This week's panel suggested by the following...

Nailed it:

• Alycia "CyberCat" Shedd
• Lee Seitz
• Michael Avolio
• Lukas Chen
• Jesse Rimler (by popular demand!)

Sorta nailed it:

• Bill Schlimme
• Jonathan Bogart
• Mark Rosenfelder
• Doug Waldron
• Kevin Pease
• Travis Pelkie

Could always claimto have nailed it:

• Morgan Doninger
• Jeff Clear
• Ethan Heitner
• Greg Lam
• Mike Taub
• Jeff
• Kean Soo
• David Goldfarb
• James Riley
• tim harrison
• Al B Moore
• dan wheeler
• colin roald
• Jay Sabicer
• Matt Herper
• cx1@usa.net
• Barney Sheehan
• Nathan Kuruna

The Revenge of the Obvious

I think Kevin Pease's suggestion said it best: "There's a big explosion that fills the panel, and my name goes on a big honkin' list."

Thanks to everyone for a great section! I'm going to take a week off to archive all the suggestions for this batch and link them to each panel a la section 1, then get the next section up and running.

As always, suggestions are listed in the order they were received. Thanks for playing and please join us again in Two Weeks for the unveiling of Section 3!!

--Scott
Sunday 03/21/1999

Chris Routly

Hey, Scott! Great site. You have, and your Understanding Comics has changed me as an artist! Nice goin'!

• Well, I don't know it this is allowed, or maybe it is and it's just never been done before, but how about a split panel? Hey! It's not on the forbidden list! On the left side is the car with Carl driving and on the right side is the helecopter with Daisy driving (hmm, do you "drive" a helecopter...?). They are heading towards something large (building, pink elephant, whatever...) and the respective PASSENGERS (Daisy in car, Carl in chopper) of both vehicles are yelling "Keep your hands on the--!". Taa-daa! Everyone is dead! Thanks! (Boy, do I use a lot of brackets, or what?)

Jesse Rimler

I'm glad to hear you are a Kubrick fan, Scott. I agree about the chillingly subtle scares in "The Shining". That film haunts me and follows me to this day. It was not my favorite Kubrick film, though, seeing as how Nicholson seemed to crack and go insane too early on in the film. Do you have a favorite Kubrick Movie?

• Let's see... Big explosion, vehicle crashes into church.
• Big explosion, vehicle crashes into synogauge.
• Big explosion, vehicle crashes into building.
• Big explosion, vehicle crashes into wall.
• Big explosion, vehicle crashes into house.
• Big explosion, vehicle crashes into.
• Big explosion, vehicle crashes.
• Big explosion, vehicle.
• Big explosion.
• Big.

  Last week, I forgot to mention the movie "Spartacus", also directed my Kubrick. Give them all a look.

[Can't pick a favorite Kubrick movie. They're all great on their own terms. It's the insane variety of them that most appeals to me. --Scott]

Jason Fliegel

Before I get to my suggestions, I have a sort of "Meta-suggestion:" from now on, everybody should have to guess what color their name will be when it goes up on the suggestion page. I'm betting on blue this week.

• Carl: "Daisy, *I* have something to tell you. I've got a terminal disease and I've only got ten minutes to live."
• Carl: "Daisy, *I've* got something to tell you: I'm pregnant!"
• A long view of the car in which Daisy and Carl are driving plunging off a cliff. A single word balloon reads "AAAAAAAAAAAAHHH!!!!!"

[Lucky guess... --Scott]

Bill Schlimme

Well, all I can say is that I'm really glad that I'm not the only one wondering where Daisy keeps popping from. And I'm in pretty good company (Sky) too! I think this curious phenomenom deserves further study. But right now, I've got some suggestions to provide...

• Helicopter crashes into car. Big Boom.
• UFO, driven by the Momster, destroys/crashes into (Momster crying: "Banzai!!") helicopter and/or car. Bigger boom.
• Y2K problem hits a few months early. Mushroom cloud. Biggest boom.
• Gun fires: who was shot? Who survives? Classic cliffhanger, but with a slightly less significant boom.

