# Famous comic strips (singles, not properties) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** comic-strips\ **Created:** [November 2, 2022, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-comic-strips-singles-not-properties/974223 "2022-11-02T13:43:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Bravo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_bravo/32/493_2.png) [@Johnny\_Bravo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Bravo)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2022, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-comic-strips-singles-not-properties/974223/1 "2022-11-02T13:43:54Z")
I was thinking today about comic strips which have in some way transcended their origins. Maybe the best example is the [Bechdel Test](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bechdel_test). I doubt most people who know the concept could tell you the name of the strip it came from, but lots of people know the concept. Another good one is the [Greater Internet Fuckwad Theory](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Penny_Arcade#%22Greater_Internet_Fuckwad_Theory%22). There are probably at least a couple dozen XKCD strips that would fit the bill. So! Not your personal favorite strips, but those which managed to break free of their readership and out into the broader world. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2022, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-comic-strips-singles-not-properties/974223/2 "2022-11-02T13:46:40Z")
First thing I thought of: > **[Cow Tools](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cow_Tools)** > > "Cow Tools" is a cartoon from Gary Larson's The Far Side, published in October 1982. It depicts a cow standing in front of a table of bizarre, misshapen implements with the caption "Cow tools". The cartoon confused many readers, who wrote or phoned in seeking an explanation of the joke. In response to the controversy, Larson issued a press release clarifying that the thrust of the cartoon was simply that, if a cow were to make tools, they would "lack something in sophistication". It has been d ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2022, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-comic-strips-singles-not-properties/974223/3 "2022-11-02T13:51:25Z")
Another Far Side reference: in the strip below, Gary Larson jokingly coined the term “thagomizer,” for a stegosaurus’s tail spikes. The term is now commonly (if informally) used by paleontologists for that anatomical structure. [![](https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-zoBuHwbE45Q/XwxuDzSos1I/AAAAAAAAmRU/HwZgXKda7OIHaemr3GjvQTuGPPztU_GdACLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/thagomizer-1.jpg) ](https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-zoBuHwbE45Q/XwxuDzSos1I/AAAAAAAAmRU/HwZgXKda7OIHaemr3GjvQTuGPPztU_GdACLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/thagomizer-1.jpg) > **[Watch Out For That Thagomizer!](https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/watch-out-for-that-thagomizer-98891562/)** ---
**Author:** ![dirtball](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dirtball/32/18772_2.png) [@dirtball](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dirtball)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2022, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-comic-strips-singles-not-properties/974223/4 "2022-11-02T13:55:29Z")
[![](https://fifetli.files.wordpress.com/2019/01/screen-shot-2019-01-15-at-8.26.48-am.png) ](https://fifetli.files.wordpress.com/2019/01/screen-shot-2019-01-15-at-8.26.48-am.png) Larson’s racking up some points here, it seems. ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2022, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-comic-strips-singles-not-properties/974223/5 "2022-11-02T13:56:53Z")
The OP mentioned xkcd, and I think one of the most referenced and forwarded panels is the Tech Support Cheat Sheet, at least among us IT guys who do computer support on the side for our relatives and friends. It’s also printed out and pinned to the wall in every IT department office I’ve ever been to: > **[Tech Support Cheat Sheet](https://xkcd.com/627/)** > > 'Hey Megan, it's your father. How do I print out a flowchart?' ---
**Author:** ![Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/son_of_a_rich/32/5439_2.png) [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2022, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-comic-strips-singles-not-properties/974223/6 "2022-11-02T14:24:44Z")
A tall guy and a short guy are still in danger of being called “Mutt and Jeff.” ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2022, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-comic-strips-singles-not-properties/974223/7 "2022-11-02T14:28:33Z")
The term “security blanket” has broken free from _Peanuts_ and fallen into everyday use. ---
**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2022, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-comic-strips-singles-not-properties/974223/8 "2022-11-02T14:33:52Z")
[![](https://i.pinimg.com/736x/d0/cd/87/d0cd87fb46e9139e027fb98b8e3c1846--adams-family-family-tv.jpg) ](https://i.pinimg.com/736x/d0/cd/87/d0cd87fb46e9139e027fb98b8e3c1846--adams-family-family-tv.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2022, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-comic-strips-singles-not-properties/974223/9 "2022-11-02T14:36:13Z")
I am certain that some _Calvin & Hobbes_ strip somewhere has become a meme, but I am drawing a blank. ---
**Author:** ![2\_More\_Bits](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/2_more_bits/32/4148_2.png) [@2\_More\_Bits](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/2_More_Bits)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2022, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-comic-strips-singles-not-properties/974223/10 "2022-11-02T14:37:43Z")
Would “Peeing Calvin” count? ---
**Author:** ![2\_More\_Bits](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/2_more_bits/32/4148_2.png) [@2\_More\_Bits](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/2_More_Bits)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2022, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-comic-strips-singles-not-properties/974223/11 "2022-11-02T14:39:38Z")
[Dagwood sandwich](https://www.hipcomic.com/listing/dagwood-54-1955-sandwich-cover-vf-/4914991). ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2022, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-comic-strips-singles-not-properties/974223/12 "2022-11-02T14:42:59Z")
> [@2\_More\_Bits](#): > > Would “Peeing Calvin” count? Maybe, though it appears that that’s a case of others bastardizing the original strip/artwork – as far as I know, Bill Watterson never actually depicted Calvin peeing in a strip, and as this article notes, the commonly-used picture seems to have been adapted from an image of Calvin filling a water balloon from a water faucet. [https://www.mediamatic.net/en/page/233641/the-curious-case-of-peeing-calvin-decals](https://www.mediamatic.net/en/page/233641/the-curious-case-of-peeing-calvin-decals) ---
