Kevin Siers: You Write The Caption

New Year's Break (Deck Us All With Boston Charlie)

Happy New Year! The You Write the Caption blog is taking a holiday break.  We'll return with the winner of this week's challenge on Friday, Jan. 6, and have a new challenge for you on Monday, Jan. 9.

In the meantime, let's celebrate the holiday season in the spirit of the late, great Walt Kelly, the cartoonist genius behind the comic strip "Pogo" and his wonderfully fractured carol:

Deck us all with Boston Charlie,
Walla walla, Wash., an’ Kalamazoo!
Nora’s freezin’ on the trolley,
Swaller dollar cauliflower alley’garoo!

Don’t we know archaic barrel,
Lullaby lilla boy, Louisville Lou?
Trolley Molly don’t love Harold,
Boola boola Pensacoola hullabaloo!

Bark us all bow-wows of folly,
Polly wolly cracker n’ too-da-loo!
Donkey Bonny brays a carol,
Antelope Cantaloup, ‘lope with you!

Hunky Dory’s pop is lolly gaggin’ on the wagon,
Willy, folly go through!
Chollie’s collie barks at Barrow,
Harum scarum five alarum bung-a-loo!

Duck us all in bowls of barley,
Ninky dinky dink an’ polly voo!
Chilly Filly’s name is Chollie,
Chollie Filly’s jolly chilly view halloo!

Bark us all bow-wows of folly,
Double-bubble, toyland trouble! Woof, Woof, Woof!
Tizzy seas on melon collie!
Dibble-dabble, scribble-scrabble! Goof, Goof, Goof!

 

Your new challenge: Dec. 26, 2011

Welcome to You Write the Caption, the Charlotte Observer cartoon caption contest, an opportunity to test your wit and win a prize. Each Monday, Observer editorial cartoonist Kevin Siers will post a political cartoon that needs a caption and invite readers to write one.  To learn more about our contest and see our caption writing guidelines, please click here.

Submissions must reach us by NOON, Wednesday, Dec.28.

Enter as many times as you wish.  To submit your caption on-line, just click here to e-mail us. (Or address your e-mail to caption@charlotteobserver.com) 

Please include your mailing address and daytime phone number.

  To mail your caption to the Observer, address it to You Write the Caption, Editorial Department, The Charlotte Observer, P.O. Box 30308, Charlotte, NC 28230-0308.

Dec. 23: This week's winner

The winner:

 “If elected, I promise you brighter days ahead!”

 -- Phil Clutts of Harrisburg

 The runners-up:

 “We have some glowing economic numbers to report.”

 -- Douglas Cox, Albemarle

 “I did light up but I did not inhale.”

 -- Bill McGloughlin, Charlotte

 “Red-nosed and blue-nosed reindeer will pull in the same direction next year.”

 -- Phil Chubb, Charlotte

 "As I have told you before, I was hired merely as a historian for  the Sleigh Makers Association.”

 -- Robert Smith, Troutman.

Thanks for all your entries.

Your new challenge: Dec. 19, 2011

Welcome to You Write the Caption, the Charlotte Observer cartoon caption contest, an opportunity to test your wit and win a prize. Each Monday, Observer editorial cartoonist Kevin Siers will post a political cartoon that needs a caption and invite readers to write one.  To learn more about our contest and see our caption writing guidelines, please click here.

Submissions must reach us by NOON, Wednesday, Dec.21.

Enter as many times as you wish.  To submit your caption on-line, just click here to e-mail us. (Or address your e-mail to caption@charlotteobserver.com) 

Please include your mailing address and daytime phone number.

  To mail your caption to the Observer, address it to You Write the Caption, Editorial Department, The Charlotte Observer, P.O. Box 30308, Charlotte, NC 28230-0308.

Dec. 16: This week's winner

The winner:

“Star of wonder, Star of might,
I bought it on Thanksgiving night."

-- Bill McGloughlin of Charlotte

The runners-up:

“This kid better be worth it.”

-- John Divine, Charlotte

“It’s the reason for the season!”

-- Moses Luski, Charlotte

“I got the gold and the myrrh, but Frankenstein was resistant.”

-- Brian Carreira, Pineville

“It was not wise, men, to send me to Wal-Mart for the gifts."

-- Loyd Dillon, Charlotte

Thanks for all your entries.  Here’s some of the other better lines we received:

“An economic ‘flush’ always beats three kings!”

“It's Midnight Madness !  Jesus who?”

"Since the Arab Spring, kings don't get much respect."

“Guys, do NOT go through airport security wearing a turban and carrying wrapped gifts!”

"Whose idea was it to get these on Black Friday?"

"They closed the Post Office."

"They pepper-sprayed my camel!"

Your new challenge: Dec. 12, 2011

Welcome to You Write the Caption, the Charlotte Observer cartoon caption contest, an opportunity to test your wit and win a prize. Each Monday, Observer editorial cartoonist Kevin Siers will post a political cartoon that needs a caption and invite readers to write one.  To learn more about our contest and see our caption writing guidelines, please click here.

Submissions must reach us by NOON, Wednesday, Dec.14.