Catt Jan Roxxanne

I am really strapped for ideas so I'll just do the obvious and have him say:

• "HEART ATTACK!!!!!!! AAAAAAA!"

Morgan Doninger

I'm really starting to get this Carl thing to fit into my weekly routine. Start the week off by trying to bring Carl closer to his demise. Nice.

• As a tribute the the height of Grand Repetativeness the panel should be of a large pink elephant foot stepping downward, thus echoing back to Carl's first death.
• The obvious one: The heliocopter crashes into the car. Fin. Role credits.

  This is actually a real question. Could you have a panel of Carl's face screaming, then zoom into his eye? You know like how you get into the web site? Is that too much animation for a "Comic"? Just curious.

[Hmm, not this time but maybe someday. Never say "never!" --Scott]

Douglass Barre (age 28)

• Carl looks down at the steering wheel which no one is holding on to. CARL: "Daisy, who's driving this thing?"

  You know, what would happen if the free plug didn't just go to the winners? Typhoons? Hurricanes? Smog?

  [Click here for my best guess. --Scott]

  
  

Jeff Clear

I'd like to see a maximum of 3 entrees per person.

• The obvious- A collision between the helicopter and the car.

Tom D.

I'm so confident that this one is good, its the only one I'll give you.

• Wordless panel: Carl and Daisy are in a cathedral, getting married. Because of the difference between the helicopter panel and the car panel, I think it would be best to have a panel containing material that shows a time in the near future. Because of "Montage" (see what words they'll teach you in college?!) both the marriage panel and the death panel will carry separate meanings. From the helicopter panel, the marriage will seem like a nice, wanted thing; and the death panel will actually be happy (I view it being that they died of old age, though I suppose a meteor could've struck the church). From the car panel, the marriage would seem a bit farther in the future, and the death panel would have slightly less of an appeal to it (basic theme would then be "marriage=death"). Dang. Do I write too much?

  I'm so confident that this one is good, its the only one I'll give you.

Alycia "CyberCat" Shedd

• Seems pretty obvious: a large CRASH sound effect mostly filling the panel, with maybe a few assorted car/body parts flying out from it. (Hey, I'm too tired to come up with anything bizarre right now, okay?)

Jonathan Bogart

There's really only one way this can go, since the row isn't continued in Section 4 and must end here.

• The helicopter and the car crash into each other.
• Alternately, there could just be a big, Batman-TV-show-type explosion which would cover both the car's and the helicopter's untimely demise.
• Well, I suppose we could throw a speech balloon in there, saying something like "Look out for the---" just before the explosion.

Ethan Heitner

Well, I'm just going to do the really obvious thing, in hopes of sneaking on to the bandwagon and being one of those giant groups of winners. Because I'm lazy.

• -Helicopter crashes into car, thus killing one of the two Carles, or possibly both (and then the rest of the strip in the next section horizontally can be the adventures of Daisy!)

Lee Seitz

• The obvious: One big sound effect like "Pow!" Could be a helicopter crash. Could be a gun going off.
• Caption: Meanwhile... A man dressed totally in black reports to a group of shadowy figures, "we just took out two more. Soon there won't be any Carl's left in the multiverse!" (Do I read too many comic books?)

Jon delorey

• Carl's vehicle (car, helicopter, whatever) runs into a ground hog. (Eliminating Ground Hog Day forever)
• Carl's vehicle (see above) run's out of gas (as daisy was trying to tell him) and the Momster crushes him.
• Daisy says: Carl you've been dead this whole last section. You're just a ghost, I can't have your baby.
• Daisy: Before we marry, Carl, I must first tell you I am the ghost of Christmas Future.

Elan "www.geocities.com/Area51/Starship/3044/" Trinidad

• Daisy: "I have the deadly (enter whatever virus you like) and you just contracted it.
• Daisy: We only have 24 hours to live.

