Markus sends this in this puzzler from SMBC:
“The hovertext is:
“Friend of Wigner is actually private slang in physics, which means ‘willing to talk about Quantum Foundations'””
“The extra panel does not really help, either:”
“So, I summon the mighty Oracle (i.e. the CIDU readership) to instill some sense in this comic.”
“They say it’s probably safe to keep orbiting for a while, but if it stays on or starts flashing we might have to call someone.”
Boise Ed sends this in: “I can’t recall ever seeing so clever a use of the fourth wall.”
JMcAndrew sends this in: “I’m assuming Curtis is watching the 1977 schlock horror film “The Incredible Melting Man” which might be the most obscure geezer movie I’ve ever seen referenced in a newspaper comic strip.”
Perhaps some relative of cartoonist Ray Billingsley was in this movie. Billingsley was born in 1957, so he would have been 20 when this was made.
Targuman sends this in, along with a bit of Johnny Cash trivia:
Johnny Cash once started a forest fire that killed 49 of 53 remaining California condors in a preserve.
” in 1965 that Johnny Cash ignited a wildfire in the Los Padres National Forest that drove off 49 of the area’s 53 endangered California condors. In those days, the gravelly-voiced singer had fallen so deep into amphetamine use that the people around him feared for his life.”
I’ve been to cheesy funerals, but …
JMcAndrew writes,
I had to Google it and apparently Tenafly is a small borough in New Jersey. Is this a cartoon specifically for the 15,000 or so people who live there?
Well, yeah–or that’s all they can get for their “International” film festival!
Boise Ed sends this in: “I wouldn’t have expected this in Blondie, but this is so true!”
billr sends this in, with some CIDU aspects: “Looks like maybe a can of insecticide in Death’s hand? Or maybe the guy in the background is an impending client? Dunno.”
Phil writes: “Make sure to work “scythe sale” into the post, preferably several times!” Yes, that’s a tongue twister!
Bliss is heavy on the Grim Reaper theme lately. An improvement on the talking pet cartoons, IMO. And that sale scythe he got at the scythe sale is pretty good looking for a sale scythe purchased at a scythe sale. I wonder if I can still get a sale scythe at the scythe sale? Let me know in the comments if there’s still a scythe sale. [Happy, Phil?]
Thanks to Chemgal for sending and discussing this SMBC:
Chemgal and your Editors in consultation fairly quickly pinned down what is going on here. But we didn’t want to put it all out there and deprive you readers from tossing it around yourselves.
Suggestion to early commenters, you might avoid spoiling it for others, and just state that you have it. But those working to piece it together, please go at it.
…
For those who think the extra bits of cartoonist text are an integral part of an SMBC — well no, they aren’t really, but you can have them anyway:
Votey: Now do your mother-handling homework!!
Rollover: OK, if patreon is any indication, many of you are confused but four and a half of you are HOWLING.
Two related task-management life-hacks from Tuesday.
Wait, I have a solution for her! She can just leave some OTHER task undone and its checkbox unchecked! That should w…. Oh.
Two comics from Ian with the common element of unpaid internships, which he notes “seem to be everywhere at the moment!”
And finally, an Ewww-LOL from BillR. It’s the “number 2” that clinches it!
Thanks to Peter T for sending this in, and saying “I don’t know what the ‘microbeads’ are. Is this some sort of sex joke?”
Sent by Chemgal, who says “It’s often out there, but this SMBC has me stumped”
And the bonus panel:
I’d venture that the advice in the bonus panel is meant as a variation on the (ahem) traditional “Try turning it off and then on again.”
This is just the legend of Pandora’s box (or at least one particular variant of it), without any modification. How is that a joke?
Comics I Don't Understand 