This week's panel suggested by Dan Pollard (with far too many similar variants to also list!)

Special thanks to Erin Lynn whose lesson in leaping below provided a satisfying sound effect!



YOW! AUGUST IS A KILLER!

I'm afraid we need to take off another two weeks, as I'm preparing to make three business trips; two to speak at computer events (see main page), and the other to testify at a trial! I'm even taking a week off of Zot!, though if you haven't read the first six episodes, do check 'em out now. (And don't miss the regularly scheduled I Can't Stop Thinking! #4, debuting on September 1st at The Comic Reader site.)

Since Reinventing Comics came out last month, life has gotten extremely hectic, so please excuse me if I'm even more scatterbrained than usual with updates, responses etc...

As always, suggestions are listed in the order they were received -- and boy, were there a lot of them this week!! Thanks for playing and please join us again Sunday September 3rd!

--Scott
Sunday 08/13/2000



NOTE: SEVERAL MYSTERIOUSLY MISSING POSTS FROM THE FEW MONTHS SUDDENLY TURNED UP IN MY MAILBOX LAST WEEK! GO HERE TO SEE IF YOURS IS AMONG THEM.



Zac Dozier

    I went and got Reinventing Comics today, I enjoyed it. Now I can't stop thinking!

  • I say put in the ending panel it seems to be the theme in this section and is an very coehesive panel leading to the next one. But... I think it would be cool if this time the black and white are reversed for this panel. Why, you ask? Because I think it would be a neat way to start out the story below it. I would just like to see what people do with the next set. ;) wink


Kevin Pease

  • Zoom out to a comic reader looking at a screen. He or she thinks, "That can't possibly be how it ends." The lower right corner of the panel contains bubbles leading towards the lower thought balloon in the next panel, connecting all of the thoughts to the reader character.


will ko

    hi scott, interestingly enough, last week there was a submission by somebody who could very well be an old friend of mine who i haven't spoken to in a while. so if i may derail the purpose of this foray for a moment:
    Hey, if drew melbourne is andrew melbourne, then i say, "pickle," and email me (at my school address)!
    ahem, sorry. we now return to the choose your own carl suggestion network.

  • carl is pictured with many cartoonish but aggregiously harmful wounds. he looks up at his mother and says, "is this god's way of telling me that i shouldn't drink anymore?"
  • carl is pictured perfectly fine, but everything surrounding him is in shambles, and he says, "whew! am i lucky or what? and mom always said alcohol slows your reflexes! wait... is that ibex stampede turning around for a second pass!?!"
  • the coffin with r.i.p. on it reappears once again with the balloon saying, "this gag isn't funny anymore, is it?"
  • we see carl after some time has passed, and he's not looking too good... he's kind of zombie-ish. he slurs: "is this the end for undead carl?"

    well, there you go.


Ben Rossi

  • Carl appears all trampled, but alive. He is so surprised that he survived the attack that he yells out "I'm alive! This isn't the end!" Meanwhile, his murderous mother approaches with death on her mind!! (In the path leading to the right, he was killed by her. On the other path, he survives somehow, I guess - or turns into a zombie or something).

    Please, pick me!!!


Slurpee_E

    Hello!

  • Carl: "Is this the end of Carl?"


Steve Replogle

    Well, it's too bad I can't think of a way to fit in Sigmund Freud this week -- if any story cries out for his inclusion, it's this one. I noticed that you didn't draw the stampeding ibex too clearly, so I guess that gives us a few metaphysical options ("Did you say ibex? Or iMacs?")