Mark Rosenfelder

If anyone suggests "a big explosion", you should require *them* to plug *your* website.

• Explosion noise offscreen. The Microsoft Monster: Ooh, that's gotta hurt.
• Put the "RIP Carl" panel here.
• Carl clutches his chest. "Ooh, my heart!"
• Daisy (looking a little worse for wear): Thank heavens I'm safe! But poor Carl...
• An angel (standard old man in robes) looks at a counter on the wall, which is going ker-chunk. Angel: Two this time! Kids these days!

Matt

Last panel in the section! I may come up with more suggestions later in the week, but this one can stand alone:

• Most of the panel is taken up by a sub-panel. In the foreground, below and in front of the sub-panel, a hand is adjusting a knob that reads "V-hold". The sub-panel is divided horizontally by staticky black bars. Half show a slice of the "AAAG!" panel to the left, and half show a slice of the "uh..." panel above. It is generally staticky or has zap-lines. Perhaps there is another hand whacking the side of the panel.

  If not this time, then I ardently hope you let us jump meta-levels somewhere in CYOC!

Avery J. Cohen

• Just a close up of Carl's screaming face, with "AAAAAAA!" Follows the repitition theme going across, and indicates that the obvious is indeed occuring going down, while sticking with the accelerating pace of time between panels.

Erich Mees

• Considering that so many people used their suggestions last week to pay tribute to Stanley Kubrick (not necessarily IN their suggestions, but as a side note), perhaps this panel should be a disturbing, Kubrickesque (Kubrickian?) close-up of Carl screaming in silent anguish. (Think of Patrick Magee's face when he recognizes Malcolm McDowell's singing voice in "A Clockwork Orange.") In typical Kubrick fashion, the image may not be narratively conventional, but it certainly captures Carl's emotional state in both the helicopter and the "endless repetition" paths.

Doug Waldron

• A big explosion.

  That's it. Just a big explosion.

Greg Lam

• Caption: "Sixty years later." Old Daisy and Old Carl sit in rocking chairs. Daisy says: "Carl, Wait, I have something to tell you." Carl thinks: "Sigh".
• The helicopter flies into the side of a cliff, those little red hearts still pulsing, then bursting. A voice from inside yells "Look out!" (The Carl and Daisy at the bottom don't necessarily have to be in a car)
• Slight variation: The helicopter flies into the car, those little red hearts still pulsing, then bursting. A voice from inside each yells "Look out!"

d. Manchester

I'm a Carl-virgin, so forgive me if this is horrible. PS Colin put me up to it.

• Daisy: I'm pregnant...with a Microsoft monster's child... and I've been drinking
• Car and helicopter are heading straight for each other. Both Daisys cry out: I think I see my shadow!

Mike Taub

Moooo....

• nothing too funny... I can see is that the car swerves and Carl and Daisy in car run into Carl and Daisy in Helicopter and kill the ones in the Helo. (More angst! More Angst! Must have more angst!)

Radames Cruz

• The obvious: Daisy: I'm pregnant!
• Daisy: Isn't it romantic to do a double suicide? (points gun at Carl)

Fish

These suggestions may seem too obvious, but I haven't had much sleep lately.

• Daisy: I was supposed to remind you to watch where you're driving!
• Daisy pulls out a wooden stake and hammer. Daisy: I love you, which is what makes this so difficult.
• Carl: I never expected you to say that! As he steers the car off the road.

  Happy Saint Patrick's Day

Nat Gertler

Well, it's obvious that we have no one holding onto the steering wheel... but dadgummit, we have to bring this forth in an interesting manner.

• Close up on Carl, looking panicked: "Oh no! When did I get KrazyGlue on my hands!?!"

  I'm hungry. Someone please mail me a donut.

