by Kilby

More Repetitive Asynchronicity

Over a year ago I posted a set of Non-Sequitur comics in which Wiley had repeated the exact same joke (including some lengthy dialog) in three different versions. The following examples from Tom Wilson’s “Ziggy” aren’t nearly as sophisticated, but the identical setups seem to show that the author has either forgotten the own material, or simply doesn’t care (“…just run it again, readers will never remember it…”)

All three of these were created by “Tom II” after his father retired, so it’s not a case of a legacy artist not knowing what the original author wrote: he did these all by himself.

Just three years later, with new artwork, but exactly the same joke, word for word:

Sixteen years after that, a new rendition (and now in color), but it’s still the same gag:

I’m sure that it is difficult (effectively impossible) to remember every single joke over a span of 18.5 years (and over 6800 comics), but insulting Ziggy as “shorty” is something of a running gag (besides these three, I ran into half a dozen other examples), so perhaps reviewing the GoComics archive might have been a good idea. That’s exactly why somebody has been going to all the trouble of making sure that the dialog is included in the GC index.

by multipleciduers

Saturday Morning OYs – June 08th, 2024

Phew, a lot of work to get there!

Indeed, they are said to have a high turnover.

But Day by Dave wasn’t done with punning for the week yet.

Mary Ellen sent this one in. Why backpacking alpacas? Why does everyone look so miserable? And why are the men in what looks like monks’ robes while the alpacas are using folding maps and modern looking backpacks?

It’s somewhere between an OY (wordplay on alpacah and backpackah) and a CIDU.

by Kilby

Cornish Game Clams

A lengthy CIDU in six laborious parts.

Last Friday’s discussion about “Cornish Lobster” prompted a comment from beckoningchasm about Kliban’s “Cornish Game Clams“. I never read the book “Two Guys Fooling Around with the Moon” and had never heard of this sequence, but I soon discovered that it was hiding in plain sight at GoComics (starting on 11-Feb-2013).

Whether or not this was worth the effort is a question that CIDU readers will have to decide: I don’t understand what is going on in these comics at all (and it may just be random surrealism). Discussion is welcome (YMMV).

by EditorM

Scope?

The last panel doesn’t make much sense following her declaration in the third panel, under the straightforward reading I would normally give it: “Nineteen weeks ago was the last time I felt directionless and at a loss. Since then it’s been pretty good.”

But to try to save it, is there a reasonable way to construe “since” and “had no” to give an overall meaning of “Nineteen weeks ago I had the wake-up call about my directionless life. And since then, no real progress. I am still at a loss.” That might gather applause for courage / honesty / forthright confession, but still aupport her thought that the applause is paradoxical. But is it really a passable reading of the words?

CIDU QUEUE REMINDER

As always — but it needs saying explicitly 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

(that’s “CIDU dot Submissions” at gmail dot com) or by using the handy-dandy Suggest A CIDU form page!

by zbicyclist

Saddle Up?

Tim Harrod sends this one in. “So… now he’s sitting on a giraffe. And kings rarely do that, and that’s the joke? The whole joke? No dialogue to nudge us in the right direction?”

The previous day doesn’t seem helpful here.

Giraffes aren’t ridable due to both structure (sloped back) and attitude. They are kissable, though.