This week's panel suggested by Jonathan Bogart and Matt Ryan, with that dialogue suggested by Jeff



Hello, Redmond!

Considering how many of Carl's readers have been logging in from Microsoft, I worried a bit that this panel might be something of a faux pas. Then I thought about it some more and concluded that our pals in Redmond would probably appreciate it most of all. (Sure hope I was right.

As always, suggestions are listed in the order they were received. Thanks for playing and please join us again next Sunday!

--Scott
Sunday 01/17/1999




James Riley

  • Monster stands in front of in-coming traffic, with Carl pointing behind her. Monster says either "What, what are you pointing at?" or "Like I'll fall for that old trick!"


Douglass Barre (Age 28)

    Hmm... I'll get back to you with my suggestions for this week's panel, but I've got a great one for next week's panel, to be posted a week early...

  • On a light purple background, we see a large Red Dot. Above the dot, in red lettering, are the words "you are here," in parentheses. Below the Red Dot, I think you should put in big red letters the word "NEXT?" Below that, maybe something along the lines of "Write your suggestion in the form below!" also in red lettering, of course. I know you don't usually post two new panels in the same week (at least without giving away a sketch of a nineteenth century president,) but I think that this would be a great idea for the panel chronologically after this one.


Elan "Monkely Funkely" Trinidad

  • Carl is half way over a tall fence where, on the other side his car is. The monster continues to chase him.
  • A giant monkey steps on the monster.
  • A giant monkey eats the monster.
  • The artist formerly known as Prince begins to eat the monster. (I was watching Saturday Night Live. Chris Katan did a good impression.


harrison!

  • carl pulls out his transmogrifier and turns the momster into a car.


frank episale

  • carl rushes toward a busy intersection. the monster yells, "no carl, wait! watch out for the..."


Bill Schlimme

  • The momster and Carl hop into their automobiles and start off on a high speed chase, like 'Streets of San Fransisco', or something.
  • Carl hops into HIS automobile, and the momster flags a cab, crying out to the remarkably blase taxi-driver, "Follow that car!"
  • Carl wakes up with a start, realizing that it all really WAS his worst nightmare, and that he fell asleep behind the wheel of his car after disregarding his promise to his mother completely by drinking and driving.

    Wait a minute -- is that last suggestion totally forbidden? If so, simply disregard. Thanks!


Paul Hanna

  • The monster continues its relentless pursuit while exclaiming, "C'mon, baby! Howzabout a little kiss?" Carl makes it to his car.
  • Carl halts the monster and says: "Okay, foul creature. Do with me as you will."
  • Carl hops on a kid's tricycle and continues his escape.
  • Carl finds a unicycle and continues his escape.
  • The monster trips over one of its tentacles with a "Whoops!" and lands with a THUMP! Carl makes it to his car.
  • The monster begins dancing and calls out to Carl: "C'mon, Carl! Do 'the monkey' with me!"
  • We haven't seen the back of the monster yet, have we? The monster could be like some sort of animatronic machine where just the front appears to be a monster. Mr. Gordon could be seated in the back, behind a control lever, laughing. Carl continues to run, unaware.


Jonathan Bogart

  • Interior of car. Daisy driving, Carl half-asleep in the passenger seat. Carl: "Noooo!" Daisy: "Carl, wake up!" (If the monster's a nightmare, does this count as "Whew! It was all a dream"?)
  • Alternatively, have Daisy (or someone) waiting with a car, with menacing tentacles off to the side. "Quick, Carl, get in!" This seems most practical, but lacks panache.
  • Then there's the entirely strange response: "No you're not! I don't have nightmares on GROUNDHOG'S DAY!"


Jesse Rimler

    Hmm...tricky one...

  • (inside joke) Carl stands in front of monster and says "It's you! You're the one who pulled the strings behind that whole phony Abe Lincoln fiasco!"
  • (real entry) Carl says, shivering, "Please! If you spare me you can take my...car!". If you can fit it, have him dangling his car keys.


