Newspaper comic about hemp

Cafe Society
#1

This is a longshot, but…

I used to occasionally buy a magazine (in the mid-to-late '90s, I think) that collected various newspaper comics and editorial cartoons (e.g. Ted Rall, This Modern World, and others I can’t remember).

In one of those issues, I saw a particular comic that was a spoof of hemp advocates. It was in the form of kind of a “Ripley’s Believe It Or Not” or other pseudo-educational comic strip. There were four panels arranged in a square, and one of those panels said something like:

“Fun fact: George Washington drove a car made out of hemp!”

Does anyone have a clue what this might have been?

#2

Never seen it, but the format sounds a lot like something Tom the Dancing Bug would do.

#3

I was thinking of putting in the original post “…and it wasn’t Tom the Dancing Bug”. :slight_smile:

It was the same kind of humour as his “Fun Facts” strips. It also reminded me of this classic Penny Arcade comic (regarding Scott McCloud):

EDIT: The name of the magazine was “Comic Relief”, for what it’s worth.

#4

Well, damn. A year ago I could have helped you (in theory), because I had all the Comic Reliefs archived in boxes in my garage. But I recycled them during the last clean-up. Sorry.

#5

**hogarth **- was the magazine Comic Reliefs?

I’ll send this to a friend of mine - we’ve always pointed out to each other comic-on-comic parodies. For twenty years we’ve quoted one stupid comic to each other (a parody of Beetle Bailey called Beetle Toast).

#6

Heh…I knew it was a long shot. I think the issue would have been in the 1995-1997 range.

bup: Yes, it was in an issue of Comic Relief. But it wasn’t exactly a parody of another existing strip, I don’t think; more just a jab at hemp boosters spouting out dubious factoids.

#7

And yet another message board thread reminds me of my favourite hemp quip…

I don’t suppose this cartoon is ringing any bells with anyone yet, is it?

#8

I don’t have a complete run (a few gaps towards the end), but if I have time I’ll look through my Comic Reliefs…

#9

That’s just a myth. George Washington’s car was made out of tobacco.

#10

Well, I spent an enjoyable 2 or 3 hours last night browsing through old copies of Comic Relief - lots of great stuff I had completely forgotten about!
But I didn’t find the cartoon you’re looking for, I’m afraid.

#11

It’s from a strip called Sidewalk Bubblegum. Now bow to my Google-Fu!

#12

I was going to suggest that the magazine was Funny Times:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Funny_Times_(newspaper)

Apparently there were two very similar such magazines which reprinted recent short comics and (at least in the case of Funny Times) humorous articles, and both tended toward liberal opinions in what they printed. Funny Times is still being published. I presume Comic Relief has folded.

#13

AWESOME!!! How you found it, I haven’t a clue. All my Google attempts were in vain.