Wednesday, February 1, 2023

Coast

johnny optimism, medical, humor, sick, jokes, boy, wheelchair, doctors, hospital, stilton jarlsberg, girls, bank robbers, cops

Readers- It has been brought to my attention that for most sane people, the cartoon above makes little to no sense and is (bonus!) a visual mess. So I just tried doing another version and I think you'll agree that it's still not quite working the way I'd wanted, but hopefully it's amusing to see my clumsy "process" such as it is. Hey, they can't all be gems!


9 comments:

TrickyRicky said...

Try another bank on the same coast? I must admit you may have stumped me with this one Stilt.

Stilton Jarlsberg said...

@TrickyRicky- I'm laughing because the cartoon isn't really working the way I intended. The premise is simple (albeit clearly baffling) - these two are getting ready to rob a bank but the sudden appearance of cops makes them decide to try another location. Which, if you were psychic, you would have known. Combine that with the fact that one girl is holding a balloon which LOOKS like it should be a word balloon, and that throws off the rhythms of what we're reading. So this is a fail on multiple levels but I'm leaving it up because in this case the "joke" is on me. (grin)

JustaJeepGuy said...


@Stilt, this one brings to mind Gary Larson's "Cow Tools" cartoon from decades ago. The Far Side rarely stumbled, but that one threw so many people off that Larson had to write an explanation. So now you're on a par with Larson, which most of us have accepted for years.

DougM said...

Worked fine, Stilt.
I expected the balloon to be part of the joke,
so the punchline was a true surprise

Drew458 said...

JJG - I didn't think it was that bad. And thanks for pointing out Cow Tools and allowing me to waste half an hour running down TV Tropes. But hey, I learned about being Joshed, and Noodle Implements.

I must be psychic as I figure the tots were going to rob the bank, but my guess is that this was in reference to some news item I'd missed where children from the wrong part of town knocked off the neighborhood savings and loan. A bit like that 6 year old who shot his teacher the other week ("kids do the darnedest things!").


"The coast is clear" is an old expression meaning no one is watching. Probably dates back to Prohibition days, or colonial smuggling.

Country Boy said...

I like both comics, each stands on its own. Don't overthink things, as (so they say) that way lies madness. As for the phrase "The coast is clear", that goes back farther than you might think since it was used in Shakespeare's Henry VI, and was in print before that.

JustaJeepGuy said...


Much of written English wouldn't be written without Shakespeare. He will turn out to be as immortal as anyone in recorded history, and as necessary.

TrickyRicky said...

@JustaJeepGuy- TB or not TB, that is the congestion.

Anonymous said...

I liked the first one!