which successfully disguises that aspect, particularly through double entendre.  And regardless of the actual publication history and whether or not there was actual censorship potential.”

(Comments are open here and at the referenced page. This might be the better place for discussion of the above Arlo policies / definitions and attempted solutions, while comments on the page with the actual cartoon might be a better place to discuss what’s going on in that comic.)