  • Zookeeper: (smiling for the camera as he stands in front of the continuing stampede) Isn't Nature ironic, folks?
  • Carl's voice: (coming from within stampede) Maybe we can crawl to safety! Mom's voice: (coming from within stampede) No, son! This is it!
  • Carl: Phew! Luckily, these are Miniature Ibex! (pull back to show little teeny tiny ibex stampeding over his shoes) Mom: (coming closer, stake still raised) This is still the end for you, sonny!
  • Stampeding ibex charge over a cliff like lemmings -- Carl, now riding one, says: Yee-HAH! Er -- is this cliff very high?
  • Medics arrive, stand over mangled Carl, one says: Looks pretty bad... Other one says: Is it fatal?
  • Carl: (still under stampeding hooves, but with grim determination) Must -- crawl -- to -- safety! This isn't over yet!
  • Mom: That's not all! Here come stampeding elephants! Carl: This can't be real!
  • Carl: (grinning as he rides an ibex upside-down, from below) This looks impossible, but it isn't!
  • Carl: (bandaged from head to toe in a hospital bed, Daisy crying quietly, Doctor with clipboard) Tell me, doc, is it as bad as it looks?
  • Carl: (mangled) Mom... how'd you survive? Mom: (standing untouched by stampede) Just lucky, son! Life is full of surprises that way!


Mike Sugarbaker

  • Closeup of Carl's face. Carl: "Wait a second! This comic isn't supposed to be _completely_ random!!"


Rusty Priske

  • Carl standing resolutely like a trumphant hero: No! This isn't the end of me!


Michael Patrick

  • Carl is standing battered and bloody after the ibex stampede. CARL: I'm hurt! But I don't think it's fatal!

    Not that anyone cares (but in case someone does) I've submitted a comic to the SPX 2000 convention book and it's been accepted. Yippee!! I think my work will be nestled between Rick Veitch and John Porcellino. I'm ecstatic, because this is the most professional publication I've ever aquired.


jesse rimler

  • I think its interesting that pretty much every carl panel has had a word baloon... how about a simple hand sticking out of a pile of rubble for this panel? it would be a strange departure for the flow of this comic.

    scott, is there anything you can tell us about infinite carl? we're all very intrigued.


[As I envision it, Infinite Carl would be very large, take very little time to read and be supremely forgettable. --Scott]

Marcus Fischer

    its hard to reason in a talking tombstone

  • It turns out that carl has the abilty to turn into a tombstone and either gets stuck as one or sruvives
  • one of the ibex people say carl join us and carl says : okay I guess I will...
  • through sheer luck the stake in mom's hands falls to the ground gets kicked bounces against a tree and skewers all the bad guys and is about to hit carl meanwhile the stake is about to hit carl in the back and he thinks he'll survive.( you could fit all that if you really tried)
  • the doppleganger carl looks on and says "I glad that wasn't me I'll get to survive after all" while some potential mode of death finds him
  • carl says "I'm really a superhero" right before he gets crushed
  • the ibex people yell "surprise!" and his mom and dad have a cake. carl says "wow today is my lucky day"
  • carl says "I think I can outrun them"
  • carl thinks outloud "I wonder if daisy will be at my funeral?"
  • an enlightened feeling over takes carl and the questions the meaning of life and death in general and if it is plausible to live indefinately with the sudden aquirement of this knowledge.
  • carl throws a simple bomb into teh chaos ( black circle, little rectangle, swirly line) and says "I'll be the only one who survives"

    what's an ibex?


[They stampede, I'm told... in herds. See Doug Waldron's post below for a nifty picture. --Scott]


Morgan Doninger

    Oh, I get it, Mia gives you a little flattery, and boom stampeding Ibex. OK, sure...

  • Carl standing but badly bruised. Thought balloon: "I made it. I'm alive!", but behind Carl is an emporer penguin brandishing a katana.

    I continue my half hearted attempt to keep my promise to my girlfriend to try and work a penguin into the Carl strip. I figure this is my best shot.


Morgan Doninger (again)

    Oh poo. That doesn't match up the dialogue.

  • Same as before, but thought balloon: "I'm alive? I thought it was my destiny to die."

    Darl blang it continuity.


Brian Lewin

  • non-graphic close-up of Carl being trampled by the herd of wild ibex, thinking, "This CAN'T be the end!!"


