Yes, yes! One of these guys sold me a “This is not a shirt” tee shirt.
…
Unless it was one of these guys! Number five looks very sus!
Boise Ed sent this one in, noting “The robotic lawn mower is just doing what it is supposed to do, right?”
Your editor, drawing from unfortunate personal experiences, sees allusions to the problems caused when one dog is on leash, but another dog is not, or maybe just barking dogs in general. So we’re marking this CIAU (Comic I almost understand)
Unexpectedly, this was something of a minor CIDU, with comments disagreeing over which partner is actually the neatnik. (Also just a hint of Arlo speculation based on how the drawn legs bend at the knees.)
Nice to find the occasional clear-and-direct LOL from PMP!
For once we can let this stand as a LOL on its own, and not indulge a compulsion to track down the specific advice column it probably accompanied originally.
Mark H. notes “This Arlo is a Janis”.
Or maybe she’s just moving the drapes to give him a better view of the moon. Or of …
Thanks to both Darren and Phred who sent this one in, as mostly LOL but with enough of a factual background question to make it almost a CIDU. Why is it a matter for sticklers?
P.S. It turns out this comic was discussed at Comic Strip of the Day; but we ran across that after this post was already prepared.
Nope, I don’t really get either of these Library Comics 4-panel stories; which arrived together in the same email.
In the above “A”-Strip, I thought it would turn out the thing she was using and thought of as a game would turn out to be an IRL investments app (or “stock market gambling” app, if you prefer). But it turns into a Martin swerve.
And in the “B”-Strip, is this at all about the interaction of library staffers Jody(?) and Stephanie, or are both included just so there can be dialogue about but not including the somewhat problematic “patron”? And what is his story, come to think of it?
CIDU QUEUE REMINDER
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Please share your specific suggestions of panels or strips, in CIDU, LOL, and OY categories, either by direct email to
Or to better adapt the question, Is that supposed to be a real gadget (that one of us might recognize), or an invention of the fantasy brain only?
And while we’re wondering, would a library help desk (or even moreso, a reference desk) offer to help patrons work their own devices? (Beyond providing the netname and password if they offer free wi-fi on the premises.)
For a comic strip not generally* done in “realistic style”, this shows a lot of detail to convincingly set the scene!
[*] Though they occasionally go hyper-realistic by using a photo panel!
Suggested by Dirk the Daring, who notes “Me thinks David Sipress has never left the city. The cow and pig in the background aren’t too bad, but up front we seem to have a cow with pig nose and maybe a pig with a cow tail. Or maybe not.
The gag itself is pretty good though.”
As a commenter at GoComics hints, that Mr. Wilson better not be Dennis Mitchell’s neighbor!
This sequence (two four-panel stories) doesn’t seem to address a more fundamental policy matter than the details of pepper supply. Are they not aware of this patron planning to eat that big sloppy deli sandwich at his desk in the Reading Room?
/
The next episode:
(Yes, I’m aware that the strikeout in the post title doesn’t seem to work in Cell or Tablet display preview. So maybe change it to something about “Burying the <strike>lede</strike> lead.”)
Andréa sends in this synchronicity. Cartoonists are always looking for a new angle, but sometimes push it too far.
Finally, like that house at the end of the night that gives out multiple candy bars so they won’t eat them all themselves, there’s this bonanza from John Atkinson — some cartoonists would have spread these out one at a time, and gotten a whole month out of this idea.
Okay, is it missing a beat, or brilliantly leaving unsaid, that Martin changes his mind because the patron reveals he is preparing to use highlighter or underline if he doesn’t have Post-Its?
Thanks to Boise Ed for sending this in and noting how it does “clever damage to the fourth wall”.
And a nice plus here is that Percy was not brought in just for this meta moment, but in following days has some entirely non-meta joke conversations with Clayton.