Eden Miller

• My only suggestion--Daisy says something like "Carl, I want to spend the rest of my life with you." And well, we'll just assume that they do since the next panel is a tombstone. That's all.

ian

• going for the she's a man thing daisy sez: "those AREN'T keys in my pocket. . ."
• after the RIP scene have a muddy handcomming out of the grave .... like a soap opera
• daisy: "i ate the last bowl of POPs"
• have a break in :"we interupt this broadcast to bring u a special report"

Jeff

Study break!

• The helicopter flies down, smashing into a car. Simple, yet effective
• With a car in the background, we see flying Carl being chopped in half by the copter blades. (We've already had two Carls, why not add another?)
• Show the R.I.P. Carl pic. It will complete the endless repetition
• Carl and Daisy are seen landing on the ground with parachutes (after bailing out of the copter) only to be hit by an oncoming car.
• An asteroid appears heading toward earth.
• Daisy: "Oh my gosh! Carl burst into flames!" is this legal?
• A hunter is at the side. He has just fired a bullet that can be seen passing through the car adn being deflected up into the helicopter. The hunter goes "Two at once. I"m good" THe hunter could be a deer or a duck, or some other animal that humans hunt.
• An elder Daisy is standing above carl's casket at his funeral. A few middle age people (his children) and their children are standing in the background crying.
• Daisy and Carl are at the wedding. The priest is saying "...peace". then a man stands up, screams "I do!" and shoots Carl..

Al B Moore

• A helicopter and car collide as Carl yells "Why, Daisy? Why!?"

Jay Sabicer

Kind of wrapping up both arcs and hopefully the Groundhog Day business.

• Carl 1's helicopter is in a crash dive at Carl 2's automobile Carl 1: AAAAG! Carl 2: AAAAG! Carl 1: *sigh* Finally, someone I can relate with! KILL ME!

Kevin Pease

• There's a big explosion that fills the panel, and my name goes on a big honkin' list.
• We see the helicopter smash into the car. Same as above.
• DAISY'S GRAVESTONE.

  This brings to mind the original expandable Carl exercise, which demonstrates just how much visible action can be cut from a story without losing comprehension of what transpired. We know the car/chopper is going to crash; it is implied so strongly that we don't need to see it crash. By all rights, we could skip directly to the last panel. Hence my final suggestion above.

Drew Hart-Shea

• Daisy and Carl sat in unspecified vehicle. Daisy is hugging Carl saying "I love you Carl!" Carl is slyly putting the gun to his head. His thought balloon reads: "Oh man, I guess I should just kill myself now, 'cause we all know what would happen otherwise!"
• continuing the repetion theme: The final "RIP Carl" panel, but with a thought balloon coming from the grave saying: "What the..? I even have to DIE twice..?" (this one doesn't fit so well with the vertical story though)

  I haven't decided what to plug for my free winner's plug. Does it have to be soon after the win?

Michael Avolio

• A big CRASH fills up the whole panel.

  That's all I've got.

Mike Sugarbaker

This rules. I'm thrilled to see someone stop talking about online comics and start doing them. Scott continues to rule. Thanks!

• Tough, Stallone-esque policeman enters frame, carrying automatic weapon. Carl and Daisy react with extreme surprise. Policeman: "I'm sorry - but this is illegal!" (connected balloon:) "Punishable by death!" This could refer either to underage marraige, or excessive recursion.
• Shot of Carl and Daisy falling out of car/helicopter (vehicle is not clearly pictured, could be either), off cliff. Carl: "Whoaa!" Daisy: "Eeeeeeee!!" They clutch each other. (From the left, Carl is taking Daisy with him; from above, Daisy has pushed Carl and herself out of the helicopter.)
• Carl, panic-stricken, slams a hand down on the Eject button on the dash. Daisy looks on in astonishment.

  Collaborative stories always seem to end in deus ex machina situations, in my experience. Fortunately, if that happens, we get another try.

Ryan Dika

• As the helicopter flies over the car, an Arnold-esqe Carl, hanging off the helicopter's rail pulls the Jaime Lee-esque Daisy out of Madman Carl's car's sunroof.
• Carl, distracted by Daisy, careens thru a cemetary, smashing a tombstone to bits.

