Calumet Sag Channel

See it here.

Today's is a Dinette Set panel from Opposite World.

Start with the fact that it's actually recognizeable as humor, with two unexpected twists waiting for the astute reader. Jerry seems comfortable with the idea of buying Verl's birthday gift at a gas station. And we learn that Verl's palette is so sophisticated she can taste the difference between candy bars purchased at gas stations blocks from each other. I'm not saying it's funny, per se. But, at least you can see what Ms. Larson was getting at.

Then the panel is virtually devoid of marginalia. So devoid that it is hard to believe we're looking at a panel from the same artist who brought you this.

And yet, the one prominent piece of marginalia offers a frightening glimpse into Ms. Larson's psyche.

I was perfectly happy to believe that the location for The Dinette Set (Crustwood, Illinois) was fully fictional. But in looking for information to make sense of the reference to Cal Sag Pools and Spas I discovered that Illinois has a city called Crestwood, apparently a suburb of Chicago, with a commercial street called...wait for it...Cal Sag. There's no pool shops on that street that I could find. The closest is Pool Rx, situated on W 127th street, across the Calumet Sag Channel in neighboring Alsip.

Hard to believe, but there you have it. A joke that will be unrecognizeable to anyone who does not live near the Calumet Sag Channel. Even if we give the benefit of the doubt and assume the entire population of Chicago understand the reference, that means this is an in-joke which could be appreciated by, generously, only 3,000,000 people.

I was fairly amazed when Ms. Larson made an entire panel out a reference to an obscure bit of supernaturalism, the Bell Witch, because I felt the audience for the joke was so limited.

But this blows that reference away. It amounts to an inside joke for her neighbors, something that is basically antithetical to the purpose of a nationally-syndicated comic.

That is, if she even realizes it amounts to an inside joke.

In reality, I suspect that Ms. Larson has a level of obliviousness that borders on the narcissistic, just like her creations. It never occurs to her that the people beyond the borders of her small community may not share a common set of understandings with her and her neighbors. She may not even realize that the world extends past the border of the small Illinois community where, I can only assume, she hides away from the wider world. (I didn't go looking for a listing for her in Crestwood, because that starts to edge towards the line between good-natured criticism and stalking.)

At any rate, this new knowledge gives me the creeps.

Using the loosest possible definition of margins:

• Sure, you've got three obese guys perched on inflatable chairs in a pool barely large enough for one of them. But it's not like this is a new visual or joke for The Dinette Set.
• Jerry is a hairy ape-man, except for his ironic toupee. This particular two-dimensional gag is old, but no older than any of the other gags which are repeated ad nauseum.