This week's panel suggested by Tony Beeman



The Devil made him do it!

I'll bet we have a big winners list next week!

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

--Scott
Sunday 10/24/1999



Tim Sullivan

  • I told you I'm allergic to cheap brass jewelry!


Tomas Inguanzo

  • Carl falls through the skylight of his bedroom, and lands safely in his bed.
  • Carl lands on the gas bag of a large blimp or zeplin (the Hindenburg perhaps?).
  • Carl falls through the sunroof of his car and is saved by the airbags.


MIchael Patrick

  • Carl still falling. Little imps with pitch forks are flying around his head. Below him is the lake of fire. Carl: Well, things could be worse!
  • Birds-eye-view (or Carl's eye-view) of a suburban neighborhood in the distance. Carl: Hey- I can see my house from here!
  • Carl: Where's my flying twin brother when I need him?
  • Carl lands on the trampoline in his own back yard. Carl: (as he bounces to the ground) I need a drink!
  • Carl: snif...If only could see my mother one more time! Perhaps have a picture ofe his mom floating over his head.


adam ford

    I am finding this harder and harder to do. Con-freakin'-gratulations to the geniuses that pulled last week off.

  • Carl lands in the drivers seat of a car speeding out of control. It's a convertible with the top up, so he tears right through the fabric roof. Or maybe it's a sports car.

    That's it. Short and sweet.


Patric Lewandowski

    I have returned!!!!!!!!!! Just like to remind all that my comic is now available for purchase and if you'd like to, e-mail trifall@yahoo.com for details. On to carl!!!!

  • Carl lands in a sweet convertible that is loaded with beer like there's no tomorrow. Carl: "Hell is a cool car and beer? ALRIGHT!"
  • Carl in Hell with Satan. Satan: "Hello Carl... I've been expecting you.. Here's your BANJO! MUHAHAHAHAHAH!!!!!!!!!!"

    banjo?


Mr. ?

  • A top view of Carl falling, but he is falling to the left of the 'pit o' Hell', and, in fact, is about to impact with his own house at terminal velocity. If you want, he can have a world ballon with a single word: 'Crud!'
  • Carl is in Hell, where a demon is telling him that this will be his own personalized hell, an eternity of endless repetitions! Mwa ha ha!
  • Carl falls through the ceiling of a 747 cockpit, crushing both pilots. Carl is yelling 'I'm saved!' as the plane is crashing.
  • Carl is in hell, where he is assigned two sexy succubi with tail and wings in leather outfits like in Bananarama's Venus video. Carl is saying, 'Ladies, I think I have been grossly misinformed about Hell'
  • Same as above, but with the succubi glancing back with a worried look behind the overconfident Carl at a demon that you can only make out the glowing eyes, teeth, and claws.
  • Carl falls, misses the pit to hell, and lands on his mom, who is killed, but saves his life. Now there are two Carls looking at each other.
  • Daisy flying down in her helicopter to save Carl, only to swoop too low and chop Carl into confetti with her helicopter blades. Daisy saying 'I'll save you, Carl.... whoops!'

    It slices, it dices.


Travis Pelkie

    Arrgh! Simply brilliant way of linking up those two panels!

  • So Carl just keeps falling, and falling, and... perhaps a pink bunny could appear?
  • Of course, he'd have to keep falling, and then in the panel next to the one with his mom (which doesn't really go anywhere but down) it'd have to look like he fell down a trapdoor. or something.
  • Anyway, he could also pass by a bird, and then maybe a plane, and then... oops, it's a gravestone panel then!
  • WHoa, thinking ahead too far. Of course, there's not really anywhere to go! So I'm about dry for suggestions.
  • INSERT OBLIGATORY "MONKEYS IN SHIRTS" REFERENCE

    Apologies for the caps there, had to get it out of my system. Whoo, it's been a big week, but I'll just mention that the Greyshirt story in Tomorrow Comics 2 was amazing. Anyone know what all those letters were supposed to be from? (like, the 50's was EC style lettering, and the 90's modern) It's an amazing example of panel transitions, linking 4 separate stories into one cohesive narrative. Darn that Alan Moore!


Tom Harris

  • Carl falling, thinking "Must...change..into...bat.." (maybe turning into a baseball bat??)

