Dirk comments, “Rooollll a another one….I think maybe I get it. Does he want a dog that can sniff out where to buy his next bag of dope? I dunno, maybe I’m just slow. Or I’ve taken too many hits myself.”
I’m thinking “Where to buy” or maybe just to find weed that he’s forgotten about in his apartment? Cop’s hat says NYPD and I’m told that dispensaries are on every block there (mostly unlicensed), so I don’t think he should need help finding one. And Tomlinson lives in New York, so it’s not like he’d be unaware. ‘Tis a mystery!
Lopes has an idea here, a link to either Native American burial grounds or elephant graveyards. But somehow I’m bothered by the elements. Stone tombstones floating? Who puts up the tombstones? Why would a ship pass through this unsafe area? Are whales Christian?
Elephant graveyards are said to be a myth, although when I visited Ngorongoro Conservation Area in Tanzania the guide showed us one. It was suspiciously close to a road, so I suspect this may have been where they would haul dead elephants, or maybe the result of poaching for ivory. Guides are, of course, always looking for a good story to tell the tourists.
Dead whales usually sink to the bottom, where they can become whale falls, an ecosystem supported by the dead whales. Since they are whale falls, does this mean whales tend to die in autumn?
But while we’re on the topic of graveyards, this non-CIDU was farther down in my comics feed:
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!”.
A couple of 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.
This might be a Semi-CIDU, as there is the question of whether this is how the cowboy bathes (and gets the horse to manage the timing and coins), or it’s at the horse’s volition as it wants its gear and rider to be clean.
We’re all still chuckling over the Sturm und Drang inboxes; but Darren also raises a question whether there is some sort of art trickery going on — like a different face showing up if you invert the picture. Well, it doesn’t seem to be exactly that; but maybe something similar?
This remains a semi-CIDU, as most of the allusions are obscure to an outsider; yet the jokes are clear enough once the basic point is caught that this depends on something about the ninja turtles.
Some months ago CIDU was asked to remove all the Far Side comics from our site, and we did so.
It’s their intellectual property, and they are within their rights. Certainly there are many social media sites trying to attract attention with Far Side cartoons, and it must be like Whack-A-Mole to reign those in. Still, they are missed, and Dave Whamond’s comic here is a reminder to check out the legit site for old and new work from Larson: https://www.thefarside.com/new-stuff
CIDU QUEUE REMINDER
As always — but it needs saying again now and then — we like to think of this as a reader-participation site, and not just for your invaluable (or anyhow amusing) comments, but for suggestions of comics to run and discuss.
Please share your specific suggestions of panels or strips, in CIDU, LOL, and OY categories, either by direct email to
The question being: Is the guy just pushing his point by selecting a random term meant to be absurd, or else do they maybe have something (like a remote, or an ashtray, …) which is actually crafted to look like a Stegosaurus?
Why not start off Sunday with a bit of math? Roughly how old is she?
This is Frazz’s Sunday intro panel for January 7th. Mallett posts these on Facebook. Otherwise, I’d never see them because GoComics doesn’t use the intro panels, for reasons I don’t understand.
It’s New Year’s Day, 2024, so why not post some New Year’s cartoons from another NY, The New Yorker? Wait. Wasn’t that yesterday’s theme? But this is a theme so nice, we’re using it twice.
1931 (i.e. first issue of 1931): some wake-up bells to start your year
1930
1932: not a cheerful New Year’s
1933: Roosevelt’s been elected, but not inaugurated. The man here is not hopeful.
1933
Similar theme from 1934:
To all our readers, commenters, editors, and cartoonists who make this possible, best wishes for a wonderful 2023 2024!
Reflect and think? Or maybe just do some things appropriate to the season. Change out that furnace filter that should be changed every 3 months. Is your toothbrush getting too long in the tooth? Check your IRA balances if you’ll need to make RMDs. Check the refrigerator for stuff that expired in 2022. Make some Hoppin’ John with those black-eyed peas in the back of the pantry. Feel free to comment on your own ways to mark (or ignore) the day.
Or, perhaps like Mooch, you’re perfect and can just take a nap.
I sincerely hope that this strip was meant as a satiric skewering of all the Taylor Swift hoopla, and not as an even semi-serious attempt to get on the bandwagon with everyone else.
P.S. When I first read the strip, I thought Liniers was in the market for the latest and greatest (overpriced) mobile phone, but when I zoomed in on the fourth panel, I discovered that the last word was “plane”. (I really like hand lettering, but now I wonder who does it for the translated version of the strip.)
It doesn’t seem like that axe would fit in that crate, does it? The stump and basket, maybe–though after UPS rolls it around the back of the truck several times, I doubt the basket would be in that good condition.
ObAnecdote: I have nothing against UPS, but I worked with a woman who hated them with a passion, and with justification: they lost her bridesmaids’ dresses. All of them. Forever. Never reappeared. I’d hear her in the next cubicle calling a company and trying to find some OTHER way of shipping their item, and cancelling the order if they had no choices except UPS. Still makes me laugh.
P.S. Yes, this post is late. Y’all are all entitled to a full refund of your CIDU membership fees.
This might be a Semi-CIDU, as there is the question of whether this is how the cowboy bathes (and gets the horse to manage the timing and coins), or it’s at the horse’s volition as it wants its gear and rider to be clean.
The “when I look” and “someone will sneak” look like ordinary indicatives, with something like habitual aspect. But surely this doesn’t happen a lot! If we take into account the strip title, that makes this binocular-knocking one of those fears — we just have to understand a “One of my fears is that when ..” at the start and it all comes together.
Comics I Don't Understand 