Comics I Don’t Understand

Quasi

Cidu Bill on Jul 29th 2010

“Ringman” I could understand, but why would Quasimodo be a good wingman?

And Sal Biondo sent in the above comic along with the one below for our Synchronicity Collection:

Filed in Bill Bickel, CIDU, Flying McCoys, Wizard of Id, comic strips, comics, humor, synchronicity | 20 responses so far

20 Responses to “Quasi”

Arthur Jul 29th 2010 at 12:10 am 1

You asked, “Why would Quasimodo be a good wingman?”
Because *anyone* else looks good in comparison.
Jeff S. Jul 29th 2010 at 12:37 am 2

Exactly… that’s the whole point of a wingman.
Molly J Jul 29th 2010 at 01:07 am 3

I’m stumped by the hump. Hump day because Quasimodo has a hump. OK, good so far. But why is that necessarily the day that people try to burn him out of his tower? Do we whack the groundhog on the head on groundhog day? Saw down trees on arbor day? So why would we be out to get the guy with the hump on hump day?
James Schend Jul 29th 2010 at 01:59 am 4

Even in the Disney movie, Quasimodo didn’t get the hot chick in the end, despite initially getting all the signs. Instead she goes to the guy who has maybe 15 minutes of screen time, max. He’s a perfect wingman.
Detcord Jul 29th 2010 at 04:14 am 5

Molly J (3)

The reason is tradition. Once a year, the good people of Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania haul their very own groundhog, Bill (or is that Bills as there are more than one?) out of his home to predict the weather.

In France, (according to reports) the good people of Paris, occassionally liked to seek out one of the Beautiful People [NOT] and burn him out. Quasimodo, with his disfigured face and massive hump was a previous high-profile winner of this engaging pasttime.

Now, with the recent introduction of Hump Day, it would seem this once occasional thrill has become a regular (weekly) thing. ENJOY!

James S. (4) In the book, Quaimodo’s fate (and Esmerelda’s) is far less pleasant than any of the movie adaptions.
Powers Jul 29th 2010 at 06:50 am 6

It’s Phil, Detcord. Phil. Alliteration and all that.
felixthecat Jul 29th 2010 at 07:10 am 7

Whoa! A wingman is not some ugly guy who makes you look better! That is maybe why a woman brings a fat or ugly girlfriend with her to a club: it makes her look better. A wingman is your friend who helps you meet good-looking women, especially by paying attention to the woman’s ugly friends, and by backing up your lies about yourself.

Quasimodo in a wig would make the Wizard’s wife look good, but what could he really do as a wingman for the alcoholic Jester?
mitch4 Jul 29th 2010 at 07:38 am 8

Thanks for letting us into the arcana of proper wingmanship, Felix! However, the popular understanding includes the version explained by Arthur and Jeff S. — and a cartoon is entitled to rely on the popular understanding of anything, even if technically a misunderstanding.

So I;m with the crowd that says Quasi is a good wingman just by virtue of setting a low standard of comparison for looks. No pun needed.
George P Jul 29th 2010 at 07:47 am 9

My understanding of “wingman” is the same as felixthecat’s, especially the part about spending time with the cute girl’s not-so-cute friend. Guys take turns being the wingman. A real wingman isn’t someone in an ugly airplane.
padraig Jul 29th 2010 at 10:17 am 10

I don’t know why, but I gotta HUNCH!

HAH! I gotta HUNCH! Hunchback! Ya get it? HAH!
Elyrest Jul 29th 2010 at 01:08 pm 11

When I saw this comic I knew what the authors were implying wingman to be - just what Arthur and others stated. I also knew that a wingman really was what felixthecat said. I have to agree with mitch4 that a lot of humor goes along the lines of popular conception - even if that conception is wrong. This is how words change. There is nothing anyone can do to stop it.
Detcord Jul 29th 2010 at 01:09 pm 12

Powers (6)

My bad. Am sad.
Pete Jul 29th 2010 at 01:27 pm 13

Some references for Hump Day

http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/hump_day
http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=hump%20day

(I didn’t know the term until I Googled. These were the first two hits)

I think the point is that bad things happen to Quasi every Wednesday, the same way they happen to Garfield every Monday.
Morris Keesan Jul 29th 2010 at 02:31 pm 14

“Punxsutawney” and “Phil” aren’t alliterative, even if they look like it.
Judge Mental Jul 29th 2010 at 05:03 pm 15

Quasimodo was willing to kidnap a beautiful women (Esmeralda) for the specific purpose of bringing her to Frollo. If he is willing to do the same for Bung, wouldn’t that indeed make him the *ultimate* wingman per felix’s definition? ( sure he did get caught and then he did try keep her for himself… )
Cidu Bill Jul 30th 2010 at 12:27 am 16

The first time I heard the phrase “hump day” was four years ago when I accompanied my son town open house for a university’s engineering program. We were told (warned) that engineering students should room with other engineering students because while hump day for everybody else was Wednesday, hump day for engineers was Friday.
Powers Jul 30th 2010 at 09:41 am 17

Okay, pseudo-alliteration. I’m sure there’s a relationship.
Mark M Jul 30th 2010 at 06:29 pm 18

Are comics about the genetically deformed acceptable, while using “retarded” and “lame” (as per a previous discussion) offensive?
mitch4 Jul 30th 2010 at 10:19 pm 19

Mark M, your question makes me realize I don’t know what the condition people call “hunchback” really is , or even if it names a single ailment. If it’s something like rheumatoid arthritis, maybe there’s a genetic component or predisposition, but probably not enough to say “genetically deformed”.

But that doesn’t matter anyway, if I follow your implied argument — it’s not so much the genetics as the “not from their own chosen behavior” factor.

And to start on an answer, what I think we see here is merely “comics about” people with a particular condition — but not comics ridiculing or demeaning them. And something like that ought to be the criterion, don’t you think?
Elyrest Jul 31st 2010 at 12:39 pm 20

Mark M & mitch4 - Wouldn’t Quasimodo be grandfathered in being a character who appeared in 1831 - way before people cared about making fun of people with disabilities.