# A couple of interesting things I've noticed in comic strips **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 25, 2003, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-couple-of-interesting-things-ive-noticed-in-comic-strips/209569 "2003-10-25T23:08:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Netbrian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/71e660/32.png) [@Netbrian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Netbrian)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2003, 3:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-couple-of-interesting-things-ive-noticed-in-comic-strips/209569/21 "2003-10-26T03:30:41Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Hyperelastic \* > \*\*In the strip “Fox Trot”, whenever they show anything mathematical, it’s always correct. For instance, somebody will write “integral of x squared dx = x cubed over 3 plus C” on a blackboard. In other strips, even the science-oriented ones like S. Harris’s comics, the math is always gibberish. > \*\* I am a big fan of Foxtrot, and this is one of the major reasons (most any math, science, or computer oriented thing in that strip is likely to be correct). I believe the artist was a physics major, which explains a lot. ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2003, 3:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-couple-of-interesting-things-ive-noticed-in-comic-strips/209569/22 "2003-10-26T03:36:06Z")
Well, for instance, _Liberty Meadows_ was apparently set in my apartment. Beltsville Agricultural Research Center was frequently mentioned, as was NASA Goddard. The first is three miles from me in one direction, the second is three miles from me in the other direction. ---
**Author:** ![ResIpsaLoquitor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b3f665/32.png) [@ResIpsaLoquitor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ResIpsaLoquitor)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2003, 3:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-couple-of-interesting-things-ive-noticed-in-comic-strips/209569/23 "2003-10-26T03:38:24Z")
A number of strip collected editions have some of the April Fool’s Day gags. I.e., I have the Garfield 20th Anniversary book, and it republishes both the Blondie artist’s rendition of Garfield, and Jim Davis’ version of Blondie. I can’t find a complete list of who did what, however. Oooh, another fun factoid: Beetle Bailey is the brother of Lois from “Hi and Lois.” The strips had a crossover a few years ago. ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2003, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-couple-of-interesting-things-ive-noticed-in-comic-strips/209569/24 "2003-10-26T03:39:32Z")
The three shapes that symbolize HTML graphics–Cube, pyramid and sphere–correspond to the heads of Dilbert, Alice and Wally, the engineering team at Dilbert’s company. ---
**Author:** ![Torgo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@Torgo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Torgo)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2003, 3:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-couple-of-interesting-things-ive-noticed-in-comic-strips/209569/25 "2003-10-26T03:51:39Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by ResIpsaLoquitor \* > \*\*Oooh, another fun factoid: Beetle Bailey is the brother of Lois from “Hi and Lois.” The strips had a crossover a few years ago. \*\* Lois was also the realtor who sold Lillian McKenzie’s house recently in **Crankshaft.** She didn’t have a speaking part but you saw “Lois Flagston, Realtor” printed on her car. I didn’t know **Hi and Lois** was set in Akron. ---
**Author:** ![Teine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Teine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Teine)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2003, 4:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-couple-of-interesting-things-ive-noticed-in-comic-strips/209569/26 "2003-10-26T04:07:00Z")
> [@](#): > > Originally posted by Wendell Wagner > Well, for instance, _Liberty Meadows_ was apparently set in my apartment. Beltsville Agricultural Research Center was frequently mentioned, as was NASA Goddard. The first is three miles from me in one direction, the second is three miles from me in the other direction. The author of “Liberty Meadows”, Frank Cho, was a University of Maryland, College Park, alumnus. He graduated in 1996 or 1997, I believe. “Liberty Meadows” is the sequel to “University[sup]2[/sup]”, which was his college strip. ---
**Author:** ![Sigmundex](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e19adc/32.png) [@Sigmundex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigmundex)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2003, 8:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-couple-of-interesting-things-ive-noticed-in-comic-strips/209569/27 "2003-10-26T08:16:31Z")
Bill Amend, creator of Foxtrot was on ‘Screen Savers’ on Tech Tv today (it was probably a repeat of an earlier viewing). I was surprised by how young he looks. He looked like a college kid. He did admit to stealing some java code from a manual at the last minute to hit a deadline. He sounded pretty smart, but I’d be surprised if he studied physics, as he had a sort of “normal guy” attitude about him. Admittedly I wasn’t paying strict attention to the interview. Also, have you guys been paying attention to last week’s Dilbert? I kept meaning to go online and find out who the guest artists were, I guess I’ll go do that now. ---
