Comments on: History

By: todd

todd — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 19:35:46 +0000

Have a bunch of newspapers recently dropped Blondie?

There’s also the recent strip where he punched Mister Dithers in the face.

By: Size

Size — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 16:45:23 +0000

Well, gas IS made up from the remains of dinosaurs and ancient plants and other things that are “history”… bit of a stretch, but that’s the only connection I can see to history. He’s definitely breaking the fourth wall here… maybe he’s just saying that the kids aren’t interested in him personally, only in his wallet. So he might as well be “history” which they don’t care about either.

By: Mark

Mark — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 14:55:11 +0000

I think it’s a meta-joke (in the vein of Michael R.’s comment), which is unexpected for a strip like Blondie. With the decline of newspapers, and the continual shrinking of the comics pages, Dagwood is commenting on his eventual dumping into the ashbin of history.

By: Sari Everna

Sari Everna — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 00:26:01 +0000

I also thought it was a “I’m so poor” joke. But if it is, it should have been worded differently. “The way things are going, my money’s going to be history, anyway.” or something like that. As it is, I’m not entirely sure what it’s supposed to be about, unless it’s just a lack of proofreading.

By: Adam

Adam — Sun, 27 Jul 2008 19:24:00 +0000

Had his daughter asked to borrow some other piece of technology (other than the gas card) it might have made sense–he’s feeling left behind. As it is, I guess it’s probably a weirdly-worded “I’m so poor” joke.

By: Lindsey ^_^

Lindsey ^_^ — Sun, 27 Jul 2008 18:25:45 +0000

I thought that Dagwood was referring to his financial status as being history, but the third panel is worded oddly.

By: Kaitlyn

Kaitlyn — Sun, 27 Jul 2008 17:52:24 +0000

I thought along the same lines as Lihtox, but it’s still weird.

By: Lihtox

Lihtox — Sun, 27 Jul 2008 17:50:32 +0000

When I first read this strip, I noticed they were both asking for gas, and assumed Dagwood’s response was along the lines of “The way gas prices are going up I’m not going to have any money left, so you might as well take it all.” But that was just a cursory scan; and that last panel is indeed perplexing. Michael R.’s explanation is a possibility, but would most people get the reference?

I looked back at the rest of the week to see if there was a theme, but nothing. Interestingly, though, today’s comic also mentions the word history.

http://www.blondie.com/dailies/index.asp?month=7&year=2008&comic=2008-7-27

I wondered if this was an anniversary for the strip (after all, Dagwood *is* history, of sorts) but Wikipedia says no.

By: Michael R.

Michael R. — Sun, 27 Jul 2008 17:34:33 +0000

I’d take it more as a commentary on the decline (and potential demise) of newspapers, which, of course, is where most people see Dagwood and Blondie.