796: Bad Ex

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Bad Ex

Title text: Since the goatee, glasses, and Seltzer & Friedberg DVD collection didn't tip you off, there will be a $20 negligence charge for this service.

Explanation

This comic is fairly self-explanatory — in the first three panels of the comic Cueball relays to another his ideas for an online service that tracks devious or deceptive ex-partners, White Hat comments on the feasibility of this scheme comparing it to existing efforts to track sex offenders, and in the last panel an imaginary scenario involving the scheme is depicted.

The "State of California" dialog is a reference to California Proposition 65 which requires specific products to state: "This product contains chemicals known to the State of California to cause cancer and birth defects or other reproductive harm." California is also known to be one of the states where liberal experimentation would occur.

The title text name-drops the infamous filmmaker duo Jason Friedberg and Aaron Seltzer, known for making shallow parody movies.

Transcript

[Cueball and White Hat are walking.]

Cueball: It just blows my mind. She seemed so genuine. I had no idea she was such a serial liar.

Cueball: I just wish I had our six months back.

[The view focuses on Cueball.]

Cueball: Her exes say the same thing happened to them.

Cueball: Maybe what we need is a terrible-ex tracking and notification service.

[Cueball turns, thoughtfully.]

White Hat: But after all the problems with sex offender registries, who would agree to run it?

Cueball: Maybe one of the state governments more willing to experiment could try it out...

Soon...

[Megan and a person with glasses and a goatee are sitting at a table, on which sit wine glasses and plates. Cueball approaches them carrying a clipboard and a license.]

Cueball: Excuse me, ma'am.

Megan: Yes?

Cueball: This man is known to the state of California to be a total douchebag.

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Discussion

Interestingly, the Abstruse Goose webcomic (which is fairly similar to xkcd) also published a comic regarding a similar idea, called iScreener. --Waldir (talk) 11:41, 16 April 2013 (UTC)

Who's to say the last panel is imaginary? Anonymous 01:21, 5 December 2013 (UTC)

The 1987 spoof movie "Amazon Women on the Moon," had a sketch where Steve Gutenberg tries to date Rosanna Arquette who then uses a service similar to a credit report where his prior dates have posted derogatory information about him -- for example, not calling back after his date had sex with him. Not a bad bit of foresight for a 1980's film! Mountain Hikes (talk) 03:47, 30 December 2015 (UTC)