Thomas Dougherty III

  • Carl: "Woo... I lost 'em!"
  • The "R.I.P. Carl" panel
  • A lightning bolt flies into kill the momster. Carl: "That was lucky." (stole it from Ennis)
  • Carl at a cliff, ties noose to his neck: "Only death can save me from this nightmare!" (stole this idea too)
  • Carl grabs chest: "Ug... HEART ATTACK!!!"
  • We cut to the sky that has a flying saucer in it. Caption: Suddenly!... Mars Attacks! (I think this would be better after the 'Daisy' panel, though)
  • Carl: "What was that ripping sound?! Did you just fart, Ma?"
  • Panel of God (can you color him yellow er somthin'?) "How am I gonna get him outta this one?... I'll transport him to his car!" (that dialog could probably be shortened if there is no room)
  • All text panel... SFX: "Rip! Shred! Gut! Munch! Yum!"
  • erm... Momster says: "Help! I've burst into flame!"
  • Momster says: "On the other hand, maybe not."
  • Momster wakes up: "Whew! It was all a dream." (this one would be fun)
  • erm... A slightly overhead shot. Carl is cornered by the Momster and a Smurf. Possibly Smurfette.
  • Caption: "Use the Force, Carl!"
  • I'm only wasting this much space because I'm avoiding doing my homework... even though it shouldn't take me longer than an hour. *sigh*
  • Pink Elephant flies overhead.
  • Carl says: "Okay! I promise for real!" Momster is Mom again, "Don't ever lie to me again." or "Good."

    Okay... Back to school work. *sigh* You cannot know my pain...

    P.s. You should go hang out at the Comic Book Resources Chat Page. I bet lotsa kids would love to chat with you. Including me!


Piers Beckley

    I know it's forbidden, but given that Carl is allowed to burst into flame if he's been seen holding a match and covered in petrol in the previous frame, and the monster is his worst nightmare...

  • Carl wakes up.

    Carl: Whew! it was all a dream

  • Carl turns and rounds on the monster, body and head splitting open in a tremendously icky fashion to reveal... a bigger monster!
    Bigger Monster: Wrong. I'm your worst nightmare.
  • Carl runs into a road, pursued by the monster. Possibly a word-bubble along the lines of

    Carl: If I can only get to the other side of this freeway, I'll be safe!

  • Carl looks thoughtful

    Carl: Actually, my worst nightmare is having to go to a Yes concert.


Jarret Cooper

  • Carl (looking down): Good gracious! I've SHAT myself!

    (It wasn't juvenile enough for me yet. Besides, in the panel beneath, he could decide to return home, both for Groundhog Day and because he, y'know, SHAT himself. You're welcome.)


Mike Branch

  • "Only escape can end this wretched nightmare!" to balance the neighboring panel. Sorry -- no suggestion for the graphic.


Bill Bannon

    Do I get more than one panel? Hell, you took 3 just to get the car started! OK - here's my two panel suggestion:

  • Panel one: Carl leaps into his car and makes a quick getaway with the beast in hot pursuit.
    Panel two: Carl swigs from a bottle of Jack Daniels and says, "I make no promises to monsters!"


Howard Ian Schiller

  • Close-up on the monster's face... "NOTHING CAN STOP ME!..."

    (gee, can you guess what the next panel down should be? Hint: "Eeek!")


  • The monster hits the town, slides down the streets, all in a godzilla like manner with fleeing people and such. lots of "RUN" and "Oh No!" being said.


M. Robert Turnage

  • Carl jumps into a car and "VROOM!"s off. "Time to burn rubber," says the Carl. The monster is engulfed in a cloud of exhaust.


Doug Waldron

  • Carl also sprouts tentacles: "But Ma, you always said I was yer fav'rite!"
  • Carl grabs automatic weapon: "Die, you Groundhog from hell!!" SFX: Budda, budda, budda
  • Carl dons cowboy hat, climbs on horse, and yells: "Yippee-ki-yay, Mom!"
  • Carl runs across street to escape. Sign clearly says "Don't Walk."