Lee K. Seitz

  • Tombstone panel: "This can't be happening!"

    Too obvious? BTW, what happened to the small table that allowed quick navigation between sections of CYOC?


[I, uh... forgot it. --Scott]


Tad Ramspott

  • Carl: "Still, it could be worse."

    (With some nebulous threat in the panel behind him. Perhaps the last of the stampeding ibices, or Thor, or 12,463 words, or a nuclear bomb.)


adam ford

    hey scott I heard there were moves afoot to try to get you as a satellite guest at the electrofringe festival in newcastle australia later this year. i think that's great. i highly recommend electrofringe. it's your kind of thing.

  • the hindu god hanuman (for reference, hanuman is a monkey-god, with a flaming tail and carrying a giant ornate mace) appears to a smooshed carl. Hanuman: Relent, Carl. Release your spirit to the karmic wheel. Carl: NO! I refuse to believe that this is where it all ends!! carl's mom is somewhere in the background, all smooshed up as well.


Oscar Pumpkin

    Wow! What a paradox of parallel predicament possibilities for Carl to be in. I am perplexed but pleased that the last two years have produced such an exiting piece.

  • On the left-hand side of the panel, Carl, with face down slightly shaken and body front facing the audience, hair a mess and clothes tattered and torn, brushes his pants while in a knelt position, getting up. "I guess it was Mom's time." Carl says sadly. On the right side of the panel a rumbling silhouette of the herd of Ibex (maybe we can even see the lead Ibex because I have never seen one) coming back the other way toward Carl, with back turned away, seemingly oblivious inquires weakly, "uh.. why is that rumbling getting loud again?"

    Thank you for this opportunity to be a part of such an exciting element of this new comic media.


[A Pure Perpetual Pleasure, Mr. Pumpkin. --Scott]


Thomas Vorwerk

    ok, this one´s an obvious choice and i just rushed through the door and haven´t got the whole view. but i´ll take a shot at it, anyway. i just hope, i´m not repeting something i was too lazy to look up.

  • we see the face of carl, who is lying on the ground, trampled to a bloody pulp, maybe some hooves (or whatever it is, ibexes have)to be seen. he says: "this can´t be the end..."

    and it´s really easy to find follow-ups to this.


Benjamin Grooters

  • Carl lies trampled and broken on the floor, says "I'll be OK, this isn't so bad."


Doug Waldron

  • (First the obvious) Carl: "NO! This can't be the end!"
  • Carl: "But it's not ibex-trampling season yet, is it?"
  • Mom: "That's not an ibex stomping on your spleen, Carl; that's a wildebeest."
  • Carl: "But I'm a cartoon character - it's not possible for a cartoon character to die!"
  • Mom: "And I just ate an ibex steak for dinner. Isn't that ironic? Here I was, all set to kill you with a STAKE, and I end up getting killed with what I ate earlier in the form of a STEAK! I ask you, Carl, is that irony or what?" Carl: "Actually, though it is amusingly coincidental, it is not technically ironic." Mom (brandishing the stake): "I SAID, isn't that IRONIC?!?"
  • Ibex: "Nothing personal, you understand. Stampeding is just what we ibexes do."

    I hope you will forgive me for sending pictures by e-mail unsolicited, but I thought you would appreciate these.

    The first picture is a view of the roof of a restaurant called Piggy's & Harry's in Hendersonville, NC. The second picture was taken at the Cincinnati Zoo.  Both fine establishments.


Glen Seymour

    Okay, this may be a dream, a fantasy comic sequence or a simple story about the dangers of drinking and driving. From here the story ends with an annoying sentence, or continues quite a bit so...

  • Announcer's voice over, "Can our hero be saved from his latest dangerous danger? Is this the end?"
  • Carl2 (from panel 1) appears standing over the trampled Carl. "If Carl prime is dead, I must be dead to! This can't be true! "
  • Carl lays still next to open grave. "I'm not in heaven, I'm just laying here. Is this what happens when you die?"

