Did you see the character appearing in Dilbert this week with underpants on his head? I can explain. Here’s the version that ran in newspapers and on Dilbert.com on 11/21/06.
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I was trying to show that the marketing guy has an ass for a head and he’s pulling data out of it. But it’s not so clear what’s happening because of the underpants on his head. That’s why my original version portrayed his head as a naked ass. My editor didn’t think the public was ready for that.
Here’s my original and uncut version. Tell me if you think it works better than the censored one.
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I spend an unusual amount of time trying to find the absolute limit of cartoon ass acceptability. You rarely see a naked ass in comics. Calvin (of Calvin and Hobbes) showed his once, but he’s a little kid and that makes it seem innocent. And Calvin wasn’t pulling a document out of his sphincter.
I once tried to show Wally’s plumber’s crack. That didn’t fly. But I did get away with showing a naked ass from the side view. I guess that was okay because it was in a medical context and a cheek is not as bad as an ass crack.
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I also got away with a comic about a lawyer who noticed a monkey was starting to fly out of his ass. That was a proud moment. You see the monkey but not the ass. I guess that was acceptable because I was only making you think about an ass instead of making you look at it. Plus, and this can’t be overstated, monkeys are cute. Here it is.
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I’ve learned from trial and error that you can show a guy’s head partly inserted in another person’s ass as long as it’s only the back of his head. This one ran in newspapers with no complaints.
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Where I get in trouble is when I turn the guy around so his face is buried in an ass. Somehow that’s suddenly “wrong.” This one never ran in papers.
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Based on my exhaustive research, this is what I have learned about comic asses:
Acceptable Asses
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1. Little kid asses
2. Back of head in clothed ass
3. Ass head with underpants
4. Monkey emerging from back of pants
5. Furry animal asses
6. Side views of asses in a medical context
Unacceptable Asses
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1. Naked ass for a head
2. Plumber’s crack
3. Face buried in clothed ass
4. Adult asses of any kind
Consider yourself educated.