    (this would set up the opportunity for him to fall onto the other Carl's head, killing him and complete the next panel in a logical way)


Mike Sugarbaker

  • Fat, mustachioed devil in cheap nylon cape: "Hi Carl, welcome to Hell. Here's your go-kart, and your Heineken." Carl shrugs.
  • Carl falls past the same cliff he recently leapt from in an attempt to hang himself. He spots a rope-like object which he can grab and climb to safety. Carl: "Bungee cord! Just my luck!"
  • Carl lands with a Thump on a big pontoon boat whose side reads "John's Scuba Lessons (and Comedic Setups)."
  • As above, but Carl lands in the back of a rickshaw. Why make it easy?


Michael Avolio

    Y'know, I'm kinda curious as to how you came up with Carl, Scott... Was it just for UNDERSTANDING COMICS, or had you come up with the character before that? And does his name have any significance?

  • Carl slams into the ground.
  • Carl stands, looking around, perplexed. "Waitaminute -- this looks like New Jersey..!"
  • CARL: "My whole life's flashing before my eyes!"
  • Carl is caught by a dragon (or a really big bird, if you want to be less weird, though I doubt weirdness is a problem here of all places)
  • A huge sound effect takes up the entire panel. (This one leaves a lot of room for the next panel, obviously)
  • Hey, why not the Brian What's-his-face panel. For old times sake. (???)
  • Carl, falling.
  • CAPTION: Later... Carl is quite happy, though surrounded by flames and such. He says to a guy standing next to him, "So, Dante, come here often?" (Yeah, I know this won't win, but I hadda try. Classic literature and all that...)
  • Carl is caught by a giant (three-fingered?) hand.
  • Carl is caught by a flying Carl. (If you go back far enough...)

    I've "won" in the past, but I keep forgetting to plug this site, so I hope it's okay if I do so now... http://www.members.tripod.com/tlp_2/ It's the LAUNCHPAD site. LAUNCHPAD is sort of a fanzine that's sent to different comics companies. If you want to get into comics, I recommend you at least take a quick peek at the site. Man, I'm really not good at plugging things at all, am I?


[Hi, Michael. Carl was indeed created for the collapsible story example in Understanding Comics, page 84-85. Later in the book I wanted to demo a branching multi-thread narrative and saw that I still had Carl lying about, with that eager look on his face, so I used him for that too. I like using Carl cause he's just such a narrative non-entity, ready to endure whatever the story throws at him. Not sure why I picked the name though; maybe because there was nothing remarkable about it! --Scott]


Nat Gertler

    Good job on the solution of the previous dilemma.

  • Down-shot... the body of Carl plummeting toward the outline of a state. "That's not hell! That's NEBRASKA!"
  • Oh, I like the previous one better, but this makes for an interesting circular set-up: Carl lands in front of his mother. Mom: "You're back!" Carl: "Not for long!"
  • Take a week off and play with your kids on Sunday.

    I'm owed a free link, aren't I? Well, I can steer all the Peanuts book collectors here to my collector's guide at http://www.gertler.com


Phredd Groves

    Well, I wimped out on the tough week. :P So it goes. Glad to see some folks pulled Carl's continuity out of the fire, if not his fat.

  • Carl plummets into hell, WHOMP! Hell, it turns out, is a fully stocked bar, with Satan pulling Carl a seemingly icy cold one as he welcomes Carl into hell.
  • Carl is falling, falling, falling past buildings, including one with one of those horizontal flagpoles. Thinks Carl, "I'll just grab that flagpole and redirect my trajectory!"
  • Carl is caught my a mob of monkeys in shirts with horns and pointy tails!
  • Closeup on Carl's face, whipped by wind as he's falling. He shouts, "SHAZAM!" or maybe Johnny Quick's formula or something similar.
  • Carl falls into a GIANT MARTINI! Splash!
  • Closeup on Carl's face again. Look of complete horror. "That's not Hell, It's [Berwyn/Jersey/Cleveland/Delaware/some other laugh line location]!"
  • On his plummet to hell, Carl falls through an urban landscape and encounters the everpopular laundry drying on the line. He'll wind up in hell wearing a muumuu. Now that's comedy! Or would that be monkeys in muumuus?
  • Carl, falling: "But Wait!" pulls out a guitar from null space, "Before I go, let me sing you a song!"
  • Same perspective as previous panel, but lower to the ground. Carl is back up in the air, having bounced after hitting bottom. From above these words are uttered, "Oops! Missed."
  • Carl lands in the rear cockpit of a biplane being piloted by his vampire father. "Gotcha Son!"


