By one definition, “4th wall comic refers to a comic book where characters become aware of their own fictional existence and address the audience directly. This concept, known as the Fourth Wall, separates the characters from the readers, allowing them to comment on the narrative and its limitations.” By that definition, not all of these fit. In some of these, it’s that the cartoonist lets us acknowledge the cartoonist’s existence, while the characters remain unaware. Is there a separate term that should be used for that?
Syndicate sites like GoComics and ComicsKingdom have a variety of reruns (or, if you prefer, vintage comics). But some of them don’t age well.
These are all old comics which are being repeated. There are certainly a number of old comics that we wouldn’t expect to see now (e.g. the drunken domestic violence played for laughs in old Andy Capp), but I’m limiting this to ones that I’ve currently found being repeated.
Here’s a few examples:
A fire at an asbestos factory (and there are still some) would likely be a major disaster, putting all those asbestos fibers into the air.
Mitch sent in this one, dated 1991. George Burns was indeed long-lived, and continued performing into his very senior years — which is sort of the joke here, saying he might go on into the distant future. But then he did die, in 1996 (at age 100).
Concussions aren’t funny any more.
Hair tonics have historically been marketed as a way to make hair grow faster, but without much evidence. In recent years, there has been a shift towards more evidence-based approaches to hair care, with a focus on products that are supported by scientific research, such as medications like minoxidil and finasteride, which are approved by the FDA for the treatment of hair loss.
In January of 2018 CIDU Bill implemented a Contact form page*, and during February 2018 a few readers used that form to send in their suggestions for cartoons to run and analyze on CIDU. We recently stumbled on that cache, and will be running three.
Thanks to timharrod for suggesting this Mutt & Jeff. He notes ‘The price of the earrings changes and the “joke” seems to be “You want good thing? Well, you get bad thing” with no wit or twist.’
BTW, this “printing” at GoComics was from 2018, but the original seems to be 1991, not some ancient run of Mutt & Jeff. I now forget what we decided was the way to use these similar tags, but I’m calling this Rerun rather than Retro or Classic.
Does her complaint make sense? Regardless of whether the strawberries are large or small, she’s getting roughly the same volume. Is there some reason that large strawberries are more desirable, per unit volume? Personally, I would prefer the smaller ones, as they tend to be sweeter.
This brings back memories of Mister Miller who, in 1967 would tip me a dime for delivering coffee to his office (my father owned a Chock Full o’ Nuts restaurant), and place it in my palm just like this, as if he were Rockefeller rewarding me with a small fortune. He didn’t say “Don’t spend it all in one place,” but he might as well have.
Even in 1967 this was a pitiful tip, and carrying a bag full of coffee cups three blocks certainly took more than a minute.
Fifty-three years later I still remember you, you cheap SOB.
Comics I Don't Understand 