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>Detective M. Richard Tracy

March 22, 2009

>

Bizarro is brang to you today by Gooder Grammar.

This kind of simple word play where you combine the names of two things and create a third thing is very common, I know. Maybe there’s even a name for this process, if anyone knows of one, please leave it in the comments section. Or make one up.

What made this one appealing to me was the deadpan humor of a whale with a two-way wrist TV that he can’t possibly see from his vantage point. Plus the tiny hat. I also like to render underwater scenes, so all that added together made for a green light.

As I look at this thing this morning, I can’t find the 5 symbols that the number by the signature says there are supposed to be. I only found four. So here’s another version with one added. If someone finds all five in the original, let me know.

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Comments

  1. Menashe says

    March 22, 2009 at 5:39 pm

    >I see 1. dynamite on the top.2. eyeball on the rock bottom right.3. bunny middle left.4. pie bottom middle.5. and a “5” on the whales tail.

    Reply
  2. Karl says

    March 22, 2009 at 5:56 pm

    >Looks like a K2 on the tail, and you need to check the original (cartoon on the top)

    Reply
  3. Waldo says

    March 22, 2009 at 6:10 pm

    >This comic:The epitome of: looking for symbols while not laughing

    Reply
  4. Karl says

    March 22, 2009 at 7:12 pm

    >I don’t usually (almost never) look for symbols (not sure of the point of it anyway) but today I took it as a challenge. I smiled at a couple of things; the Dick Tracy hat and the expression on the whale’s face.

    Reply
  5. Anonymous says

    March 22, 2009 at 7:57 pm

    >Do none of the fish in the original version count as the “Fish of Humility?” That would make 5 symbols.

    Reply
  6. Waldo says

    March 22, 2009 at 9:05 pm

    >What the “f” does epitome mean?????PS: Get your own name poser….

    Reply
  7. Hermite says

    March 22, 2009 at 9:58 pm

    >Argh! I was only finding 3 in the first one. Thanks for ‘splaining. I enjoy hunting for the symbols, Karl, it’s good for your brain and your powers of observation. I see that number 5 but that’s not one of the symbols you’ll find explained on the rest of Dan’s website. I think maybe someone missed the joke and thought the little hat was supposed to be one. I do love the artwork in this one. Very nicely done underwater scene. Just like the real thing.

    Reply
  8. KarenK says

    March 22, 2009 at 10:13 pm

    >Word play… are you thinking of “portmanteau” words?(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portmanteau)

    Reply
  9. John says

    March 22, 2009 at 11:58 pm

    >Wheel of Fortune calls the category "Before & After". The answers are things like "Abraham Lincoln Continental". Steve Martin and Martin Mull did a stand up tour together years ago billed as "The Steve Martin Mull Show" I've seen literary journals make up imaginary novels by combining existing books like "Gone With the Wind In the Willows". Not everybody gets a kick out of this stuff. You need some background knowledge to understand the references.

    Reply
  10. Waldo says

    March 23, 2009 at 1:05 am

    >Ill never forget the first day i took my son fishing he looked up at me and said Pa, this is what family’s all about. I looked back and and said, Son your special.

    Reply
  11. SAYOTTE316 says

    March 23, 2009 at 1:33 am

    >Hey everyone,I wanted to let everyone know i was still alive and not dead like iseedto. My internet was out cause i did not pay the bill. But I have returned.

    Reply
  12. doug nicodemus says

    March 23, 2009 at 2:11 pm

    >i could have done without the fish comment…it would have been really funny then…kindof a ha as is…

    Reply
  13. Christina Awesome says

    March 23, 2009 at 3:49 pm

    >i didn’t see a fifth symbol unless the fish count like someone said already, but comparing the two, i really like the revised one because of the way you fit in the bunny. took out the harsh lines. and i love the tiny hat/big whale image.

    Reply
  14. Anonymous says

    March 23, 2009 at 6:33 pm

    >”This kind of simple word play where you combine the names of two things and create a third thing is very common, I know. Maybe there’s even a name for this process, if anyone knows of one, please leave it in the comments section. Or make one up.”I think most people refer to that as “crapping it out with zero effort.”

    Reply
  15. The Rifleman says

    March 23, 2009 at 9:46 pm

    >For those who see the # 5 on the tail, tilt your head a little to the right and see it turn into a K2I, too, thought the fish may have been “Fish of Humility”

    Reply
  16. Karl says

    March 23, 2009 at 9:58 pm

    >It would make sense to have a fish tail of humility, but can’t help thinking there’s a freakin alien hiding under that Dick Tracy hat.

    Reply
  17. Anonymous says

    March 23, 2009 at 11:55 pm

    >laughing my ass off totallyI think most people refer to that as “crapping it out with zero effort.”

    Reply

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