Morgan Doninger

    I'm back. Show's over. Ross laughed at it in couple of places. My life resumes while we try and end Carl's.

  • Carl belly flops onto an asphalt road which has a street sign reading "Good Intentions". CARL: "Ow."
  • Carl belly flops into a lake of fire. CARL: "Owie, owie, owie."
  • Carl belly flops onto Satan's pitchfork. SATAN: "...The hell?"
  • Carl belly flops in front of Cerberus (the three headed dog) CARL: "Nice doggie."
  • Carl belly flops in front of Cerberus (the aardvark) CARL: "...the hell?"
  • Carl is belly flopping in mid-air. CARL: "Man, hell is is a looong way down there."
  • Carl belly flops onto a frozen lake next to a penguin with a pitchfork. CARL: "Ow, cold, ow.: PENGUIN: "Meep?"
  • Carl belly flops in front of Martin Brodour in goal at the Meadowlands. MARTY: "Must be a Ranger fan."
  • Carl belly flops into a calm lake full of cute duckies. CARL: "Hell is overrated."
  • Carl lands on his feet in hell. It is empty. CARL: "Uh, hello?"

    My girlfriend Theresa says the penguin one better win or there's gonna be trouble.


Jay Sabicer

  • Carl's still falling, but God opens up the clouds and looks at Carl's descent. God (shrugging shoulders): Sorry bud, it's out of my hands. Everything you've heard about me has been *heavily* exaggerated...


Lee K. Seitz

    I had an idea, but did you know we've only had Carl drink and drive in two threads so far, neither of which lead into this one?

  • Hey, if we can suggest reusing middle panels, how about, "whole...life...flashing before my eyes!"? (Then we use a flashback for next week's panel. Maybe even one from the original Carl strip.)
  • Carl thinks of his mother: "Mom, I'm sorry. You cared so much!" (Small photostat (or online equivalent) of opening panel in thought balloon.)
  • Carl #2 (remember him?) catches the falling Carl with a flying car.
  • Enter: Satan.


Greg Lam

  • A standard devil type watches bemusedly while Carl splashes down in a nearby pool of lava.


Tony Beeman

  • Satan handing Carl the keys. "Promise me you won't drink and drive, Carl... HA HA HA!"


Christopher Woerner

    Pick one of mine. Please.

  • Carl's falling. Thinks "I could have been driving instead."
  • Friction from re-entry causes Carl to burst into flame.
  • Daisy, having a change of heart, attempts to catch Carl with her helicopter. In the next panel, she'll have forgotten about the rotor blades.
  • Carl takes out the bottle. "Well, I might as well drink while I have the chance." (or "She didn't say anything about drinking and falling.")
  • Carl stops himself in mid-air. He hasn't been following the whole up-down process so far, why should he start now?
  • Suddenly a fleet of spaceships from the Gorgonzola Empire arrive. They catch Carl in mid-fall and take him inside their spaceship where they subject him to a variety of weird sex and torture devices. Afterwards, he finds himself locked in a prison cell mumbling about Russian poetry and astrology. After thirty years, he is interrupted from scratching the latest entry in his journal on the walls of the cell by the arrival of Elvis. In the next panel, Elvis offers Carl something to drink.
  • "Tis a far far better thing I do than I have ever done before. Tis a far far better rest I go to than I have ever known."
  • Carl uses the Force. In the following panel, George Lucas litigates him to death.
  • 17, but only on Fridays.
  • A brief musical interlude featuring dancing bears and women in tights.

    Did you know Peter O'Toole has a double-phallic name?


[He's no Dirk Diggler though. --Scott]


Scott Kinoshita

  • Devil: "Hi Carl. We're not quite ready for you yet. I'll send you back until we are, okay?" Carl: "Cool!" Next Scene: Carl is sent back right before he crashes into a tree, Carl saying :"Aw HELL, not again!"


frank episale

  • carl's face, stretched back in that high g-force kind of way. a disemboidied voice says "count to three and pull the cord, carl"


Golden Lion

  • "What's that down below? It looks like me and my mom!"


Ben Pung

    Perhaps it's too obvious, but better something than nothing, right?

