Tag / Stephen Beals

by EditorM

FURTHER Semi-CIDUs, Minor Mysteries, Oopsies, and Not-Quite-Rights

(I.e., the fourth batch of these.)

This Argyle Sweater is from BillR, who joined with your editors in debating what is going on in the absence of a typical Hilburn Oy.

Their name could suggest they are of Polish extraction.  And the weather suggests a northerly climate.  But that wouldn’t be enough for a map to show the home as “North Pole”. Is there anything beyond red herring to noting they are at a mailbox and there is a tradition about letters to Santa getting delivered to some place the USPS designates as North Pole? Or … what?

This was a quite good three-panel joke cartoon. And then …

Hard to put a finger on it, but something about the “deflation punch” in this Brevity seems off. Like offers advertised as “BOGO” and you wonder is that a hip way of calling something Bogus? If CONVO means conversation, and RECCO means reccomendation…

by EditorM

Sunday Funnies – LOLs, September 19th, 2021

Ah, so young to be falling into the essence of Meta!

Cul de Sac
Mannequin on the Moon

And thanks to Shamie F who sent it in and says: “I think it has something to do with a flying cup looking for a flying saucer. If that’s the whole point then OY!  I’m thinking I must be missing something though.” We think the default tag here would be LOL moreso than OY (a flying saucer is called that just because of resemblance to an ordinary saucer), but how does the gang weigh in on the “is that all there is?” factor?

Adult Children
Tomversations

Here’s one from BillR:

Sp;eedbump
Andertoons

Very smart to use Peter’s name – the others are more easily identifiable.

But on the griping side of things, the wolf I think did not emerge a winner from any of their encounters. Maybe it depends on versions of the stories.

Thanks to Michelle for this LOL bit of pained irony:

Batch Rejections
And a LOL from Michelle:
In the Bleachers
Reply-all
by EditorM

Saturday Morning Oys – July 10th, 2021

From Andréa:
Andréa otra vez

Do they have something backwards, tho?

And it’s an Andréa hat trick. She also remarks on this one: “HOWEVER, there is NO SUCH THING as a ‘pita pan’, altho there ARE restaurants named such.”

Hmm, the status as an OY may be slightly dubious, but it’s worth it.

by EditorM

Sunday Funnies – LOLs, April 4th, 2021

After seeing this cartoon for a few weeks now, this character is the one who most pointedly clarifies for us the intent of the title Adult Children.

And yielding to the impulse to be a language complainer, we are happy to note that here the writer has stuck to the traditional term and called this an invitation, not the ugly newer form an invite. Good on ya, Maritsa Patrinos!

An amusing meta from Harry Bliss, sent in by Andréa and zbicyclist:

And zbicyclist kicks off a little debate by saying: Since Bliss has many cartoons in the New Yorker, he’s probably frequently asked to explain OTHER obscure New Yorker cartoons — which would make the sitting, bearded guy some sort of stand-in for the cartoonist. But to our eyes, the standing guy with the red sweater looks like the figure who appears again and again in Bliss cartoons.

But then zbicyclist rebuts with this example of an apparent Bliss stand-in (or a comic artist at any rate) with a beard:

But we have to ask: OK, there’s a beard, but which of the guys in the upper cartoon does this guy most resemble, to you?