# Comics I Don't Understand - Bill Bickel RIP **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** celebrity-death\ **Created:** [September 20, 2020, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comics-i-dont-understand-bill-bickel-rip/921046 "2020-09-20T01:39:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2020, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comics-i-dont-understand-bill-bickel-rip/921046/1 "2020-09-20T01:39:52Z")
Sad news for any followers of the CIDU blog. The blogger Bill Bickel has died suddenly, aged 65. > **[Obituary of William Bickel | Norman Dean Home for Services](https://normandean.com/tribute/details/10477/William-Bickel/obituary.html)** > > William (Bill) Bickel passed suddenly in his sleep, at home on Wednesday, September 16, 2020. He shared 65 years of love and learning with his family. Graveside Services will be held on Friday, September 18th at 1 o’clock at Beth David Cemetery,... I think I learned about CIDU from the SDMB. Certainly it has been mentioned here a few times. The CIDU blog was a discussion of online comics with jokes that Bill or other people didn’t get. Contributors would analyse and try to extract some meaning. While CIDU’s were the main focus of the blog, there were other topics. The **Synchronicity** tag was when two comics ran similar jokes on the same day. The **Geezers** tag was when a comic made a joke based on popular culture from several decades ago. The very funniest comics were rewarded with the **LOL** tag. Awful puns received an **Oy**. The blog recently celebrated its 20th anniversary. At the moment it’s too soon to tell if it’s the end of CIDU. Will someone take over Bill’s job? Those are big shoes to fill. ---
**Author:** ![MagicEyes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5daacb/32.png) [@MagicEyes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MagicEyes)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2020, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comics-i-dont-understand-bill-bickel-rip/921046/2 "2020-09-20T03:19:56Z")
Oh no! 😟 I wondered why there were no posts for the past few days. He was a good guy, and I’ll miss CIDU. ---
**Author:** ![Quimby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/22d042/32.png) [@Quimby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quimby)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2020, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comics-i-dont-understand-bill-bickel-rip/921046/3 "2020-09-20T13:40:16Z")
There was a period where I read that every day. Sorry to hear this. ---
**Author:** ![Folly](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/folly/32/3219_2.png) [@Folly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Folly)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2020, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comics-i-dont-understand-bill-bickel-rip/921046/4 "2020-09-20T14:36:29Z")
Yeah, I was over there sometimes too. I saw this in the comments there right after reading all the Justice Ginsburg articles and got teary eyed. RIP non-idiot Bill Bickel. ---
**Author:** ![vislor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/vislor/32/5933_2.png) [@vislor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vislor)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2020, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comics-i-dont-understand-bill-bickel-rip/921046/5 "2020-09-20T20:33:54Z")
Oh, wow. That is sad. That has been on my daily read list for a decade? I did wonder why no updates recently and I had no idea. ---
**Author:** ![John\_DiFool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_difool/32/19543_2.png) [@John\_DiFool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_DiFool)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2020, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comics-i-dont-understand-bill-bickel-rip/921046/6 "2020-09-20T22:34:11Z")
> [@Peter\_Morris](#): > > While CIDU’s were the main focus of the blog, there were other topics. The **Synchronicity** tag was when two comics ran similar jokes on the same day. The **Geezers** tag was when a comic made a joke based on popular culture from several decades ago. The very funniest comics were rewarded with the **LOL** tag. Awful puns received an **Oy**. Annnd the Arlo Page was for when a comic artist tried to sneak something naughty past the censors. I actually got into several comics thanks to his blog, tho I had a personal disagreement with him about something several years back and rarely visited the site afterwards. Still he will be missed.