  • Carl lands in a life raft out in the middle of the ocean.


Craig Moe

  • Carl, continuing to fall: "Hey, I can see my house from here!"


Stewart Tame

  • Carl arrives at the gates of Hell and meets a familiar figure. "Carl!" "Dad?!"


Craig Matthews

  • Hand of God appears, catching Carl, saying something to the effect of, "I have tested you and grant you another chance at life. Learn from your mistakes and Live, Carl! Live!" Of course this leads to the next panel which will feature Carl back behind the wheel of his car drinking a bottle of whiskey.


Kelvin the Lion

    Carl must die, whether you like it or not.

  • While falling Carl shouts,"please God, make this turnout to be a dream!" Then he wakes up only to find that he was asleep behind the wheel and crashes into a tree. That way we can kill him in one panel and keep the continuation.
  • Carl goes to Hell. "So this is what I get for drinking and driving"


Markus Gerwinski

    YIPIIEE!!! Um, I mean, the feeling to be a winner is not so bad. I'll take my plug after having opened the comics section of my own website.

  • Carl, falling, looks down: "Isn't that Mom's house, right down there?"
  • Carl falls into a volcanoe. Besides it, there is a sign: "Hell"
  • Text box: "Meanwhile..." In a military base, a soldier watching a screen shouts: "Captain! I got an UFO in my radar!"
  • Carl, falling, passes his life in review: "What did Mom always say about drinking and driving?"
  • Carl, still falling, is tipped on the shoulder by a bone finger. A voice: HELLO. (With a nod to Terry Pratchett)


Ross Horowitz

    Hmmm...

  • Carl in Hell. Devil:Now you said it.
  • Carl in Hell. Devil: Out of the frying pan...
  • Carl splashes into water.
  • Carl splats on ground.
  • Carl hits ground, bounces a couple times.
  • Carl smashes into car on ground.
  • Carl in Hell. Carl: Hi Dad.
  • Carl in Hell. Carl: Mom!?!?!?! Then who was that at home?

    Oh well...


Kevin Chubey

  • Carl, still falling, looks down at the ground ( off panel ) thinks "Hmmm, that guy getting into that car seems awfully familiar..."


Jesse Rimler

  • Carl lands in the DMV, otherwise known as hell.

    Just to compare, take a look: http://jesserimler.virtualave.net/floydfloid.html Hey Scott, you have said you are planning to make use of Adobe and PDF files for download, but have you given any thought to using Shockwave? I know it's a bit clunky at the moment but the scrolling and buttons could really help, especially in the case of CYOC. Just a thought.


[I may use plug-ins at some point, but I'm not going to rush it. The landscape's still a bit uneven when many people are still using 3.0 and even 2.0 browsers. Also as I'm finishing Reinventing Comics time is going to be even shorter than usual. We'll see... Incidently, I'm not really into PDF for comics delivery, just for delivering something specifically for printing. --Scott]


Zack Adgie

    Yeah, they're bad.

  • Carl: "Oooo! Nuclear Missiles!" And if you make a huge nuclear explosion for the frame after this, It fits in very nicely with the "promise" frame.
  • And in case you don't decide to use the nuclear bomb idea for this week... "She didn't say anything about drinking and quaaludes!" I think that one speaks for itself.


catt jan roxxanne

  • Carl falls on his butt, letting out a weak sounding "Uff!"
  • Carl falls into the passenger side of a speeding car, while the driver notices Carl and not where he's driving, Carl points out "I fell into a car! How... ironic."
  • Carl whips out a gun and puts it to his head. "Well, 'when in Rome...'"
  • Carl reappears in his Mom's living room all of the sudden, and says "Hey! This isn't hell! It's my house! Who knew! Hi Ma!"


Kean Soo

  • Carl lands in a surrealistic, (Edvard) Munch-like landscape. He screams (heh).
  • Carl lands in the Devil's lap. Carl: "Mommy?"
  • Carl lands on the ground, and takes a look at the sign next to him: "Welcome to Red Bank, NJ!" Carl screams.
  • Carl crashes through the roof of his house. Mom stares at him in astonishment. Mom: "You've been drinking, haven't you??"
  • Carl crashes through the roof of his house. Mom stares at him in astonishment. Mom: "My roof! What have you done?!?"
  • Carl, continuing his fall, screams, "Help! I've burst into flame!"




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