Shared by a CIDU reader:

More of an OY than a LOL perhaps, but who is counting?

Wrong Hands labels this with “redux” so we are not abashed about rerunning it here.

Shared by a CIDU reader:
More of an OY than a LOL perhaps, but who is counting?
Wrong Hands labels this with “redux” so we are not abashed about rerunning it here.
Why?
For those who don’t mind having a CIDU largely spoiled, here is a gift link to the Carolyn Hax advice column which it originally accompanied.
Kilby sends this in, wondering why it was run on September 11, 2022. There are some standard characters (Ahab, Diogenes, Napoleon), among others. I’ve earnestly tried to figure out the two characters in the upper right corner of the 2nd panel, but frankly I don’t get it.
But by hitting the random button at GoComics, I see many that are understandable in any language.
For obsessives who feel you need to see the Carolyn Hax column this accompanied, here is a guest link. For the rest of you, the connection to the cartoon is just that the advice question involves parent/child conflict.
Don’t you want to hear a few more rrrrr’s in that?
Ludwig is such a patient little guy! This semi-LOL is in truth mostly an Awww for the ailurophile crowd. And the White Meat Chicken Florentine from Fancy Feast Medleys in the 3oz can with green label is a standby in the Mitch4 household.
Thanks to Harvey Heilbrun for separately submitting and discussing this one:
Yes, you’ve seen it before! It was embedded as a comment in the “Shouldn’t his brow be knitted?” thread, and discussed in some respects, alongside the cartoon in the main post there.
The discussion there touched on the relation of Nick G’s illustrations to the Carolyn Hax advice column, and on the palpable relation to The Scarlet Letter. But Harvey points out something not noticed in that discussion: The man’s newspaper has a mostly legible title or headline on the visible back page: “After Searle”.
Harvey and the editors all figure this refers to John Searle, prominent American philosopher — and not to, say, the big pharma company. But what is the point? Is Nick sneaking an irrelevancy past us? Or hinting at a connection?
(If you think the Carolyn Hax column where this appeared might explain it, you can try this freebie link and read it for yourself. But I thought the connection was barely discernible.)
Afterthought. — This had already been in the queue for about a week, with the title “Whatting their whats?” as still shown, when I happened on this Frog Applause and wanted to postscript it for the wording.
From Chak, who asks “Is this missing a caption? Is he her father or her witsec protector?”
For anyone who hasn’t seen this info before, the “Nick and Zuzu” comics by Nick Galifianakis are published first as illustrations for a Washington Post advice column by Carolyn Hax. And they don’t have captions there, nor when appearing in GoComics or other comics outlets; though the Hax column headline is sometimes close enough to work as a title for the comic. However, his drawings don’t always adhere closely to the content of the column.
So viewing the column with this illustration in place will spoil enough to answer one of Chak’s questions, but will not explain everything about the scene and the characters’ appearance. CIDUers who don’t mind a half-spoiler could check out the original column with illustration, or if that presents paywall problems then try this alternate link.
Huh? Two-way hostage?
The cartoon, like most of the Nick and Zuzu panels, was published to accompany a Carolyn Hax advice article at WaPo. (Hope you are not over your free-view limit!) In this case, while it doesn’t fully explain that phrase, it does give away the situation that could lead Nick to think of it that way.
From Andréa.
“I didn’t have time to write a short letter, so I wrote a long one instead.”