475: Further Boomerang Difficulties

2017-10-25T00:14:00Z

Matts2: /* Explanation */ Do we know that death is certain?

{{comic
| number = 475
| date = September 12, 2008
| title = Further Boomerang Difficulties
| image = further_boomerang_difficulties.png
| titletext = An eternity later, the universe having turned out to have positive curvature and lots of mass, the boomerang hits him in the back of the head.
}}

==Explanation==
This comic is a sequel of sorts to [[445: I Am Not Good with Boomerangs]], as it deals with the same subject manner with the same panel layout.

The first strip shows [[Cueball]] throwing a boomerang, which doesn't come back. In [[939: Arrow]], a boomerang returns to Cueball, which can either be the same Cueball from this comic or another person.

In the second strip he throws another boomerang, which somehow manage to hurt the {{w|ozone layer}} (as indicated by an off-screen voice). This is of course not possible with a boomerang,{{Citation needed}} as it is a layer of ozone molecules very high up in the atmosphere.

The third strip shows Cueball throwing something that ''appears'' to be a boomerang, but then [[Megan]] enters and reveals that it was their last banana - which she probably had expected to eat since she calls him an asshole.

The final strip shows Cueball throwing one last boomerang, which breaks the frame of the comic, already after two out of the four frames used in each of the first three strips. Then panning down we find the last panel, much larger and suddenly mainly black instead of white. It shows that this time he was actually inside a spacecraft (which resembles an {{w|Apollo Lunar Module}} in a very bad manner), and the boomerang has just broken out through the hull. We see the boomerang and Cueball tumbling out into space with the escaping air. To certain death{{Citation needed}}...

The title text notes that, assuming a theory, that is {{w|Accelerating universe|no longer generally accepted}}, where the universe has a positive (closed) {{w|curvature}} and lots of mass, the boomerang would, after a (very) long time hit Cueball in the back of his head. This would happen because under those conditions the entire universe would eventually fall back on itself in the {{w|Big Crunch}}. Before this happens, everything would again get pressed close together, and it is during this process that the boomerang would finally returns to his frozen (but quite possibly preserved) head. (So at least one "success" in four attempts.)

Boomerangs also became a main theme in the interactive comic [[1350: Lorenz]]. The same format of multiple bad endings to the same starting set-up is used in [[1515: Basketball Earth]].

==Transcript==
:[Cueball is throwing boomerang.]
:[Holding his hands up.]
:[Cueball waits for return; continual waiting.]
:[Cueball is dejected, head hangs low.]

:[Cueball throws boomerang.]
:[Cueball waits for boomerang.]
:Outside: Oh God
:Outside: The ozone layer!
:[Cueball is surprised.]

:[Cueball throws boomerang banana.]
:[Cueball waits.]
:[Megan walks in.]
:Megan: That was our last banana.
:Megan: You're such an asshole.
:[Cueball throws boomerang.]
:[Boomerang breaks out of the panel box.]

:[Boomerang breaks out of a spacecraft, followed by Cueball.]

==Trivia==
*Part of this comic and [[939: Arrow]] is the picture for the [http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/BrickJoke Brick Joke] page on TV Tropes.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Boomerangs]]
[[Category:Physics]]

616: Lease

2016-06-13T08:44:17Z

Matts2: /* Explanation */ Comic books were not for kids originally. At the time of Detective 27 it was aimed at teens and adults.

{{comic
| number = 616
| date = July 29, 2009
| title = Lease
| image = lease.png
| titletext = You should talk to the girl down the hall; I think you'd like her. Lemme know if you find out why she's ordering all those colored plastic balls.
}}

==Explanation==
[[Cueball]] is about to sign a lease to rent a building, but he's scared that he's not grown-up enough for the responsibility, presenting as evidence that he still plays with {{w|Lego}} building blocks.

In reality, as children, we often think that when we're adults, we'll somehow definitively feel like adults, but this isn't the case. We may become more responsible and capable over time, but we'll never attain the infallibility we erroneously associated with adults when ''we'' were children.

Of course, Cueball actually ''isn't'' responsible and capable, since he drifts off to think about the fictional character {{w|Batman}} (who appears in comic books, often considered children's material, in the middle of a serious financial transaction.

The title text references one of xkcd's most famous comics, [[150: Grownups]], where [[Megan]] decides to use the freedom of adulthood to fill her apartment with playpen balls.

==Transcript==
:[A man is holding a sheet of paper.]
:Man: Okay, any other concerns before you sign the lease?

:Cueball: I'm concerned that we're sitting here like I'm a responsible adult. I'm pretty sure I stopped growing up in my teens and have been faking ever since.

:Cueball: For god's sake, you're entrusting me with a ''building''. I still make LEGO buildings sometimes.

:Man: Sir, does any of this impact your fulfillment of the lease terms?
:Cueball: I don't know what you just said because I was thinking about Batman.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Playpen balls]]

explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

475: Further Boomerang Difficulties

616: Lease