Usual John submitted this Lockhorns comic as a CIDU, asking: “Why would you get a “W” imprint from charging the net? Also, is there some significance to the doctor’s name, ‘H. Blog’ ?“
… The word “charging” probably was supposed to mean that Leroy hit something that left an impression, but just like Usual John, I cannot think of anything on a basketball court (let alone a net) that would produce such a mark. In addition, even if there were something that would have done so, the image of the “W” (from the Wilson logo) should have been reflected:
… P.S. I also wonder whether there was a particular reason that the authors chose “Wilson” (instead of “Adidas”, “Nike”, or “Puma”).
Brian in StL suggested this Baby Blues strip two years ago as a partial CIDU, commenting: “The joke is obvious, but what I and everyone in comments noticed is that the front passenger seat is open, so why does he need to ride on the roof? I guess it might be a better question of how the cartoonist could have done the strip to make more sense. Possibly a pile of packages on the seat, bumped out of the back by the tree?“
… P.S. I agree with Brian, the artwork makes absolutely no sense at all. An alternative option (besides “packages”) would be to put one of the kids in the front seat, so that half of the back seat could be folded down to provide room for the tree (that is exactly what I do every year when my son and I go out to the local “cut your own tree” lot). However, Brian’s solution would probably have been easier to draw convincingly.
GiP submitted this B.C. strip, which doesn’t really fit into any category. It’s not funny enough for an LOL, and not puzzling enough for a CIDU: all the gag says is that Thor is hard-headed: he’s willing to endure any adversity to catch his fish, including unnecessarily repetitive waves in the first two panels, and ridiculously improbable starfish slapstick in the third panel. Even the destruction of his boat did not deter him.
… I wonder what Clumsy Carp would have thought about this.
P.S. Despite all its weaknesses, here’s a B.C. re-run from exactly two years ago:
… Why the re-run? Discovering this strip in the submissions archive reminded me of a comment that Bill Bickel wrote in May, 2020, and attached to “Dynamo” (01-Jan-2023): “So greetings from Month Three of the Coronavirus Lockdown. I hope everybody made it through okay to the other side.“
Mark. H. suggested this Mother Goose & Grimm a partial CIDU, commenting: “Grimmy tries to encourage the dog singing the song. But the song is not about the singer – it’s about the one the singer is singing to (‘You ain’t nothin’ but a hound dog…‘). The singer might very well have caught a rabbit himself, but that wouldn’t change the song.“
… Is it really just as simple as Grimmy mistaking the subject? Should I have added this to the Sunday Funnies, instead?
Mark H. submitted this 9CWL strip last year as a “Geezer Alert” (and partial CIDU), asking: “Does anyone younger than 60 know about Jimmy Hoffa?” (The CIDU and/or puzzle component is to figure out what she might have said to him underwater.)
… P.S. It is so refreshing to post a Chickweed Lane strip that is not (automatically) “Arlo” material.
This was going to be a CIDU, but it seems to be a colorist error. That’s not a basketball, but a curled up armadillo. But they don’t change color when they curl up, so far as I know.
From Wikipedia: “When threatened by a predator, Tolypeutes species frequently roll up into a ball. Other armadillo species cannot roll up because they have too many plates. When surprised, the North American nine-banded armadillo tends to jump straight in the air, which can lead to a fatal collision with the undercarriage or fenders of passing vehicles.”
Usual John sends this one in. This gets a bit of s “Eww”
The previous one in this series is pretty good, too.
The most recent appearance of Zits at CIDU was posted 4.5 years ago by Bill, so it seems like it’s time for a few more.
This first one was submitted two years ago by Dave in Boston, but probably got lost in the shuffle because the Arcamax link had expired(+), and Comics Kingdom (back then) had a very limited memory (something like two weeks for non-subscribers). Since Arcamax links do not indicate the date, it took a bit of detective work to find the comic that Dave had intended:
… Here’s what Dave wrote: “It seems the joke is supposed to be that the teenagers are so glued to their phones that they need to check the weather app to find out that they’re being rained on. But, it’s perfectly reasonable in that situation to check the forecast or the radar to see how long it’s going to last. And then there’s no joke. Or there’s something IDU.“
Coincidentally, Chemgal submitted this recent Zits strip as a CIDU, asking, “Just what is supposed to be in that contract?“
… P.S. I don’t have the slightest clue as to “What?“, but I have a pretty good idea as to “Why?“: Friends of ours here in Germany had photovoltaic panels installed under a “lease to own” agreement that will take 15 years for them to complete.
P.P.S. (+) The moral of the story is not to trust Arcamax links for submissions. Using Arcamax links for embedding images in comments is even worse, because the image will disappear later. If you have no other option, at least mention the publication date.
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:
Mark H. submitted this 9CWL quite a while ago(+), commenting: “Looks like the visuals in the first two frames are out of sequence. What woman wraps a towel around her head before going into the shower?“
… I agree that it does look odd, but I think the “out/in/out” sequence is necessary to make the “dash” effect work in the final panel. It’s really just that towel (on her head) that seems out of place.
P.S. (+) This strip is from August, but may have been overlooked amidst all the “swimming“, “milkshake“, and “accelerated maturation” issues we have seen in recent weeks. After all, they are all basically the same topic (the same one that we did not see just this past Wednesday, in “Hägar the Enabler“).
However, as long as we are on that subject, Mark H. also submitted the 9CWL below as an Arlo, commenting: “Given that they’ve never been intimate, it’s not clear how she knows how big his macadamias are….”
… Perhaps she was just estimating their diameter from the effectiveness of his testosterone level on her…
This “Mr. Boffo” strip was submitted by David Curwin as a CIDU. I didn’t think the gag was that difficult to decipher, but Zbicyclist pointed out that the real question is how many historical inaccuracies did Joe Martin manage to incorporate into just this one comic?
P.S. The strip’s publication date does not count as a mistake. Columbus Day originally fell on October 12th, but that was according to the Julian calendar. It was moved to the second Monday in October for convenience, but would actually have fell on October 21st, if the modern (Gregorian) calendar had been in use back then.
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.
Comics I Don't Understand 