Mitch4 sends this in: “OY because it’s a pun, CIDU because the specifics are obscure. “Impeccable” works as an OY because someone wearing a suit of armor can’t be pecked. But who is “Gertrude the Brahman” and does she wear armor and why the expression “knight suit”?”
From Irv:
He comments,
The second and third frames in the second row are what IDU. If the Wizard is cheating, shouldn’t the beam and hangers be visible there as well as in the last frame? Otherwise, maybe he is cheating and conjures the beam and hangers to “prove” he wasn’t using magic in the previous frames even though he was? All told, IDU what’s going on here.
For that matter, if there’s some magic making the beam and hangers invisible that he somehow forgets? turns off? for the last frame, how did he appear to lift it off the ground??
This Rabbits Against Magic strip looked like a simple OY at first, but now I’m puzzled:
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How does “tre” count as a pun on “trace“?
This Rhymes with Orange is an OY-Ewww:
Jack Applin submitted this Andertoons as a CIDU, asking “Is the one-eyed robot unable to see the traffic lights? [OR] Is is programmed to ignore them, giving an advantage to “driverless” cars?“
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Mark Anderson’s original title for his comic #9221 reveals that Jack’s first question was right on the money: The gag is a reference to one of the most common anti-robot user verification tests, typically presented by the reCAPTCHA interface:
Later that same month (in 1967):
The punchline is in panel 5, but for many of us it would be a CIDU. The authors conveniently use panel 6 to make the joke clearer.
For more about the psychiatrist character, see https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/comic-riffs/post/barney-and-clyde-finds-inspiration-in-a-little-peanuts-farming/2011/07/20/gIQAcMmeTI_blog.html
Jack Applin submitted this B.C. strip as a CIDU, noting that “Grog hit the ball to … Saturn? Let’s ignore the [80 minute] light speed delay [one way!]. What is that film around the planet and rings? Atmosphere? But Saturn is a GAS GIANT — all that we see is atmosphere inside the rings!“
The obvious astronomical destination would have been a black hole, but that would have been impossible to convey to readers, and the closest known black hole is 1500 light years away.
My guess is that Mason chose Saturn because it is the only planet that could possibly be recognized in comic strip resolution. Most papers that still print daily comics do so in monochrome, which could seriously deteriorate the carefully shaded images in the first three panels.
P.S. Just a week later, a very similar gag appeared in The Wizard of Id:
Both strips have a long history of using golf gags, but a little more temporal separation between these two might have been advisable.
This first one is more of an Ewww than an OY:
P.S. The weather this summer has been exceptional for snails and slugs; every few days I can go into the back yard and collect a dozen (or even a score) of the gross things.
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This is only the third time that the Keane’s “Family Circus” has appeared at CIDU (not counting a few mashups and tangential references).
A Comic I didn’t understand the first three times I saw it. I wasn’t puzzled, just mistaken.
I thought the point was just in the dog choosing to ignore the request (command) and pursue different interests.
This atrocious B.C. pun appeared just in time for the opening ceremonies:
Tolkien wrote that the Elves made three rings, the Dwarves were given seven rings, and Sauron made nine rings to entrap the Nazgul, but where do the five rings fit into the story?
My friends on road trips used to enjoy “What’s that up in the road? A head?”. (Oops, accidental repeat from 25 May.)
Also fun on road trips: Look out, there’s a fork in the road!
TBH, I’m not entirely sure if “branch” in the last panel is actually intended as a pun.
I mistook those candles in the background for cat-hair rollers!
And the pun factor is: how about some gin or vodka?
I’m a little dubious how “went on the wagon” works out here. But let it be noted, there are probably several cities with drinking establishments called Crow-Bar or Cro-Bar.
GoComics is running some vintage “B.C” under the title “Back to B.C.”. This strip is from 1966 and seems to be in sequence with others from that time.
But a previous strip already used up the pun on “fresh” to mean mildly impolite, sassy. So, what is this one getting at? Is “floating upside down” still a sign of “fresh” behavior? Or just avoiding being purchased?
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!
Love that Monty Crisco! (But I don’t know what typo on Nesselrode Pie would be likely, or funny.)
Always go for consistency!
And a P.S. from B.C.
He tries just about every day, so why not give in and post one now and then.
Growing up, I knew only two pasta shapes: spaghetti, for spaghetti and meatballs, and macaroni, for macaroni and cheese. Imagine my surprise to find such an endless variety of shapes coming out of the extruder. And tortellini! And soba! And rice noodles! Now there’s chickpea pasta, etc. It’s a wide, wild world out there.
Just pasta these comics is a place to comment on your own favorite shape/type.
A synchronicity here, with two Dante-themed comics on the same day. What a Paradiso!
This is from June 21, 1966, repeated on December 12, 2023. LBJ is president. Bruce Wayne and Dick Grayson are Batman and Robin, but that’s obscure enough without trying to tie it into the national debt.
Comics I Don't Understand 