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January 12th, 2009

210 - Conveniently Blurry Signs

I had a lot of trouble figuring out how to make this gag work so you don’t see the “sign” until the last panel.  Let me know what you think.

This entry was posted on Monday, January 12th, 2009 at 12:13 am and is filed under The Crown Prince. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

10 Responses to “210 - Conveniently Blurry Signs”

  1. Hugo Says:
    January 12th, 2009 at 8:33 am

    I see only one other way to do it: put the “WAAAAAAAAAH!!!” over the sign, or part of the sign, in the first. But the way you’ve done it is better.

  2. Der-Wanderer Says:
    January 12th, 2009 at 8:38 am

    I like this gag.
    Here at work we have such information boards for working days without accidents, etc.

    I think from now on I will always walk by this boards with a big smile on my lips.

    Keep on your good work.

    Greets from Germany,
    der Wanderer

  3. JG Says:
    January 12th, 2009 at 10:34 am

    Hugo: thanks for the suggestion. I just might try that sometime…

    Der-Wanderer: Glad to hear that work will make you think of the comic. That’s probably the first time anybody has admitted to that… ;-)

  4. Craig Says:
    January 12th, 2009 at 10:47 am

    Consistency tells me that if you blur out the sign, you need to blur out the counter as well. That part kinda bugs me. Would the gag lose any punch if you couldn’t see the number that was there before the King changed it? I dunno. The way you’ve done it makes the reader think “Four? Four what?” On the other hand, if you blurred both the counter and the sign out, the reader would be force to try and figure out what those items were. Either way, I think you’d still get the “Ahhh!” reaction in the end.

    Anyway, nice work!

  5. JG Says:
    January 12th, 2009 at 10:57 am

    Craig: As always, I like it when people give some thought to the strip so thanks for the input. I knew the joke I wanted to tell and found a way to tell it, but found it really hard to be completely logical (and consistent) from panel 1 to 4. The next time I try something along these lines, I’ll try it a different way and see what works best.

  6. Vince LoGreco Says:
    January 12th, 2009 at 12:18 pm

    It works for me! Great idea!!!

  7. Hugo Says:
    January 14th, 2009 at 3:00 pm

    Well, there’s a pretty simple solution: simply remove the text in the first panel. Just draw an empty sign (it’s too dark to even see that there’s something written on it !)

  8. Haselnuss Says:
    January 19th, 2009 at 5:48 am

    I think the joke still works without even seeing the number four before the king changes it to 0.

    Could you position the king in Panel 2 so that the number is visible between his crown and his torch?

    Maybe have him in front of the sign on the way to the baby’s room, and then show him changing it on the way back, with the sign visible.

  9. MobiusZero Says:
    January 23rd, 2009 at 11:14 pm

    Wheres the “Knight” light?

  10. JG Says:
    January 24th, 2009 at 8:48 am

    You can always count on MZ to remember every last detail of every last strip. See this one if you’ve forgotten what he’s referring to…