Travis Pelkie

I actually had a dream where I met Scott in the library of my college here at SUNY binghamton. Weird.

• Suggestion 1 is the easy way out: car crash, massive death and destruction.
• #2 is to get plowed over by a bus or a snowplow or something.
• #3: St. Patty's day related: a giant green shamrock crushes the car. ooh creepy.
• Carl's head explodes.
• #5: A Neutron bomb hits, leaving all property intact yet ridding us of Carl and Daisy.
• #6: There is no #6. Ha.

  Can't think up anything else. Side note: how come only St.s Patrick and Valentine get their holidays celebrated among a mass non-catholic audience? Just'a wonderin'. Goodbye.

Mark Rosenfelder

An improvement (I think) to my earlier suggestion:

• A similar gravestone to Carl's, but with "RIP Daisy" on it.

James Brophy

Thanks for the great site. "My obsession with chess" is excelent. More of the same please!

• A two shot of Daisy and Carl. Daisy points out of the car. "Look a grave with your name on it."

Matt Herper

• The two strips run into each other. So do the helicopter (which is falling from the sky because Daisy let go of the controls) and the car. Note that there there is a Carl and a Daisy in the 'copter, and that there's also a Carl and a Daisy in the car. They all die in the crash. In the background, perhaps we see the many-tentacled monster approaching.
• Alternatively, the car and the helicopter both get grabbed by the many-tentacled monster and eaten.
• Daisy says, "O, No -- I've joined this cult and the grand master high spiritual poombah priest says that we must all die." We see that she's holding a bomb.
• A big mushroom cloud.
• Another parallel universe/comicstrip idea-- Carl and Daisy fall out of the helicopter-- and fall on the Carl and Daisy in the car-- who are already being eaten by the many- tentacled monster.

cx1@usa.net

Not a lot of alternatives this time. Looks like it's gonna be another "over-twenty-winners" week. Still, there *are* a few different ways to do this. Here is my favourite:

• From the right side of the panel comes Carl's (or anybody's) car, while at the top left corner we see Carl's (or anybody's) helicopter in collision course. Dialogue: Helicopter: "Look out!" Car: "!?!"

  I fell into a depressive state the day I learned about Stanley Kubrick's death. To see him mentioned in this page last week moved me -the fact that one man's work is important for so many people throughout the world. However, I do not share your optimism about Eyes Wide Shut being "finished" by Kubrick. The way I see it, Kubrick left taking with him the final cut of EWS and his unborn baby, A.I. I cannot grieve for a man I never knew. It is these movies that have died inside of me.

Barney Sheehan

• The helocopter and car crash head on SFX: "floom" daisy:(from inside both)"oh...never mind." (the helocopter come into the panel on the upper right and the car from the left)
• daisy with wings holds onto carl as we see the wreckage of the car and helocopter burning below. daisy: "I need a drink."
• daisy and carl standing infront of gravestone carl wears a dark coat, dark hat and sunglasses. daisy:"carl, WAIT, I have something to tell you!"

beef bowl

...do you listen to they might be giants? just curious after looking at understanding comics... then again, www.timedisorder.com already has a (disturbed) comic with the "i don't want the world" line...(i apologize if none of the above makes sense)

• double-taking carl:hey,what's that on your finger? blushing daisy w/ wedding ring:ummmm...
• daisy: i don't want the world, i just want your half. carl: what?

[Ivy and I have seen They Might Be Giants 4 times in concert. One of the best bands of the decade, IM(ns)HO. --Scott]

beef bowl

hmm...should have mentioned that carl is so disturbed by aforementioned "i don't want the world" line/wedding ring that he is momentarily deaf to the screeching of brakes or the giant looming cliff or something before him...

Anonymous

• DAISY'S A MAN, BAYBEE!!!!

Lukas Chen

oh, I can't believe you skipped over my Groundhogs Day suggestion form before... Jeez, i sound like my cousin...

