This gets extra tags — some kinda Meta for not using the standard joke set up in panel 1, and some kinda Geezer warning for those youngsters who don’t see something familiar behind “Killjoy was here”.

Maybe. My local newspaper (Chicago Tribune) has become an indistinct shadow of its former self, and the comics are shrunken and in black and white.

Despite the “(Not a CIDU)” category applied to this post as a whole, this item may take a bit of concentration and research before you can join in saying “Oh, I’ve got it completely decoded now!”.

There will be no arguing over whether this is truly a “meta” comic!

We think this is a rerun; but if so, then it falls into “an oldie but goodie”.

Here’s the funny-sad one promised in the category tags.

BTW, do they have a walkie-talkie set, or is that a quite old-school cell phone?