This comic is dated 2017 (before the CIDU server meltdown sometimes referred to as “comicgeddon”), but Bill must have retrieved it later for a new draft. The original song was released 68 years ago today, back when he was not quite half a year old.
CIDU Bill always claimed that he named the “Arlo Award” concept after Arlo Guthrie, and there is still a statement to that effect in the CIDU FAQ. Anyone who has followed CIDU for a while will have realized that this was just a polite cover story, as the strip above clearly shows.
From Boise Ed.
Bill drafted this comic back in 2019; it seemed appropriate to post it on the first day of Hanukkah.
P.S. On various occasions Robin has used different spellings (such as “Hanukah“), whereas Bill was always careful to spell it “Chanukah” (as seen in the tags). Unfortunately, Bill’s memorable “(C)Han(n)uk(k)a(h)” spelling bracket was destroyed by Comicgeddon, but there was a nice bonus panel on the subject in a Menorah post in 2018.
Kilby writes: This Sunday Kevin & Kell strip‡ was drafted by CIDU Bill in 2019, but never posted. I’m not sure why Holbrook published this strip in February.† I would have thought that late fall or early winter would have been more appropriate, but perhaps the idea was to make the stash revelation completely unexpected.
P.S. (†) – Both the strip one week before and two weeks later are covered in snow; this one and the following Sunday strip look more like springtime.
P.P.S. (‡) – According to the remaining comments on the author’s website, there was originally a misspelling in the first panel, which was later corrected. Nice to see such artistic dedication!
Judging from the CIDU archive, Stone Soup was one of Bill’s favorite comics, and he originally scheduled this strip to appear shortly after it was published in 2019:
The problem is that he never finished writing the text to go along with it:
“There seems to be a common theme, especially in comic strips, that physical books are more …”
Would anyone like to take a shot at completing Bill’s sentence, or offer some other perspectives about reading (for enjoyment, not as work) in paper vs. electronic form?
Thanks to Brian in STL for sending in this FoxTrot Classics:
Brian sez, “Foxtrot dailies are in reruns on GoComics. Today’s is an okay joke on its own. … However, it’s not fully appreciated without —-” But we’re going to “leave you in suspenders” for a moment or two and invite readers to treat this as a CIDU-puzzle requiring the reference to something it was based on. (Which you can read by expanding the block below.))
“However, it’s not fully appreciated without this Apple commercial that ran around the same time as the original run of the strip:”
Brian continues “The person that provided the link in comments added this: ‘Her side of the story goes that it was late at night when they filmed the ad. It had to be done after school hours for the day. Add to that, she was on allergy medication, which made her a bit “under the influence”.‘ “
Both from 11/26/2020, and submitted by Andréa. Post originally assembled by Winter Wallaby.
Kilby adds: The climate has been changing in recent years, as this Crabgrass strip shows:
And a 2023 addition that seems to hew to the original alignment. (Added by ==mitch)
From Jeff Stahler on Monday:
Kilby writes: When Bill Bickel suddenly passed away three years ago, he left a very large collection of incomplete “draft” posts in progress. Some of these were duplicate copies of comics that did get posted, and others were just empty placeholders, but a number of these drafts still contain comics that are worth posting, if for no other reason than simply for the nostalgia of remembering Bill’s dedication to the CIDU website. I don’t want to release all of these old drafts in a flood, so expect to see them only on an intermittent basis (in addition to Bill’s traditional “evergreens” that get reposted every year).
Was there a particular Abercrombie famous in 1966, that readers would have recognized? And thereby gotten a joke? Or just a fanciful name, whose associations we no longer get? And would the lecture have been about food spoilage and safety, or is her remark directed at the idea of putting up with something you regard as unpleasant?
Comics I Don't Understand 