I admit that this panel does pose significant interpretive issues. For starters, it brazenly defies conventional wisdom which says that comics should have an identifiable narrative or joke, and preferably both.
At base, we have a man using a laptop computer, and Burl is reading off his screen the chat shorthand "B-R-B" and asking what it means. The natural assumption is that Burl is being rude in reading the man's screen (reinforced by the sly smiley face on his T-shirt). The man, therefore has suspended his activity and told the person on the other end of the conversation that they will "be right back" in order to deal with Burl.
Of course, that reading suffers from several problems, the central being that it is not funny in any way generally understood by homo sapiens. Beyond that, typing "brb" assumes a two-way instant communication connection, which would require an internet connection, which may be available in train stations but not (so far as I know) on trains themselves.
And so, having determined what the panel is not (funny or narratively sound), we can actually pierce the fog and determine what it is, which actually turns out to be very simple.
The single most prominent detail is the word "Dell" which is conspicuously framed inside a white expanse which is purportedly the laptop's cover. Also conspicuously, no attempt is made to mock the laptop's brand, such as terming it "Dull".
And so, we are left with only one reasonable explanation. Dell Computers, for reasons passing understanding, paid an enormous amount of cash for product placement within The Dinette Set and this is what they got.
Visit the marginalia's Facebook page:
- American Tourister also seems to have paid for placement, though obviously not as much as Dell.
- Is it just me or does the "car may be disengaged" warning read like a tasteless Amtrak derailment joke?
1 comment:
I suppose unnamed-passenger-with-Dell might have a cellular modem in his about 1987-styled laptop. :) What disturbs me more, for a reason I can't explain, is the child seated at the front left of the panel. Something so horrible happened to his (?) face when it was merged with the seat background that it reminds me of the pig faces in the "Eye Of The Beholder" episode of the original Twilight Zone.
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