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Comically Missing The Point / Comic Strips
aka: Newspaper Comics

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Jason: Talk about raising the bar for cinema.
Paige: Super raising it.
Jason: I'm not talking about Orlando Bloom's close-ups, by the way.
Paige: Don't tell me you liked that filler stuff about a ring.
FoxTrot, 2003-12-18

Comically Missing the Point in Comic Strips.


  • Zero in Beetle Bailey lives this trope. Usually.
  • A running gag with Uncle Ted in Big Nate is that every attempt at his parents' hinting at moving out goes right over Ted's head.
  • A Calvin and Hobbes strip involves Calvin looking for a movie to watch. He finds one that contains "adult situations", to which he asks Hobbes what that means. Hobbes replies "You know, paying the bills, going to work, that sort of thing." Calvin wonders how they make money.
    • One of the characters in the soap opera that Calvin watches while home sick:
      Mmm... darling, don't you wish we were married?
      But we are! ...or did you mean to each other?
    • Also the Crossword Puzzle:
      Calvin: Bird... I've got it! Yellow Bellied Sapsucker.
      Hobbes: But there are only five boxes.
      Calvin: I know. These idiots make you write real small.
    • Another good one:
    Calvin: Hey, Dad, will you buy me a flame thrower ?
    Dad: Of course not. Don't be silly.
    Calvin: Even if I didn't use it in the house?
    • In one comic, Calvin's mom lets him smoke a cigarette, intending that the nasty taste will turn him off smoking (rather than simply forbidding it, which was bound to backfire). Calvin nearly coughs up a lung after a single smoke, at which point Mom asks whether he's learned a lesson:
      Calvin: Trusting parents can be hazardous to your health.
    • Occasionally, Calvin will understand the point but deliberately reject it anyway. "Live and don't learn, that's us!"
    • In one strip, Calvin is about to backflip off a high stepladder into a kiddie pool when Hobbes tells him, "Better hurry- I think your mom's yelling something," apparently telling him to stop doing that.
    • Calvin tells Susie that he finally came up with a foolproof way to cheat on a test: he memorizes the material beforehand, then he knows what the answers are. Susie is left speechless.
  • Candorville:
    • In this strip, Lemont can't think of a topic to write an article about, then mentions that Dr. Kevorkian just got released from prison. Susan assumes he's going to try to kill himself, and says he takes Writer's Block too hard.
    • In particular, Lemont thinks about his reputation solely in terms of how he's thought of on startrektalk.com. He's less angry about being called the reincarnation of Hitler than about someone's saying that his favorite captain was Janeway.
  • Kenny from Dogs of C-Kennel. Oftentimes, he misunderstands dating advice from either Wheeler or Tucker, and he frequently misinterprets what his friends tell him.
  • Doonesbury's Zipper gave a college tour that focused on Walden's slacker-friendliness. This didn't impress Leo, a wounded Iraq vet from a working-class family who actually wanted an education.
  • Wondering about what pets did when they didn't know their owners were watching, Jon snuck around and saw Garfield and Odie playing cards.
    Jon: I don't believe it.
    Garfield: Neither do I. Odie just drew to an inside straight.
    • Also:
    Jon: This morning I had a bowl of cereal with strawberries. When I turned my back, a mouse ate them. What do you say to that, Garfield?!
    Garfield: We have strawberries?
  • U.S. Acres: Orson told Booker and Shendon the story of the boy who cried wolf and Booker learned the boy... needed a big club to hit the wolf with.
  • FoxTrot:
    • In one arc, included in the collection Orlando Bloom Has Ruined Everything, Jason and Paige go to see The Return of the King. After the movie, they both go on about how great the film was, until Jason snaps at Paige that he was not talking about the close-ups on Bloom. Paige replies, "Don't tell me you liked that filler stuff about a ring."
    • One strip saw Jason and Marcus host a wet t-shirt contest. Being ten, they completely miss the Sexy Soaked Shirt aspect and just have a water gun fight, the loser being the one whose shirt is more soaked.
  • Frequent with Limpid Lizard from Tumbleweeds. In one strip, he is wearing a new jacket with long sleeves. Little Pigeon, his unrequited love interest, compliments him tactfully.
    Little Pigeon: You look nice, Limpid Lizard. That new jacket really does something for you.
    Limpid Lizard: [proudly examines sleeves] How troo. No more wipin' m'mouth on m'bare wrists.
  • On the January page of the 1990 Dykes to Watch Out For Calendar, Mo's then-girlfriend Harriet takes a look at Mo's New Year's resolutions (reading out numbers 22 to 25 of a very long list), and when asked about her own resolution says she hasn't made any. Mo immediately springs into action:
    Mo: Aw, don't worry, sweetie! I'll help you make your list! Your first resolution could be to ask for a raise at work. You know they don't pay you what you are worth! And number two could be to become more politically active!
    Harriet: Okay! And make number three to find a new girlfriend who isn't controlling, anal-retentive or driven by liberal guilt.
    Mo: There you go! See, it's easy once you get started! Does "anal-retentive" have a hyphen?
    Harriet: [rolls eyes]
  • In one Peanuts strip, Charlie Brown is holding his baseball glove. He says to Sally, who's watching TV, "Well, I think I'll put some neatsfoot oil on the ol' glove and put it away for the winter." Then Linus comes over. "Is Charlie Brown here?" he asks Sally. "I think he went outside," she says. "He said something about how neat it was walking around with gloves on your feet during the winter."
  • Pearls Before Swine has this strip:
    Woman: (talking about her boyfriend) "We're 'Friends with Benefits'."
    Pig: "It's good to have affordable medical insurance."
    Woman: "Wrong benefits."
    Pig: "Ohh... do you get dental?"

Alternative Title(s): Newspaper Comics

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