A find-the-hidden-names puzzle from Pearls Before Swine!
(Yes, displayed twice for some viewers.)
As we said for a previous puzzle comic from PBS, This is a CIDU in the sense that there is something to solve. Or nineteen somethings to solve! And they are sort of OYs, to boot.
P.S. Geographic solvers, please “meter” your answer counts, and leave something for others to contribute.
Saturday, July 8th, 2023 would have been Bill Bickel’s 68th birthday; therefore: in his absence, and in his honor: Mazel tov! (מזל טוב)
Bill’s own tradition for the occasion was to create an elaborate “24-Hour Project”, with a new CIDU post timed to appear every hour throughout the day. Partly because these birthday comics are not CIDUs, but mostly because it would have been far too much effort just for a little structural nostalgia, this entire collection has been gathered into a single list (but is divided into appropriate categories).
If you have a favorite birthday comic, please feel free to add it in a comment!
The “featured image” at the top of this post shows Albert, Porky Pine, Beauregard Bugleboy, Bun Rab, Pogo, and Howland Owl doing a “Birthday Dance”, but the anonymous bug appended to the right isn’t actually singing: he appeared in a series of memorial tributes that Walt Kelly drew in the 1950s for his daughter Kathryn Barbara, who died shortly before she would have had a chance to enjoy her first birthday cake. Given that we are celebrating the birthday of a dearly beloved, but departed friend, I thought the image was very appropriate. For more information, see the Daily Cartoonist’s article about the Day of the Little Angels.
P.S. I would like to thank all of the CIDU Editors for their input, assistance, and constructive suggestions, but especially Phil, who took my rough template and laid the foundation for a much better design (and he also documented all the author and strip names in the tags).
The first Peanuts strip in this collection doesn’t fit into any category, because it has a singular “birthday” significance; it was originally published on Friday, July 8th, 1955 (the day that Bill Bickel was born):
Schulz never depicted any adults (and only very rarely mentioned any of the parents) in Peanuts.
With a few notable exceptions, this 1971 strip predates almost everything in this collection by more than two decades.
…even if he did rip the flower right out of her own garden. (Note: other than Stahler’s “pickleball” comic from 2023, this 2018 Marmaduke is the newest item in this entire collection.)
He should be comforted to learn just how much Rat thinks of him.
That cake must have been pretty tough to hold together like that.
Snoopy suffered a whole series of cat attacks in the 1970s, but this was one of the best.
For Bill we would need a pair of 34s, or (more likely) a 50 and an 18.
Only the Peanuts and Doonesbury strips are older than this Calvin & Hobbes strip.
Does this mean that they would rather celebrate the day he got laid?
This Peanuts strip (from 1951) is the only one in this collection that predates Bill’s birth.
Apparently Andy had already quit smoking 20 years ago, but he and Flo were still indulging in violent spouse abuse.
Bill had trouble understanding feline behavior, so this might have been a CIDU for him.
Garfield only rarely acts like a real cat, so Bill wouldn’t have any trouble here.
After all that trouble to escape, even his visit is no longer a surprise.
Color might have made this “Liō” strip easier to understand (each stack should be a different pastel shade), but Tatulli may have been going for the “dawning realization” effect.
If you cannot move the ball, just change the position of the goal posts.
One of the many running gags in Garfield is that he hates birthdays.
This appeared just in time to be included here; it’s also the only comic in this memorial collection that was published within the last three years (in other words: since Bill passed away).
This category seems more tragic than funny.
Mobile telephones can generate automatic reminders, so nobody really has to bother remembering birthdays any more.
This is the only Sunday strip in this collection.
This 2007 strip predates the widespread availability of 3D printing technology.
These three comics complement the previous memorial post (September 16th, 2022).
See also: https://cidu.info/2023/09/16/in-memoriam-bill-bickel/
P.P.S. Remember: if you have a favorite comic to help celebrate Bill’s birthday, please feel free to include it in a comment!
With considerable forethought, Chemgal sent this in when it appeared, last July!
There is a motherlode of Mothers Day cartoons from Foxtrot collected at their website, of which we will sample just a couple.
This first one was featured by Bill on CIDU in 2018:
This “Breakfast in Bedlam” strip seems to be from 2001:
MD gifts funded by allowance, a theme for Fox Trot, also features here in Calvin, 1989:
This resurfaced in this Saturday’s Counterpoint mailing, not where I’m used to seeing B&C.
This is a CIDU in the sense that there is something to solve. Or nineteen somethings to solve! And they are sort of OYs, to boot.
Superbowl Sunday
Hmm, a little more acidic than we usually expect from Bliss.
An eminently reasonable request! (And Andertoons seems to have taken on a larger format.)
Yeah, one of the jokes is just too old — but the comeback is new to me, and pretty good!
A measured response to conflict won’t make the movies.
Here’s hoping all our CIDU readers are in good health, or will be soon.
A few from Guindon
Thanks to Boise Ed! Are salads and tights the current faves on the insta?
Not the most sophisticated of jokes, but near irresistible when accompanied by the drawing.
Definitely a geezer if this was your textbook!
Meta text is “Researchers claim to have identified 6 additional elements in the second row, tentatively named pentium through unnilium.”
We most often see PBS in the OYs, but this seems a straight-ahead LOL:
We start off with a twofer on the same pun idea:
That’s sticking it to them! (or not)
We picked up this Wiley Miller one from the Why Evolution Is True website where it was sent in by a reader.
This Rubes from Andréa makes a deprecated usage exactly right for once!
Birthday note!
Today is the 200th for César Franck.
Here is a performance of his Violin Sonata in A:
Chemgal sends in this reminder that there might be a few syndromes not in DSM-5.
Thanks to John Reubens, who says “Thought this was clever. Made me LOL. 1880s version of unfriending? :) “
Ran into this Liz Climo on Facebook; it doesn’t seem to be on GoComics, nor on her own site.
This is the funniest comic I’ve ever seen that seems reminiscent of the quadratic formula, although it doesn’t get the coefficients and exponents quite right.
A little bit mean … but still quite funny.
A brain-painful LOL from Chemgal:
Inspiration!
This almost went into the Oys list, since there is a play on a sort of ambiguity of where. This was a favorite joke-form of a friend of mine who knew Ulysses inside-out after teaching it to undergrads at Millard Fillmore College in Buffalo, and dubbed these “on the canal bank” jokes. It was from this bit, in the final chapter:
I hate that confession when I used to go to Father Corrigan he touched me father and what harm if he did where and I said on the canal bank like a fool but whereabouts on your person my child on the leg behind high up was it yes rather high up was it where you sit down yes O Lord couldnt he say bottom right out and have done with it what has that got to do with it and did you whatever way he put it I forget no father
Thanks to CloonBounty for sending this in and engaging the co-editors in discussion, starting by remarking “Can you help me out with this? I get the punny gag. But why did the one who merely listened to the ‘bad pun’ get the punishment?”
Comics I Don't Understand 