The Argyle Sweater by Scott Hilburn for October 05, 2009

That was in bad taste.

Oy….

sick

Two thumbs down!!!

It’s good to see that so many remember.

Meh, anorexia is a disease caused by vanity so I think this joke is in fine taste. Good stuff!

Very tasteless :(

I usually like this strip, but that crossed the taste barrier. Not funny.

@coreyflowers: wrong on so many counts,

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@all: Agreed; really bad taste this time.

ooooh. Low blow.

I can’t appreciate this joke. The circumstances of her death were tragic, no matter how precisely she died…the point it she is dead. There’s nothing to laugh about here.

Muy bado.

makes me laugh and cry

Humor is best when an element of truth is entered. It may be in bad taste, but you get the joke.

Ochemb xodacho!

She was a singer with (IMHO) a beautiful voice, very popular during the seventies, who died of complications of anorexia nervosa in 1983. With my Slavic ‘laughter through tears’ sense of humor, I think the panel is quite funny.

Homo sum: humani nil a me alienum puto

It’s nice to see that lots of people had the same reaction. This really is tasteless.

Tastefully yours, Tom Fitzmorris

I have to agree, this is a combination of outdated (she died over 25 years ago) and not in very good taste. I had to google her as well, and what I got was a string of disturbing images of a very sick woman.

This might have been funny if she’d beaten anorexia, or at least died of something else. I usually love this comic though, and everybody makes mistakes.

This was great! All you critics need to stick with reading Ziggy or Love Is…

Boy am I old or what? I can’t believe that people had to “Google” Karen Carpenter. Oh well…I have to Google the new recording artists, so I guess it all evens out.

(I do think that if they heard some of the old songs, they would recognize them.)

If she was black how many of you would care?

The ants look like they want to be close to the people. For all of you who are offended, click away, curl up with Marmaduke and Garfield, and guffaw until tears flow.

“The Argyle Sweater’s” creator, Scott Hilburn, has written an apology on his blog.

http://theargylesweater.blogspot.com/

On funny.

I just read Scott’s own words of regret at this cartoon (he also apologized to the Carpenter family). Per some of the comments, does that mean Scott should go read Ziggy or Love Is… instead of The Argyle Sweater?

I recommend Ziggy to all.

How or why would ANYONE think this is funny?

Maybe the cartoonist enjoys pulling wings off of flies, too.

@C-RAM … ROFLMAO! I hate flies. They totally deserve that.

There’s always somebody who has to make something a race issue. Geez!!!!!!

Yeah, bad one, but at least he recognized it. He won’t do it again, I’m sure. Give him a break.

I miss Karen the most at Christmastime.

Good wholesome joke.

So it’s 6 months after the fact. I don’t care, I just discovered this strip and saw this mess. There are problems with this strip, but it has nothing to do with a long passed-on and beloved by many singer. First, Karen Carpenter is simply the most universally known Carpenter the artist could have chosen to make the joke. The focus of the humor is on the fact that these are not regular carpenter ants. The next best option is probably the director, John Carpenter. Given the nature of his movies, however, it’s likely you would not want to be attacked by John Carpenter ants. Second, the implication is that Karen Carpenter ants are harmless, and should not be sprayed. If anything, wouldn’t a Karen Carpenter ant probably make soothing, perhaps romantic sounds to only enhance the picnic experience? Third, Carpenter ants are not going to “attack” picnickers. They live in dead trees and rotting floorboards and are nuisance to unlucky homeowners. Had the artist written, “Those are French Army ants, then we’re just poking fun at the notoriously wimpy French and everyone has a good laugh and gets on with it. Except for maybe a couple of Parisian immigrants who angrily hurl their croissants halfway across the bistro table.

While I found the cartoon to be only mildly amusing, it is certainly not offensive to Karen Carpenter or her family. Perhaps the strong emotional reaction many have had are simply due to the depth of feeling you have for Ms. Carpenter and her music, and you feel any humorous reference to her is in poor taste. Or maybe if the “husband” in the cartoon had simply not yet sprayed, it wouldn’t have been such a big deal because then none of the Karen Carpenter ants would be killed.

I’ll probably never post here again, but for anyone that reads this, I hope it makes sense.