Jeff

  • Carl hops into his car while the monster shouts "And I belong to MICROSOFT!" That should strike fear into almost anyone ;)
  • Carl is running down the street with the monster in pursuit. Carl is thinking "If I can only make it to Daisy's house..."
  • Carl closes his eyes and thinks "What I can't see can't hurt me" while the monster is about to eat him.
  • Carl stops running in the middle of a street and thinks "What I can't see can't hurt me," the monster dissappears, but a car heading striaght for Carl.
  • Superman flies by and grabs Carl to get him safely away from the monster (Would there be any copyright problems with this idea?).
  • Carl dives into a lake, hoping to swim away from the monster.
  • Carl spontaneously sprouts wing and begins to fly away.
  • The monster jumps into Carl and they begin to mix DNA to form a mutated Carl-monster.
  • The neighborhood postman chasing dog begins to chase away the monster.
  • Carl's dad shows up in a car and says "Get away from your mother, son!"
  • Carl grabs a pez dispensor and says "Beware the Pez!"
  • You see Carl knocking over a person on a bike saying "I need this bike!"
  • "Oh no! In my worst nightmare i knew pi to 1500 decimal places!" and the monster is in the background reciting pi.
  • As waves shoot from Carl's head he says "I'll use my psychic powers to slow you down!"


Jon Delorey (0.05040 millenia)

  • Carl turns into a T. Rex and says "Actually in my worst nightmares I turn into Oedipus Rex."
  • Carl says - "I would never have dreamt of that!"

    I won? What does this mean? Can I quit my day job?


Al B Moore

  • Carl sees a hole in the ground and begins to jump in.

    CARL: "Yipe! I'll have to hide in this hole!"


zach oat

  • Carl is in a theater, watching the above scene on the screen. "Scary!" he says.


cayetano

    this looked like so much fun, i just had to join in!!!

  • i know the dream thing is forbidden, but i can't help it...plus, i really think it might actually be fitting here, cliche as it may be...
    carl wakes up-"man, what a horrible nightmare! that'll teach me to stay up late drinking!! maybe i'll take a drive to calm my nerves..."

    hee hee!

[The one and only Cayetano Garza, Ladies and Gents. --Scott]


Eve

  • Carl runs off a cliff


Daniele Cauzzi

  • Carl starts to fight his worst nightmare making knots with his tentacles

    Carl: this is *your* worst nightmare


Scott

  • Carl whips out an Heckler & Koch.

    Carl: No. I'm YOUR worst nightmare.

[Different Scott, obviously. --Scott]


Joshua Pettigrew

  • Carl awakens in his car with a scream, "Egad! I've wet my pants!"


Matt Ryan

    Argh! Last week's panel broke two unwritten rules: 1) no references to works of fiction outside the CYOC universe, and 2) Carl's past in each panel is to the left and up, adjacent panels only. On one hand, I'm very happy, because it shows the author is willing to bend the game (as he did a while back when two Carls came into being). On the other hand, it makes CYOC a less-pure example of what it originally demonstrated -- viewer choice dictating the timeline.

    Ideas for this week:

  • Top view of fast-moving car, momster following. Word baloon reads, "Only BEER can end this wretched nightmare!"
  • View from ground level. Carl's feet are visible as he gets into a car mostly off-panel to the right. Fast- moving tentacles are just coming in from the left. Small furry creatures are coming out of the ground and moving left, to STOP THE NIGHTMARE CREATURE JUST IN TIME for the merge downpage. This leaves room mid-panel for a few words:
    - "Whew! Good thing I'm sober!" or...
    - "I'm SAVED... by groundhogs?"
  • A car pulls to a stop in front of him, driver says, "Get in, Carl!" Carl says, "Daisy?!"

    Addendum: we might have to wait YEARS for Scott to show up in a CYOC panel.

    (Okay, they're all derivative. I plead confluence.)


Stewart Smith

  • The alien ship comes down and settles to a landing in front of Carl and the monster. Both seem to forget they were doing something else before the ship came.

    Carl: "Cool"

    Monster: grunts excitedly in a way that only a monster can.


Ethan Heitner

    Hiya. Boy, this is a neat webpage. Anyways-

  • Carls stops in front of the Momster in a scholarly, needless-exposition kinda pose and says, "Actually, my worst nightmare involves ground hogs, a speeding car, and twelve pounds of lard."
  • The Momster, having scared off Carl, pops open a beer with each of its many tentacles and relaxes in a lawn chair. "Now that the ding-boy is gone, I should really do something about the ground hogs...."
  • A giant ground hog falls from the top of the panel, casting a shadow over Carl and the Momster as they gaze upwards in terror. Boy, them ground hog references are tricky...