    If you do create the Choose Your Own Carl 2: The sequal, You might want to allow us to suggest the position of the next box, instead of pre-determining the path before we start. Just an idea to make it more complicated.


[Any other suggestions for making it more complicated are welcome. --Scott]


Holly Yesthesisterinlaw

    What is an Ibex?

  • Carl, looking frazzled but intact, on the floor asks Mom, "What is an Ibex?" Mom looking serene, says,"It's a big goat. It can be found in Asia Minor." In the distance we see a giant Barney like figure wielding a giant thesaurus, singing, "I love Ewe..." The TeleTubbies are close behind with toast in their hands.

    What is an Ibex really? Happy Birthday W!!!!!!


[Hi, Holly! Winter says thanks! --Scott]


WonderTeddy

  • Mom: "Don't you know Ibex love the smell of alcohol?"
  • Carl: "Mom I swear I'll never drink again."
  • Carl: Thought Bubble "Sometimes I think I'm the focus of some dark conspiracy."
  • Carl: "How many ways can one man die?!"

    Cut me some slack I'm new at this :)


Patrick A Reid

    Here we go again.

  • Amidst the chaos, Carl emits one last desparate cry - IS THIS HOW IT ENDS!!?
  • Carl looks to the right - his left - and says - (wait for it) - Hey, is that a gravestone in the next panel? (HA HA!!)
  • Perhaps the stampeding ibex stampede all the way to the secret ibex graveyard. Er, um.
  • What the heck is an ibex anyway?
  • Dad says - Of course I've heard of stampeding ibex! (HA HA HA HAAA!!)
  • Carl says - I wonder if it's impossible for me to ride upon the back of an ibex to safety?
  • Or indeed - I wonder if it's impossible for me to get out of this one? (A minor change.)
  • Dad says - It's nice to die with your family, isn't it Carl? (Or something.)
  • Maybe you could have just a big fork. Just a fork. Like that bit in Understanding Comics. You know - what are they called? Non-sequinned. A non-sequinned transition. Birth, life, ibex, fork, death. See?
  • Or alternately, you could do something completely different. I hope I have sparked thine imagination, anyhow. Cheers!

    How - in any case - is 'Oh no stampeding ibex' any different from 'Oh no I've burst into flame'!? Not that it bothers me - I mean, I thought it was funny. Stampeding ibex = funny. But forks are too, surely.


Markus Gerwinski

  • The obvious one first: Carl, crawling out of the hole he was "trampled in" by the ibex, says: "Well, there isn't anything worse to happen now, huh?" From above, an anvil is falling, headed for his head.
  • Carl and Mom are lying down, speckled with ibex hoofprints. Carl: "Mom, is it really that important to kill me?" (Mom still has the stake.)
  • Carl gets up in the middle between two ibex who're going to struggle each other. Carl: "Isn't now ibex pairing season?"
  • Carl, "riding" an ibex: "Isn't that a cliff, straight ahead there?"


David Hayward

  • Thought bubble: "Hey! Ibices are ungulates only found in Eurasia and North Africa! This can't actually be happening!"


Jake Young

    Cool book, the second one I mean.

  • two tombstones one says "RIP Mom" the other says "RIP Carl". Mom tombstone asks carl,"I hope you know this is all Your fault!
    ------------------or------------------
    she asks "is it smelly down here or is it just me?"

    I have tried to do a 24 hour comic several times but whenever I try and draw my ideas onto the panels they never look nearly as good as my brainstorming doodles, I also have terrible handwriting (so much so that it seriously detracts from the quality of the stories and it is very frustrating, do you have any ideas on how to help?


[Try a 48 hour comic! --Scott]


Dan Pollard

    Well this has got to be blindingly obvious.

  • CARL sits up, CARL: Man, that hurt! But it wasn't enough to kill me!

    Had to leave out any Ibex references to tie it in with the thread from above, hmmm.


Sean Westbrook

    Tricky, that, to set up a question with minimal space for a word balloon.