**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2022, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-comic-strips-singles-not-properties/974223/13 "2022-11-02T14:45:59Z")
The science fiction genre, and real-world spaceflight, are both referred to as “that Buck Rogers stuff”. ---
**Author:** ![solost](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/solost/32/11776_2.png) [@solost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solost)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2022, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-comic-strips-singles-not-properties/974223/14 "2022-11-02T15:01:44Z")
There’s the term "sealioning’, meaning to subtly troll members of an online forum with persistent and repetitive, but on the surface, or at least initially, polite and innocent questioning. from Merriam-Webster: > _Sealioning_ refers to the disingenuous action by a commenter of making an ostensible effort to engage in sincere and serious civil debate, usually by asking persistent questions of the other commenter. These questions are phrased in a way that may come off as an effort to learn and engage with the subject at hand, but are really intended to erode the goodwill of the person to whom they are replying, to get them to appear impatient or to lash out, and therefore come off as unreasonable. Its origin is from a 2014 strip of a webcomic called “Wondermark”: [http://wondermark.com/1k62/](http://wondermark.com/1k62/) ---
**Author:** ![furryman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/furryman/32/99_2.png) [@furryman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/furryman)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2022, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-comic-strips-singles-not-properties/974223/15 "2022-11-02T15:05:22Z")
Probably not as well known as 30 years ago. Milquetoast > **[Caspar Milquetoast](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caspar_Milquetoast)** > > Caspar Milquetoast is a comic strip character created by H. T. Webster for his cartoon series The Timid Soul. Webster described Caspar Milquetoast as "the man who speaks softly and gets hit with a big stick". The character's name is derived from a bland and fairly inoffensive food, milk toast, which, light and easy to digest, is an appropriate food for someone with a weak or "nervous" stomach. > In 1912, Webster drew a daily panel for the New-York Tribune, under a variety of titles—Our Boyhood Amb... Although cartoonist TAD Dorgan didn’t invent the phrase “hot dog” he did popularize it. A Rube Goldberg invention was named after the cartoonist of the same name. ---
**Author:** ![dirtball](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dirtball/32/18772_2.png) [@dirtball](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dirtball)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2022, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-comic-strips-singles-not-properties/974223/16 "2022-11-02T15:07:44Z")
> [@mbh](#): > > I am certain that some _Calvin & Hobbes_ strip somewhere has become a meme, but I am drawing a blank. Well, I don’t know whether OP is asking for a single example of a strip or a theme or trope that can be found throughout the run of a strip, but if you describe something as being like Calvinball, there’s a pretty good chance that person will know what you’re talking about. Same with Lucy and Charlie Brown and the football. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2022, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-comic-strips-singles-not-properties/974223/17 "2022-11-02T15:10:11Z")
> [@dirtball](#): > > Well, I don’t know whether OP is asking for a single example of a strip or a theme or trope that can be found throughout the run of a strip I’m pretty sure the OP is looking for single examples, not recurring elements or tropes. The trouble is, AFAIK we don’t have a word that means a single “episode” of a comic strip (although “panel” would work for a one-panel strip like “The Far Side”). ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2022, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-comic-strips-singles-not-properties/974223/18 "2022-11-02T15:11:01Z")
“Lucy and the football,” which was a recurring theme in Charles Shultz’s _Peanuts_, has become a metaphor for bait-and-switch tactics, and gullible people who continue to fall for them. _Edit: ninja’d_ [![](https://thepeoplestherapist.files.wordpress.com/2020/05/iu-27.jpeg?w=960) ](https://thepeoplestherapist.files.wordpress.com/2020/05/iu-27.jpeg?w=960) [https://talkingpointsmemo.com/prime/lucy-football-political-metaphor](https://talkingpointsmemo.com/prime/lucy-football-political-metaphor) ---
**Author:** ![Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/prof.pepperwinkle/32/13627_2.png) [@Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Prof.Pepperwinkle)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2022, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-comic-strips-singles-not-properties/974223/19 "2022-11-02T15:18:55Z")
How 'bout… [![](https://www.newamericanjournal.net/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/c531ffef3d680283264f7365703a7a8a.jpg) ](https://www.newamericanjournal.net/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/c531ffef3d680283264f7365703a7a8a.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2022, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-comic-strips-singles-not-properties/974223/20 "2022-11-02T15:23:45Z")
To lot of people, the quintessential “transcending its origins” Pogo comic strip is the one with the line “WE have met the enemy, and he is us” But to me the best Pogo strip is this one from July 28, 1973. Someone clipped it out and posted it on the card catalog at one of my college libraries: > [@](#): > > > Porkypine: **“I been readin’ ’bout how maybe they is planets peopled by folks with advanced brains. On the other hand, maybe we got the most brains… maybe our intellects is the universe’s most advanced. Either way, it’s a mighty soberin’ thought.”** Pogo, June 20, 1959 (reprinted July 28, 1973). [https://quoteinvestigator.com/2017/02/18/space/](https://quoteinvestigator.com/2017/02/18/space/) Here’s the other one: [https://real-leaders.com/pogos-warning-to-business-we-have-met-the-enemy-and-he-is-us/](https://real-leaders.com/pogos-warning-to-business-we-have-met-the-enemy-and-he-is-us/) > **[The Morphology of a Humorous Phrase: “We have met the enemy and he is us”](https://humorinamerica.wordpress.com/2014/05/19/the-morphology-of-a-humorous-phrase/)** > >   I was reminded of a chain of events in the development of a humorous phrase when I saw a rather poignant cartoon by Jim Morin last month.  It got me to thinking about how these phrases get s… [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-comic-strips-singles-not-properties/974223.md?page=2)