Luke Zentner

  • The point of view is from behind the shoulder of a sniper in the foreground. The sniper is atop a high building and he aims his gun down at the city street far below where Carl is being chased by the monster. The sniper says, "Captain - its body is off - I got a peach of a shot." (You could include some cars driving along the city streets, too if there's room.)


Dark Artist

  • Carl gets into his car and tries to speed away from the monster. Or he could try to mow the monster down with his car. Probably he should just drive out of there at top speed. The dialogue, if necessary, could read: "I'm getting outta this place!" or "Let me outta this dream!" or "Maybe I already DID drink and drive!"

    Dark Artist


James Riley

  • A groundhog holds up its hand, palm out, saying, "STOP!" to the monster.
  • A groundhog runs in front of the monster, making the monster trip into traffic.


Elliot Trinidad

  • The monster bites off carl's foot.
  • The monster spits a car from its mouth.


Douglass Barre (Age 28)

    Okay, I'd probably better hand in some real suggestions or Mr. McCloud is going to make me sit in the corner for being a smart mouth...

  • CARL holds his head, bemoaning: "It says it's a nightmare, but I'm still forbidden from realizing that it's all a dream!"
  • CARL runs into a pet store. CARL: "Only groundhogs can end this wretched nightmare!"
  • CARL tears off his own mask, revealing another identical CARL beneath it. "And I'm... oh, wait, I'm just me. Oops."
  • CARL fights the monster and is a gee cookie.
  • A mysterious figure is standing by a doorway with smoke coming out of it. MYSTERIOUS FIGURE: "Quick, Carl! In here! Heh heh heh."
  • Carl's duel with the Monkey King in the active volcano continues, as the robotic pirate sidekick given to Carl by the Barefoot Girl in return for the three crystal orbs he returned to her finally activates and creates a strange musical harmonic that awakens Team V.I.K.I.N.G., who had been placed in stasis in the Monkey King's endless satchel. CARL is able to use this distraction to begin the Dance of Feathery Submission at long last.
  • CARL punches the Momster in the eye, crying, "I'm FACING MY FEAR, Dr. Freud!"
  • CARL tears away another layer of the Momster's mask, revealing another CARL. CARL: "You're... you're me!"
  • CARL sprays the Momster with a nearby fire hose.
    CARL: "Everyone knows that monsters hate water!"
    CARL (thought balloon): "Wait... or is that witches...?"
  • GOD frowns down at a chessboard. On it are a variety of pieces, including two CARLs, one MOMSTER, a DAISY and a discarded FLYING ELEPHANT. THE DEVIL, facing him, sneers. "Check!"


George Broderick, Jr.

  • Carl faces monster and says (calmly) "Actually, my worst nightmare involves me in my underwear on S.A.T. day, in the fog, with Jean Claude Van Damme and some jelly donuts."


Michael Avolio

  • Carl trips over something in an effort to get away.
  • Close-up of a look of horror crossing Carl's face. (Maybe shouting "Stay away!" or something like that?)


Ivy (who's husband withheld her age, not her)

  • Carl's mom turns back into herself and says: "just kidding" with a demonic glint in her eye. Carl looks very unsure.


Winter (age 3)

  • AAAAAAAHHHHHHH! Carl steps on the Carl. Mom says: "I'm a monster!"


Sky (age 5)

  • Carl finds his real mom.


TimmyC

  • He should pull out a bagpipe to kill the monster with bad music.


Jennifer Reinhart

  • "Whew! It was all a dream!" (Come on, it actually makes sense here.)
  • "I know! I'll lure it across this busy street!"
  • "At last! The Elder Gods have awakened! Praise Cthulhu!"
  • The monster picks Carl up and acts like it's about to bite his head off.


Addison Godel

  • Carl: Only one chance! My self-destruct button!
  • Carl: Of course! I'll just use my getaway car!
  • Carl: What is this? Halloween?
  • Monster: ...or am I? (takes off mask, reveals, hrm, Pirate Joe or Daisy or somebody)

    Not the greatest of suggestions, but I'm a bit under the weather. Yo.


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