A very touching moment; especially since, in the Harry Bliss world, it’s likely that the dog understands this well, and is pleased to have this news shared with him.
So it’s easy to understand: a sentimental interaction. But how do we understand this as a comic? Is there any sort of joke, or comedy, or humor (apart from calling positive toned emotions “a good humor”)? As our category asks, Is that all there is?
OK, we see he has just sneezed, and the force of it has left her hair blown back, and evidently left stuck in that shape. And what’s the joke? Is it just that?
I for a few moments entertained the idea that it was meant to be super-Eww and the stripe in her hair represented the discharge of his sneeze! But co-editor phsiiicidu kindly set me straight, that it’s just the standard Bride-of-Frankenstein stripe; and he provided this reference image:
Okay, many a few people still say they use “tin foil” or may even think they use “tin foil”. (And probably a larger number say “tin cans”.) But is this — stating flatly that they use “tin foil” — an acceptable way of putting it? I wouldn’t think so.
To make matters worse, apparently you can still get actual tin foil, as an expensive alternative or as a novelty. (I’m looking at an E-Bay listing of a roll or sheet of 150mm x 300mm for $18.) No, no no no, that does not justify the caption!
Okay, that seems to be a bad answer. Is there a reason he suggests it, apart from being dimwitted? And can we say what a good answer might have been?
The sender of this Rhymes With Orange points out “a minor, but annoying mistake,” that the central pips on the two of hearts should not be both facing the same way. Ooops! And we might add that Ace here doesn’t look much like a playing-card ace, either — they’ve become more just a business card. Heck, they don’t even have a suit!
Okay, I do get the joke. But can’t stop making a face at the degree to which cartoon physics had to stretch to set this up. Unless someone sees an explanation for the saucer’s crash other than it getting hit by a golf ball.
This looks more like our world than Oz. But if that was an Oz-witch then I guess the susceptibility to dissolving by water came here with her. And if amniotic fluid counts as water (as in saying “her water broke”) then it would be dangerous to her. But … but … but … then how have witches ever survived giving birth?
Hmmm, this may be flipping the sense of the Oopsies category …. I don’t see it as even near funny, but really want to give the cartoonist points for mathematical accuracy. That’s a good rendering of a regular dodecahedron, one of the five Platonic solids. (Though some may have preferred to see the -hedra plural.)
Maybe it’s a genuine CIDU? But I think that punch line is all there is.
I think we all can sympathize with Duane’s motivations for his … little prank. And that’s the main joke, which is not in need of explication; so this isn’t quite a CIDU. But if we wanted to get into it a little, we could ask whether he’s getting revenge more on the kid or on the mom. And at the practical level, what does it mean that he still has the barber’s customer-apron as he’s leaving?
I guess this Working Daze fits an offshoot of the “CIDU-Quickie” category, where the joke is utterly incomprehensible until you are shown (or realize you already know) an instance of something-that’s-going-around, and then that entirely exhausts the mystery.
Linked here is a compilation of what lies behind the joke. (I can’t watch this all the way thru.)
Is it just that the guy is so shook up he books three appointments a day? Is that all there is? Is it weird that the receptionist builds on the standard “Your three o’clock is here” instead of, maybe, using his name (which she must be familiar with by now)?
This was going to be a standalone CIDU, with the question-blurb of The slug has eaten some salted snack and is having a toxic reaction?? There was another fly, and the frog scooped him up with his tongue?? Do you have another?
But then I realized the item hanging out of the frog’s mouth is not his tongue (which would be thin and ready to flick) but a wing tip, matching the wings we see on the speaking fly at the left. Well, that answers which of the explanations it was.
But I didn’t know whether to feel cheated of a mystery, or ready to applaud the skilfully delayed punch. Anyway, that landed it here!
“Love” – “Confess” – “Surf”
Those are the titles I can make out among the items displayed at this newsstand.
Okay, the joke is that this soldier (is he “Killer”?) is really just interested in eyeing the pin-ups and girlie publications, while prolonging his visit by asking for various small-town papers the newsstand does not carry.
But why do I feel like that raises gaps in the story that ought to have been dealt with? Like: is he making the towns and papers up, or are they supposed to be real within the fictive world? Is the “Nope” answer the basis for him to keep going, with possible second or third choices? Or might he have gotten them all, if commissioned by several guys back at the platoon to bring them back their respective home-town papers? And does this newsstand in fact carry regular newspapers and general-interest magazines, and the pin-up material is just what gets most prominently displayed? Or is that all they sell?
Hmm, something missing? Oh yes – the generator that would be hooked up so that the exercise bike powers the fan! Or go old style, and show some belts and pulleys making a mechanical connection. Otherwise, what’s the joke?
Here we have just one of those unanswered little mysteries, not any critique. Just what did he mean to say instead, eh?
P.S. It doesn’t answer that question, but the next day’s strip is from the same therapy session, and picks up the theme of slips.
Comics I Don't Understand 