445: I Am Not Good with Boomerangs
| I Am Not Good with Boomerangs |
 Title text: Bonus strip: just read the rightmost panels straight down. |
Explanation[edit]
The strip shows Cueball throwing a boomerang four times, each time finding difficulty in catching it.
The first time, it merely hits him in the head.
The second time, six boomerangs come after him.
The third time, a shark somehow returns to him.
The fourth and final time, his girlfriend Megan floats back to him—then she states: "I'm leaving you."
The title text refers to a bonus strip—if one reads the rightmost panels straight down, one gets a strip that suggests that Megan threw multiple things at him out of anger before breaking up with him. This seems to mirror the plot of the 2006 comedy film My Super Ex-Girlfriend, in which the eponymous character throws multiple things at the protagonist (including a shark) before breaking up with him.
Boomerangs return in a kind of sequel 475: Further Boomerang Difficulties, which might also have yet another sequel in 939: Arrow. Finally, 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.
From xkcd: volume 0:
As the forumites gleefully discovered, you can make all sorts of stories just by rearranging these panels.
Transcript[edit]
- [Cueball throws a boomerang, but it hits him in the head when it returns.]
- [Cueball throws the boomerang again, but this time several boomerangs chase after him.]
- [Cueball throws the boomerang once more, and this time a shark inexplicably appears.]
- [Cueball throws the boomerang a final time, and Megan appears, hovering.]
- Megan: I'm leaving you.
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refresh comments!Discussion
Why a shark and not a velociraptor, Randall? 199.27.128.71 00:34, 11 April 2014 (UTC)
Does anyone else think that the reason why the shark and Megan return is because Cueball caught them with a boomerang? Z (talk) 16:24, 10 May 2014 (UTC)
SAFTEY WARNING- Do not attempt to catch a actual boomerang! They are throwing weapons, and even if it does curve around back towards you, it isn't any less a thrown weapon! Attempting to catch one will probably cause you serious harm. -Pennpenn 108.162.250.162 00:15, 23 June 2015 (UTC)
Randall made two xkcd Slightly Worse submissions based on this comic here and here. 172.69.210.52 20:40, 21 October 2018 (UTC)