**Author:** ![MisterThyristor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ecccb3/32.png) [@MisterThyristor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MisterThyristor)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2003, 8:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-couple-of-interesting-things-ive-noticed-in-comic-strips/209569/28 "2003-10-26T08:37:28Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by ResIpsaLoquitor \* > \*\*A number of strip collected editions have some of the April Fool’s Day gags. I.e., I have the Garfield 20th Anniversary book, and it republishes both the Blondie artist’s rendition of Garfield, and Jim Davis’ version of Blondie. > > I can’t find a complete list of who did what, however. > > Oooh, another fun factoid: Beetle Bailey is the brother of Lois from “Hi and Lois.” The strips had a crossover a few years ago. \*\* There is an interesting website called [Can They Do That?](http://www.reuben.org/rosenthal/about/about.html) put out by a guy named Tim Rosenthal that collects crossover comics. It lists (and shows) about 20 of the April Fool’s strips (but from 1998, not 1997). And, **Torgo** , I imagine that the “Lois Flagston, Realtor” was a tribute, a “tip of the hat” so to speak, not an implication that _Hi and Lois_ is set in Akron (or Elyria, which is where Tom Batiuk lives). The current authors of that strip all live in Connecticut. ---
**Author:** ![Flying\_Monk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/48db29/32.png) [@Flying\_Monk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flying_Monk)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2003, 11:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-couple-of-interesting-things-ive-noticed-in-comic-strips/209569/29 "2003-10-26T11:51:01Z")
I’m with sjc, the comics aren’t funny anymore. Except for Doonesbury…and hardly anyone carries that anymore. ---
**Author:** ![Krisfer\_the\_Cat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Krisfer\_the\_Cat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Krisfer_the_Cat)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2003, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-couple-of-interesting-things-ive-noticed-in-comic-strips/209569/30 "2003-10-26T14:35:52Z")
**Marvin** is the one that grinds my ass. The baby schtick just isn’t funny any more. I love that **Lynn Johnston** in_For Better or Worse_ resisted the urge to time capsule her characters and now they are growing up and into the next generation. YAY LYNN! ---
**Author:** ![mobo85](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b19c9b/32.png) [@mobo85](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mobo85)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2003, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-couple-of-interesting-things-ive-noticed-in-comic-strips/209569/31 "2003-10-26T14:58:08Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Sigmundex \* > \*\*Also, have you guys been paying attention to last week’s Dilbert? I kept meaning to go online and find out who the guest artists were, I guess I’ll go do that now. \*\* Monday: Lynn Johnson (For Better or For Worse) Tuesday: Darby Conley (Get Fuzzy) Wednesday: Pat Brady (Rose is Rose) Thursday: Greg Evans (LuAnn) Friday: Stephan Pastis (Pearls Before Swine) Saturday: Scott Adams (wrap-up explaining what happened to Dilbert) **Hyperelastic** , I believe five gags are done each Sunday for _The Lockhorns_. Some papers run less. **MisterThyristor** , the 1998 is an error by the site’s proprietor. If you look at the copyright dates on the strips themselves, you can see they are from 1997. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d26b3c/32.png) [@Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Blue_Sky)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2003, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-couple-of-interesting-things-ive-noticed-in-comic-strips/209569/32 "2003-10-26T14:59:05Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Flying\_Monk \* > \*\*I’m with sjc, the comics aren’t funny anymore. Except for Doonesbury…and hardly anyone carries that anymore. \*\* Unfortuantely, Doonesbury hasn’t been all that entertaining lately. I’ll usually check the Monday strip to get the week’s subject. I haven’t read it in about a month. ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2003, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-couple-of-interesting-things-ive-noticed-in-comic-strips/209569/33 "2003-10-26T20:53:54Z")
**Broom Hilda** has the same character dynamic as **The Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers** : Broom Hilda = Franklin Gaylord the Vulture = Phineas Irwin the Troll = Fat Freddy You wouldn’t know it now, but there was a time when **Broom Hilda** was the funniest damn thing on the comics page. ---
**Author:** ![Laughing\_Lagomorph](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/6bbea6/32.png) [@Laughing\_Lagomorph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Laughing_Lagomorph)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2003, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-couple-of-interesting-things-ive-noticed-in-comic-strips/209569/34 "2003-10-26T21:51:31Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Torgo \* > \*\*\*\*… some parallel universe where time stopped at about 1932, cats do prison time and all children are morbidly obese. > … > \*\* Cats did prison time back in the 30s? Man, the Depression was tougher than I thought. As for **Doonesbury** I kind of like the current _Heart of Darkness/Apocalypse Now_ thing they got going with Duke as the Overlord of Al Amok, and all the Hollywood references. ---
**Author:** ![Governor\_Quinn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/d26b3c/32.png) [@Governor\_Quinn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Governor_Quinn)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2003, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-couple-of-interesting-things-ive-noticed-in-comic-strips/209569/35 "2003-10-26T21:59:21Z")
I like it too, but, if this goes the way that so many recent Trudeau stories have, he’ll forget about it for a month. ---
**Author:** ![hebesphenomegacorona](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b9e5f3/32.png) [@hebesphenomegacorona](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hebesphenomegacorona)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2003, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-couple-of-interesting-things-ive-noticed-in-comic-strips/209569/36 "2003-10-26T22:08:20Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Krokodil \* > \*\*The three shapes that symbolize HTML graphics–Cube, pyramid and sphere–correspond to the heads of Dilbert, Alice and Wally, the engineering team at Dilbert’s company. \*\* Dilbert’s head resembles a rectangle… ---
**Author:** ![The\_Scrivener](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@The\_Scrivener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Scrivener)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2003, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-couple-of-interesting-things-ive-noticed-in-comic-strips/209569/37 "2003-10-26T22:33:36Z")
The creators of **Over the Hedge** are fans of XTC (the band, not the drug) and occasionally sneak in a reference. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Scrivener](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@The\_Scrivener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Scrivener)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2003, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-couple-of-interesting-things-ive-noticed-in-comic-strips/209569/38 "2003-10-26T22:38:45Z")
The creators of **Over the Hedge** are fans of XTC (the band, not the drug) and occasionally sneak in a reference. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2003, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-couple-of-interesting-things-ive-noticed-in-comic-strips/209569/39 "2003-10-26T23:44:39Z")
> [@](#): > > In other strips, even the science-oriented ones like S. Harris’s comics, the math is always gibberish. I just paged through my copy of _Einstein Simplified_, and counted six cartoons with nonsensical equations, and three with sensical ones, so it isn’t _always_ gibberish. But even most of the nonsensical ones are things which _could_ be sensical, except that we don’t see the full context. Which is still a darn sight better than most representations of math in popular culture. And I had always figured that _Funky Winkerbean_ and _Crankshaft_ took place in Cleveland suburbs: Westview seems an awful lot like Lakewood, and I remember a Sunday _Funky_ strip where they’re out on a walk in the park, and the trail markings are from the Metroparks. But then again, we don’t see much (if anything) happening on or at the lake, so maybe they are a bit further south. And Calvin and Hobbes was also set in the Cleveland area, as is most apparent when he goes to the natural history museum. The museum has skeletons of an allosaurus and a large sauropod (haplocanthosaurus, to be specific), and every Clevelander recognizes the fiberglass stegosaurus out front. ---
**Author:** ![MisterThyristor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ecccb3/32.png) [@MisterThyristor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MisterThyristor)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2003, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-couple-of-interesting-things-ive-noticed-in-comic-strips/209569/40 "2003-10-27T01:01:04Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by mobo85 \* > \*\* > **MisterThyristor** , the 1998 is an error by the site’s proprietor. If you look at the copyright dates on the strips themselves, you can see they are from 1997. \*\* Ah, thanks for the correction, **mobo85**. Another strip set around and about Cleveland is _Ziggy_. I wonder if part of the reason for the number of strips started in or about Cleveland is the presence of American Greetings here (Tom Wilson, the author of _Ziggy_ was creative head of A.G. at one point). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-couple-of-interesting-things-ive-noticed-in-comic-strips/209569.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-couple-of-interesting-things-ive-noticed-in-comic-strips/209569.md?page=3)