Enter as many times as you wish.  To submit your caption on-line, just click here to e-mail us. (Or address your e-mail to caption@charlotteobserver.com) 

Please include your mailing address and daytime phone number.

  To mail your caption to the Observer, address it to You Write the Caption, Editorial Department, The Charlotte Observer, P.O. Box 30308, Charlotte, NC 28230-0308.

Dec. 9: This week's winner

The winner:

"I'll have what the 1 percent is having."

-- Jerry Hancock of Davidson

The runners-up:

"Nobody believes in us!"

-- David W. White, Charlotte

"Santa, is Congress real?"

-- Patricia Ringle, Charlotte

"We want every day to be Christmas."

-- Doug Cox, Albemarle

“I never get what I really want: REAL ESTATE!”

-- Tommy Patterson, Charlotte

Thanks for all your entries this week.  Here's a selection of some of the other lines we received:

"Who said anything about money?  I’m fighting facial hair inequity!"

"R-E-S-P-E-C-T!"

"Your guess is as good as mine."

"I'm supposed to SAY what I want?"

"I don't know what I want." -- and many, many in this same vein.

"I want a job."

"The one-percenters have been bad."

"We need a porta-potty."

"I've beat drums, obstructed traffic, and trashed a park. So I'm ready for my presents."

"Corzine?"

"I would like a world full of people that aren't greedy."

"The whole world is watching."

"We just want the U.S. to be more like your operation. You know, where you and a few others work really hard all year and then give us a whole bunch of stuff for free!"

"Better jobs for my parents, so they can keep supporting me."

"Just what’s fair."

"Just to occupy a space in the American Dream!"

"Gee Santa, we already get demonized 4 times  a week in the Observer by cartoonist Michael Ramirez who works exclusively for the richest 1%.  Could you please convince Kevin Siers not to pile on?"

Your new challenge: Dec. 5, 2011

Welcome to You Write the Caption, the Charlotte Observer cartoon caption contest, an opportunity to test your wit and win a prize. Each Monday, Observer editorial cartoonist Kevin Siers will post a political cartoon that needs a caption and invite readers to write one.  To learn more about our contest and see our caption writing guidelines, please click here.

Submissions must reach us by NOON, Wednesday, Dec. 7.

Enter as many times as you wish.  To submit your caption on-line, just click here to e-mail us. (Or address your e-mail to caption@charlotteobserver.com) 

Please include your mailing address and daytime phone number.

  To mail your caption to the Observer, address it to You Write the Caption, Editorial Department, The Charlotte Observer, P.O. Box 30308, Charlotte, NC 28230-0308.

Dec. 2: This week's winner

The winner:

"Almost no body supports us."

-- Douglas Cox of Albemarle

The runners-up:

“Your simplistic approach is the problem!”

-- David W. White, Charlotte

"The voters say they want the adult versions."

-- Phil Chubb, Charlotte

“It would appear we have become more like sick figures.”

-- L. Baxter Hahn, III, Florence, S.C.

"You know, there is no substance to you at all."

-- Phil Clutts, Harrisburg

"We're both wearing thin!"

-- Suzanne Estro, Charlotte

Thanks for your many entries.  Here's a selection of some of the other better lines we received:

"Stick with the plan and figure it out!"

"Your remarks are out of line."

"I told you we weren't smarter than a fifth-grader."

"Quick! Draw us some money!"

"Trim the fat! Trim the fat! Are you happy now?"

'"I told you those budget cuts would make us both look ridiculous."

“See what happens when you act childish!”

"Your childish campaigning is making both of us look silly."

“The lines have been drawn!”

"So far, this race has been a draw."

"Quit sticking it to the voters."

"We don't have much to show for ourselves, except our big heads."

"After you said fourth graders should replace school janitors, it was just a matter of time until they took over editorial cartoons!"

First Superman comic sells for $2.16 million

"Quick, Robin!  To the Batcave! To dig through our old boxes of comic books!"

From the Associated Press:

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — A rare and pristine copy of the first issue of Action Comics, famed for the first appearance of Superman, has set a record Wednesday for the most money paid for a single comic book: $2.16 million.

The issue, graded at 9.0, was auctioned starting Nov. 11 online at www.comicconnect.com . The starting bid was just $1 but there was a reserve price of $900,000. Neither the name of the buyer nor seller was disclosed.

It's the first time a comic book has broken the $2 million barrier. The issue was published in 1938 and cost just 10 cents. . . .

The previous record set in March 2010 was followed by the sale of another copy for $1 million. But neither of those issues was in as good a condition as the issue that sold Wednesday, though it's pedigree of setting records was already documented. Twice before it set the record for the most expensive book ever, selling for $86,000 in 1992 and $150,000 in 1997.

But in 2000, it was stolen and thought lost until it was recovered in a storage shed in California in April this year.

About 100 copies of Action Comics No. 1 are believed to be in existence, and only a handful of those in good condition.

After it was stolen, Fishler said, collectors figured it would never be found or, worse, would be destroyed.

"Clearly, I was wrong. Not in my wildest imagination could I have predicted that this legendary, stolen Action Comics No. 1 would be found, graded at 9.0 and break the record a year and a half later," he said.

 

Update: Just how does a comic book get graded? The Certified Guaranty Company explains their process here.