Scott Adams was certainly not the first author to draw a comic featuring an Etch-A-Sketch, but this classic Dilbert strip (correction: from 1995) remains the standard against which all other attempts must be measured:

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This Rose is Rose strip was published nine years earlier (in 1986), but to her credit, at least Rose can tell the difference between the devices:

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As computer technology progressed, more recent comics were able to use tablets (instead of laptops), which made the misidentification more believable:

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Here’s a handy guide to distinguish between the two:

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Of all the strips showing kids using an Etch-A-Sketch as a “real” computer, this Jump Start is my favorite:

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Not everyone is so pleased by the idea of image impermanence:

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The Off the Mark at the top already appeared at CIDU (on May Day 2023) but Parisi also drew two other comics that are notable for incorporating pseudo-authentic Etch-A-Sketch artwork into the drawing. The first one is truly superb, especially for including the masterful meta-pun on “line”:

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This final Off the Mark comic has a fatal flaw (morbid pun intended). The “sketchy” artwork is actually its best feature, but it would have been even better with a pair of round knobs on the monitor. The tragic defect is that the author did not bother to properly credit (or apologize to) André Cassagnes, who was still alive when this comic was published in 2008 (he died just five years later).

…
P.S. Today (23-Sep-2024) would have been the inventor’s 98th birthday.

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