They're Going to Need a Bigger Bag

Ingrid Rice, 3/17/11:

The inhabitants of Lumpy-people-land -- Rice herself hails from British Columbia, which may perhaps be germane -- are worried that a Japan-style earthquake/tsumani/nuclear meltdown will strike them, though there's no reason shown in this cartoon that they should.

Driving Miss Nanny

Henry Payne, 3/17/11:

US carmakers would be doing just fine -- as opposed to having recently returned to profitability -- if they weren't being micromanaged by Secretary LaHood, who wasn't in government when they had to be bailed out by the feds to stave off bankruptcy.

Three Things Makes a Cartoon

Richard Bartholomew, 3/18/11:

A potential meltdown with several days of warning is just as bad as a wartime raid that killed about 80,000 people instantly.

Also, Edvard Munch wants royalties.

Tenuous Connections

Chuck Asay, 3/17/11:

Divorce is caused by sassy children, and nothing else -- if your parents split up, it's because you're evil, kid!


Also, Scary Gay People! Whooo-hooo!

Falling Off

Scott Stantis, 3/17/11:

The Incredible Shrinking Man has, ironically, a very expansive ego.

Also, other kinds of energy generation are incredibly safe -- just ask coal miners.

Easy Choices

Tim Eagan, 3/17/11:

Everything would be just so gosh-darn nice if only we'd switch over to all solar energy, everywhere in the world.

No exotic, expensive materials or dangerous industrial processes are required to make solar panels, and it's sunny everywhere all the time, right?

Aftermath

Ken Catalino, 3/16/11:

As you may have heard, Japan had a tsunami a few days ago, and there was extensive destruction. In some areas, things look like this.

That's all: no joke, no clever twist, just a drawing of stuff tossed around by a huge wave.

Wear Flowers in Your Hair

Steve Breen, 3/16/11:

Something very sad recently happened in Japan. And Breen is always ready to break out his massive drawing chops.

Can You See the Zipper?

Nate Beeler, 3/17/11:

I don't know what the media is going to call this mutated hellbeast, but I'm sure that he'll be stomping through a highly detailed miniature of Tokyo very soon.

Save us, Gamera!

The Big One

John Sherffius, 3/16/11:

California, like Japan, has fault lines, nuclear plants, and lots of Asian people.

Nudge nudge wink wink -- say no more!

Home on the Range

Kirk Anderson, 3/17/11:

Gov. Walker has a shameful S&M cow fetish. Of course, who doesn't, out there in dairy country?

Note the Subtle Lockout Imagery

Drew Litton, 3/16/11:

Sports fans are promiscuous and fickle in their affections, always ready to switch to a newer, cuter sport with skimpier outfits.

Bird-Brained

David Cohen, 3/16/11:

Most cartoonists would have had two pigs talking -- "pigskins," you know? -- but not Cohen. Oh, no. He's got deeper wings to fry.

Connections

Malcolm Evans, 3/15/11:

The US reacts entirely differently to requests for humanitarian aid from a legitimate government than it does to requests from an insurgency to help overthrow a government.

I have no idea why that would be.

Oh, Canada

Steve Nease, 3/15/11:

I have no idea whatsoever, but that doesn't matter: this cartoon is awesome in its incomprehensibility.

(Stockwell Day, by the way, is a person rather than a holiday.)

Them Are Some Mighty Big Waves

Mike Keefe, 3/16/11:

There is absolutely nowhere on the North American continent that a nuclear power plant could be placed which would be safe from tsunamis.

Not even Denver.

Reactions

Joe Heller, 3/15/11:

Similarly, since Japan had a 9.0 earthquake, the US is going to remove everyone within 100 miles of any fault line. And because they had a tsunami, we're all going to keep a 50-mile buffer zone on all shores.

Right?

Please Don't Show Me a Frontal View

V.C. Rogers, 3/16/11:

At least he's better than her last boyfriend, the "clean coal" plant -- the file is still closed by Protective Services, so I can't tell you more. And the less we say about that playboy, geothermal, the better.

Don't Distract Him With Numbers

David Fitzsimmons, 3/15/11:

Nuclear power is more dangerous than coal! Really! Really!

If X, Than Y

Randy Bish, 3/16/11:

What to do when there are two unrelated big stories in the paper, and you can only do one cartoon? Just shove 'em together any-which-way; nobody will notice.

Spotted Owl Man Rides Again

Henry Payne, 3/15/11:

Payne seems to have missed the fact that it's very cold in Japan right now, which would have let him execute yet another version of that staple, the Global Warming Means Its Hot All the Time cartoon. So, instead, we see that Al Gore is desperate to demand credit for everything as usual.

(Though "global warming" is predicted to increase blizzards, drought, and hurricanes -- dump more energy into a big chaotic system, and you get baroque results -- it's unlikely to directly cause earthquakes, sunspots, laundry spotting, or the heartbreak of psoriasis.)

The Real Victim

Victor Harville, 3/15/11:

It's so hard to mellow out and surf when there's some tragedy out there totally harshing your buzz, man.

Total bummer.

Venting Gas

Ed Stein, 3/14/11:

This cartoon makes much more sense if you assume that he's talking about environmentalists.

Is It Safe?

Jim Morin, 3/15/11:

Any power-generation system must be able to perfectly withstand a 9.0 earthquake and associated 250+ foot tsunami at any time to be considered safe at all.

Applying this standard to the US's coal, natural gas, and other facilities is left as an exercise to the reader. Enjoy the darkness.

Nightmare Fuel, # 2,719

Martin Kozlowski, 3/14/11:

You can push teachers only so far, and then they're going to snap on you, just like that pencil. Are you ready for that? Well -- are you ready, punk!?

Oh, and suicide bombers have gotten fiendishly clever, too.