• Carl in the car crashes into Carl in the helicopter!
• Daisy: Promise me you'll never drink and drive! Carl: I promise. (How's that for a plot hole!)
• Just a HUGE ::CRASH:: SFX, leaving the reader to fill in the gap.

  Blah! Let's move on to section 3!

dan wheeler

• the car drives straight off a cliff and crashes into the helicopter.
• the helicopter plunges out of the sky and crashes into the car.
• multiple smaller repititions of the previous two panels "carl, wait, i have something to tell you" & "oh carl, yes!" spiraling around each other and shrinking into nothing. POIT!

Mike Taub

• Okay, this one is more than a little weird, but what the heck. In this comic, complete randomness is nothing new.Daisy, to Carl: Before you do anything else, I have to say that today's episode has been brought to you by the letters D, O, And A. And the number 6."

  I did mention it was completely random, right?

colin roald

Darn it, we can't set the frame either inside (because there's a conflict over who's supposed to be driving) or outside (because there's a conflict over *what* they're driving).

• The Painfully Obvious. A helicopter crashes into a car.
• The Ambiguous. Newspaper headline: "YOUNG LOVE COMES TO TRAGIC END."
• The Cryptic. GRIZZLED OLD NARRATOR: "Why don't they look? Why don't they look?" G.O.N. shakes head sadly. (Sorry, couldn't help myself. Obscure MST3k reference, from "Last Clear Chance".)

  Woo hoo! We're done with section 2!

Jade Glaze

• Half avoiding the obvious and really messing with space-time... Daisy: "I'm P--" Carl: (breaking Daisy off, hands still off wheel) "Hey! Is that us in that --"

Nathan Kuruna

This one's a no-brainer...

• It seems fairly obvious to me that the helicopter must crash, quite possibly into the car, thus killing two Carls with one stone, er, chopper.

Kean Soo

• KABLOOIE! The car/helicopter crashes into a church... (Gee, how many suggestions like this one are people going to submit?)
• Daisy: You should know... I'm your worst NIGHTMARE!!! Yet another monster rips out of Daisy and eats Carl. More repetition from the similar mom panel (Ack).
• Carl decides to dive out of the car/helicopter to avoid the repetition/death... And falls face first into the concrete pavement.

David Goldfarb

Woo-hoo! Almost done with section 2!

• OK, let's get the obvious one out of the way: a helicopter crashes into a car. Optional dialogue: "Carl, wait! I have something to tell you!" coming from the car.
• A picture of a mushroom cloud. Caption: "Suddenly, World War III breaks out!" (Or is that too close to "Help, I've burst into flames"?)
• Carl grabs Daisy by the neck, shouting, "We belong dead!" (A line of dialogue I've always liked.) This may be a bit too much of a non sequitur for the vertical storyline.
• Repetition of the panel from the top: "I can't take the guilt! I'm going to kill myself!"
• Repetition of the panel a few to the left: "I can't take this endless repetition! I'm going to kill myself!"

James Riley

Wow, tough week...

• Helicopter and car collide
• A vehicle (is it a car or helicopter? who knows?) crashes into a mountain.

  well, that's all I've got...

ade

well, I just got here, so please forgive me. This looks like a watershed moment for Carl and Daisy, but they are each about to make a revelation depending on which preceding panel you are following. So, whatever ...

• We see the view through the windscreen from behind Carl and Daisy (cramped I know)approaching is a herd of stampeding Wildebeeste or a truck (whichever is easiest to draw). Carl thinks "Just when I thought my life could only get better"
• A picture of carl and Daisy, much older, arm in arm. Caption "And they lived happily ever after"
• view of two versions of Carl's car passing in opposite directions. In each one, we can see Carl looking perplexed at his other self. In one Daisy looks happy in the other she looks frightened

tim harrison

i have no comment.

• the car crashes into the helicopter.
• carl puts the gun to his head and sez "i can't take this endless repetition." (i hope the repetition theme dies soon.)