Yes, Waterloo is a brand of sparkling water. Yes, Waterloo is a well-known ABBA song (Eurovision winner, 1974). But how is Tabby’s statement in panel 4 a punchline?
Edit: for those of you who wondered if Waterloo was a real brand:
(Part 1 can be found at this link.)
Some comics for which we could not answer “What is the joke here?” but OTOH could not in good conscience call a clear CIDU and devote a full daily standalone to.
No, we haven’t any idea, at least not if it’s supposed to be clever or a punch line. And does that mean the joke here is just … “What if there were traffic cops in outer space!”?
Shoehorning in a lovely Macanudo, not meant as funny but it claims to not be surreal either!
This one also may not perfectly fit the premise: I sort of see a joke, and it’s sort of funny. But mostly the point seems to be just contemplating the sad aspects of the absurdist situation.
Here’s one that Grawlix says showed up in his Facebook feed; apparently posted by the cartoonist, asking his public whether the cartoon makes sense. It probably does — there are good suggestions in the Facebook comments — but for some the main impression is just how strange it must be to meet this locomotive guy!
This one qualifies, not for absurdism precisely, but for startling incongruous backstory imagery. She’s going out, and her parents say “Don’t be late [getting back]”, all of which is perfectly normal — except she’s in a battle tank!
A GoComics commenter adds “Pero pasatelo bien” (“But have a good time”) — reminding me of my high school girlfriend’s mother, who would usually say “Be good! And have fun!”.
Okay, the extra panels at the left or top get called “throwaways” — but that doesn’t mean they need to be incomprehensible.
Especially when the main comic itself is confusing beyond repair.
P.S. Congratulations to Hilary Price as recipient of the 2024 Reuben Award as 2023 Outstanding Cartoonist of the Year!
Unexpectedly, this was something of a minor CIDU, with comments disagreeing over which partner is actually the neatnik. (Also just a hint of Arlo speculation based on how the drawn legs bend at the knees.)
Nice to find the occasional clear-and-direct LOL from PMP!
For once we can let this stand as a LOL on its own, and not indulge a compulsion to track down the specific advice column it probably accompanied originally.
Mark H. notes “This Arlo is a Janis”.
Or maybe she’s just moving the drapes to give him a better view of the moon. Or of …
Thanks to both Darren and Phred who sent this one in, as mostly LOL but with enough of a factual background question to make it almost a CIDU. Why is it a matter for sticklers?
P.S. It turns out this comic was discussed at Comic Strip of the Day; but we ran across that after this post was already prepared.
Still there is some unclarity to the customer’s identity, and why they would order this outfit.
So this is a CIDU-Oy.
And BillR, calling it “Almost a CIDU”, says “This took longer than it should’ve. But it came to me out of nowhere an hour after I saw it while I was driving to the grocery store.”
Well, maybe this?
This is close to a CIDU, as there doesn’t seem to be a single best / obvious answer to the question.
Tim Harrod sends this in: “Whether you laugh or not, Jim Davis is historically reliable at coming up with a punchline. But here, the joke is apparently that the eggs are really spicy… and a lot of people ordered them. It could have been a scheme to sell a lot of milk, but then Irma should have more of a sly grin in the last panel.”
The gag seems straightforward, but Tim’s right: she should have a sly, knowing grin on her face.
On Monday, will we see Irma’s lasagna?
Probably more of an Awww than strictly an LOL.
Jack Applin submitted this B.C. strip as a CIDU, noting that “Grog hit the ball to … Saturn? Let’s ignore the [80 minute] light speed delay [one way!]. What is that film around the planet and rings? Atmosphere? But Saturn is a GAS GIANT — all that we see is atmosphere inside the rings!“
The obvious astronomical destination would have been a black hole, but that would have been impossible to convey to readers, and the closest known black hole is 1500 light years away.
My guess is that Mason chose Saturn because it is the only planet that could possibly be recognized in comic strip resolution. Most papers that still print daily comics do so in monochrome, which could seriously deteriorate the carefully shaded images in the first three panels.
P.S. Just a week later, a very similar gag appeared in The Wizard of Id:
Both strips have a long history of using golf gags, but a little more temporal separation between these two might have been advisable.
Thanks to Mark H. for sending this along, and noting it as a CIDU and possible Arlo.
“Metaphorical of what, exactly?”
Boise Ed attempted to submit a Tundra comic, using a link from The Seattle Times. Reading between the lines of his comment (see below), the comic he meant was probably all or part of this one:
Here’s what Boise Ed wrote: He says “a while ago,” but I think the walrus joke appeared just a couple of days earlier. There doesn’t seem to be an accessible archive where I can check on that…. Is there any other source to see the Tundra strip?
The answer is (probably) “No, there isn’t.” The problem is that both The Seattle Times and the official Tundra website provide only the strip for the current day. Past Tundra archives are only available on a pay-to-view basis (to Patreon members). This means that any Tundra link sent to CIDU has an expiration limit of (at most) 24 hours, which renders those links useless for all practical purposes. Therefore, if you want to submit a Tundra comic, don’t depend on the link: send a screenshot, or attach a graphic file.
P.S. The same problem exists for all Arcamax comics. The Arcamax links are not quite so ephemeral, but they do expire after just a couple of weeks, so it’s not a good idea to use them for submitting CIDUs, nor for embedding any images in comments.
Comics I Don't Understand 