So first off y'all have to know that this comic is a parody of the O. Henry story Gift of the Magi. So read the summary on Wikipedia if you don't know it yet.
If you do read the wiki article, note that the vast majority of the article is adaptations. They've got about 15 there. It's not exactly new, what we see here. And it's not even close to the funniest adaptation - for my money, that is Steve Martin. I'll quote directly -
If you do read the wiki article, note that the vast majority of the article is adaptations. They've got about 15 there. It's not exactly new, what we see here. And it's not even close to the funniest adaptation - for my money, that is Steve Martin. I'll quote directly -
One of the short-short stories in Steve Martin's Cruel Shoes, "The Gift of the Magi Indian Giver," involved the husband selling his shinbones to buy his wife "cuticle frames," while she sold her cuticles to buy him "shinbone polish." The ending implied that the couple enjoyed a bit of light BDSM.Shinbone polish makes me laugh very hard. Much more than "Roomba dueling harness." Maybe if it had been the first instance of such dueling, but it's not. And of course, for utterly absurd Roomba humor, you can't beat Achewood.
I'm surprised there wasn't more "Mr. and Mrs. Hat" vitriol here. Not even a passing mention? That was the first thing I thought. "Oh look, Mr. and Mrs. Hat are stealing things and telling each other about it."
ReplyDeleteAnd the first thing I thought of was the QC concerning Roombas. Hey Randall, WE READ OTHER COMICS ALSO.
Next he's going to have one where a stick man is saying "Yes, Megan, we are a disaster for each other, but I'd rather be really scared when I die than never die at all" to Megan. In a ball pit.
I dunno. Nothing about them in this comic stuck out for me. They are both acting basically in character, so I can't fault him for that. It's just another brief look into the terrible relationship that is Mr. and Mrs. Hat.
ReplyDeleteI would be glad to add some of your vitriol if you'd like.
I'm pretty sure the point of this comic is that instead of selling their stuff to buy for the other, They robbed their counterpart and then bragged about it. Not sure why you're complaining about the harness, it's not at all integral to the joke.Also, I usually hate puns, but the title is just cheesy enough to be funny.
ReplyDeleteJared - I see the difference between this story and the original. My point is just that it's such a broadly-drawn-upon story that it seemed like a weak source of parody at this point. In other words, yeah it's kind of funny that Randall made fun of the story, but so have lots of other people, and in much funnier ways.
ReplyDeleteThe roomba I only focused on because I thought that it was probably the least bad part of the comic.
Do you really think the title is a pun? I usually love puns but I don't think this qualifies. In what sense is there a play on the sound of a word? It's just "gift" is replaced by "theft" just like how these are things stolen rather than given, as in the original. Or is there a joke here I don't get?
at first I thought that the roomba dueling harness was an original idea, then I googled it.
ReplyDeletei'm not sure if you keep track of nedroid but he just posted a theft of the magi comic that shits all over randall's: http://nedroidcomics.livejournal.com/200077.html
ReplyDeleteThank you for referencing Cruel Shoes. I've never met anybody else who has read that incredible book.
ReplyDeleteIt appears I've been misleading...I have not read the book, just read the wikipedia page. But the description sounds great.
ReplyDeleteWAIT A SECOND i am in a library RIGHT NOW i should see if this library has this book.
the library doesn't have it. booooo
ReplyDeleteits also very similar to a certain Bruno the Bandit story.
ReplyDelete