Category / CIDU

by Kilby

Hound Dogs

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.“

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Is it really just as simple as Grimmy mistaking the subject? Should I have added this to the Sunday Funnies, instead?

by multipleciduers

Sunday Funnies – LOLs, December 01st, 2024

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.)

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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.

by Kilby

Draconian Taxonomics

Tim Harrod submitted this Wizard of Id as a CIDU promptly on the day that it was published, exactly eight months ago today. As Tim put it: “Just a straight-up, no-analysis-possible I Do Not Get It“:

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I can’t give a definite answer to Rodney’s question, either, but it probably depends on which cultural tradition the Dragon came from.

P.S. One reason that I did not like the Disney movie “Raya and the Last Dragon” is that the dragons were furry (rather than scaly).

by Kilby

Bargain Basement CIDU

Boise Ed submitted this Rabbits Against Magic strip as a CIDU almost exactly two years ago, but his commentary may have made it seem too political to appear here. I’ve adjusted Ed’s comment to remove the political adjectives: “I don’t get it. Why would a Twitter bankruptcy make the … fox move out of his parents’ basement? Someone [else] replied ‘Because without Twitter, he’s got nothing else to do‘, but I still don’t see a connection [between] … ‘Twitter’ and ‘basement’.“

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P.S. “Xitter” hasn’t gone bankrupt since it was senselessly renamed, but hasn’t been for lack of effort.

by multipleciduers

Sunday Funnies – LOLs, November 24th, 2024

Boise Ed submitted this B.C. strip as a CIDU, but I think it qualifies as an LOL:

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Ed had questioned the illogical elements of the setup: “I had forgotten that there is a restaurant chain called ‘The Cheesecake Factory‘, but why would anyone only eat roadkill, and why would anyone drive his car through that restaurant?“, but I think that it’s not supposed to make sense, it’s just supposed to be funny. The latter is something that the current author(s) don’t always achieve, so it’s always nice to see an exception.

MarkTa submitted this Wizard of Id strip as a CIDU quite a while ago, asking “Please help – is it about flatulence? Completely baffled.“

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While “burrito” might indeed imply “flatulence“, the real explanation is simpler: the Wizard is tired of Blanche stealing the blankets, and is anchoring them on his side of the bed (with an ultra-modern medieval nail gun). Both Calvin and his dad would have appreciated the Wizard’s solution:

When a cat employs this blanketing strategy, the result is called a “purrito“:

by Kilby

Beyond the far side of reason

Over the past few weeks, I have discovered several CIDU submissions of comics from The Far Side. These were never posted for a simple reason: back in July 2023, FarWorks issued a “take-down” copyright complaint to WordPress, and WP summarily deleted about a dozen comics from various CIDU posts.

Even though CIDU has always operated under the principle of “fair use”, none of us has the time, nor the money, nor the legal standing to pursue this issue. I find it especially aggravating that CIDU has been used as a scapegoat (via WordPress): FarWorks has done nothing about the thousands of Far Side cartoons posted to Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, or Xitter. It would seem as if Gary Larson doesn’t really care so much about his work appearing elsewhere, the real sin is to present and discuss The Far Side outside of Larson’s belatedly established “hallowed grounds”.

Therefore, for this singular special occasion, I will use the same technique as in the recent “NSFW Experiment” post, providing links for the following comics (to external websites), so that everyone can confirm which one was meant, along with the text of the CIDU reader’s original submission.

Keera submitted this one (from 1981, rerun on 29-Mar-2024) as a CIDU. It shows a creature lying on its back on a standard mattress in the middle of a field, surrounded by three observers of the same kind of animal, one of which appears to have folded paws. Keera wrote: “There’s usually a caption. There are also people who comment. But I haven’t read those. I’ve decided to let you guys tell me if these are porcupines (?) at a funeral, or testing a mattress, or what.“

Solution: The animals are indeed porcupines, and it is a mattress, but it’s not a funeral. The gag is simply an inversion of the classic comic meme of a fakir “resting” on a bed of nails:

For the “Welcome POTP” comic that was originally published on 13-Aug-1988, here is the description that J-L provided: “This … appears to show a meeting/reunion of people, with a banner above reading ‘WELCOME POTP‘. The caption reads: ‘The 25th annual “Part of the Problem” convention‘.“

J-L went on to write: “I don’t get it. I found this cartoon as #3 in an article showcasing a set of ten confusing/strange ‘Far Side’ Comics from 1988 that can be found here(+). The author of the article can’t explain this one, either. Can you?“

It’s not a big laugh, but the humorous incongruity is that these idiots (for lack of a better term) are celebrating their long-term problematic status, instead of trying to correct their stupid behavior.

P.S. (+) It remains to be seen just how long FarWorks will permit Ambrose Tardive’s “Screen Rant” to remain online and unmutilated.

Finally, Maggie the Cartoonist submitted “The Old Cartoonists’ Home” (rerun on 31-May-2023) for the Sunday Funnies, because (as she put it) “… eventually you, me, and Gary Larson will all end up in The Old Cartoonists’ Home.“

P.P.S. For obvious reasons, this will be the last appearance of the Far Side at CIDU: no future submissions will be posted in any form. I wish Mr. Larson the best of luck in his mercenary campaign to close the barn doors after the horses have already left.

P.P.P.S. A similar takedown order was also executed by WordPress for “Farcus” on 22-Feb-2024, despite the fact that the authors “… are now on an extended leave of absence to pursue other creative projects… their popular comic feature continues to appear…” (as reruns). Since they have demonstrated the same lack of humor as Mr. Larson, Farcus will henceforth no longer be discussed at CIDU.

by Kilby

When is a Leg Not a Leg?

Boise Ed submitted this Lockhorns comic, asking: “What is ‘not-leg day‘ supposed to mean?“

P.S. This submission accidentally fell through the cracks. At the time, Boise Ed reported that “Comics Kingdom has apparently been on holiday since at least last night, so I’ve given the ArcaMax URL“. As I’ve explained elsewhere, Arcamax-URLs have a very limited half-life. In addition, since this comic was published, Comics Kingdom has been completely rebuilt, and The Lockhorns have changed syndicates, so that the strip is now at GoComics. Luckily, Ed’s brief, but accurate description made it easy to verify the correct comic.