As important as the art in a webcomic is, sometimes you can come up with a gag good enough that it can be expressed in dialogue balloons in a pitch black panel. And sometimes you can come up with a gag ‘theme’ that allows you to reuse the same panels with new dialogue over and over. And if you can do BOTH, you have the lazy cartoonist’s nirvana.
Which Jennie Breedon has accomplished in The Devil’s Panties with her “What Not To Say In The Bedroom” theme. Wisely, she has limited these single panels to the weekends, when she usually has other ‘filler’ content, to avoid giving the impression she’s ‘phoning it in’. But when you have comic content that needs no pictures, you know that some @$$#Ø!£ is going to do what I am doing right now:
The Collected “What Not To Say In The Bedroom”
“♫We all live in a yellow submarine♫!”
“So what where you gonna make me for dinner?”
“Look! No hands!”
“I’m a squirrel!”
“I don’t know what you’re doing, but I’m over here.”
“Did I mention that I’m allergic to latex?”
“I know “ow” wasn’t the safe word, but I figured it was sorta obviouse (sic)!”
“Passion and spontaneity are all well and good, but you need a shower first.”
“Hi, I’m Mike.”
“Is that guacamole?”
“HONK! HONK!”
“What do the instructions say?”
“Did you wash this after you got it from the kitchen?”
“Inappropriate use of lawn equipment!”
“Think fast!”
“Turn it off! Turn it off!”
“The Internet is watching.”
“Are you KIDDING?”
“♫Autobots wage their battle ♫To destroy the evil forces ♫Ooooof the Deceptocons♫!”
“That explains SO much.”
“I can’t feel my hand.”
“Slacker!”
“♫Gummy Bears, ♫Bouncing here and there and everywhere, ♫High adventure that’s beyond compare, ♫We are the Gummy Bears!♫”
“Taste like chicken!”
“CHAAARGE!”
“…I think I’m STUCK.”
“COLD!”
“I’m offended, yet strangely aroused…”
“Okay, where am I taking this?”
“♫Just a spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down…♫”
“♫Getting to know you, ♫Getting to know all about you…♫”
“The Island’s not through with you yet!”
“No, I’m pretty positive it’s not supposed to do THAT”
“Is that my STAPLER?”
“Hold on, let me draw you a diagram.”
“But I have to PEE!”
Yes, the links were pretty superfluous, but necessary for legal reasons.