  • "The surgeon general cautions against being trampled" - Mom. "That can't be true" - Carl. Pic: Trampled mom & carl; the tail end of the stampede at left.
  • "No! My cemetery plot isn't available until next year!" Pic: Trembling, broken fingers.
  • "Something's always troubled me. Is the Pepsi challenge rigged?" Pic: rising Carl ghost asking th' Reaper.
  • Bloody hand on cel phone. "Call 911! There isn't much time!"
  • "The mighty ibex isn't drawn to Old Spice!"
  • "Lucky for us, the ibex isn't carnivorous." Trampled Carl & mom. Ibex turns to look at them.
  • Carl's head sideways, crying. Ibex hoof on head. "This isn't fair!"
  • "Is this gold cross so important to the ibex?!?" Top view of Ibex in circle surrounding mom & Carl with red eyes.
  • "It can't be possible for a vampire to get to me through this herd" Pic: Top half of Carl emerging, crawling away from stampede.
  • Thought balloon:"What if this is just my mind's way of pretending I wasn't stabbed through the heart by my mother?" Pic: pensive Carl.

    Though quality varies from the horrific to the passable, I was driven to fill out all the sugestion boxes. Thanks for bearing with me.


Matthew T Mella

    I'll buy the book when the overdraft's paid off...

  • Carl, lion looming in distance - "You don't suppose that herd's running from some kinda viscious predator?"
  • Blackness... carl's voice can be heard. box text - LATER... Carl - "Is the US medical profession incompetent enough to bury a man alive?"
  • Carl, dazed and badly injured - "is it too late to pay my insurance?"
  • Box of PURE TEXT! In the style of silent movie captions (white on black): Surely THIS can't be the end for Carl and his folks?
  • Carl, laid on floor looking upwards - "Say, is that what a razor-sharp spike of blue ice looks like?"
  • Carl, again laid bleeding and injured on his folk's drive - "Say, is drinking alcohol a bad idea when in a state of extreme shock?"


PJM

    Hmmmmm, surely Mom with stake shouldn't be in this line... ah well, you're the boss Scotty.

  • CARL: "Ha! That's not very realistic!"
  • Carl is in his grave... "Hang on, this isn't a real grave is it?"
  • Carl rides one of the Ibexes... MOM: "Hey Carl don't drink and ride an ibex!" CARL: "Heaven's sake mom, this isn't dangerous!"
  • Carl running from Ibex... CARL: "Dammit! Looks like yet another merciless slaughter of my good self..."


Nate Blair

  • Carl is shown in a lecture hall listening to a crusty old professor lecturing on Ibex: "What exactly IS an ibex?"; perhaps we see some anatomy drawn on the chalkboard. Carl (sleepy and bored) thinks to himself "It's not possible to DIE of BOREDOM, is it?"


Jimmy Fusil

    A good time for Carl to contemplate certain universal questions:

  • Carl, now a bloody, gushing and gory mess: This can't be the ending, it's lame.
  • Carl: An ibex stampede isn't deadly, is it?
  • Carl, a broken heap on an operation table, to the surgeon: This probably isn't complex surgery?
  • Carl: The ibex isn't native to North America...
  • Carl: Is this my blood splattered all over the place?
  • Carl: Is this how my short yet eventful life is to end?
  • Narrator: Could this be the end for our hero?!
  • Carl, his fractured skull leaking precious crebral fluids: This can't be as bad as being hit by a truck.
  • Carl (same as above): This isn't a life threatening injury, is it doc?
  • Is life nothing more but a series of random events?

    Scott, how was the Comic-Con? I saw in the program that you were in a panel with Katchor. Is he a cool guy? What do you think of his comics?


[Katchor is indeed a cool guy, as were Kyle Baker and Lewis Trondheim and Gahan Wilson! Despite the great line-up, that was a Sunday panel and not quite as well attended as the other three, which were all packed and very lively. Especially Friday's Spotlight and Thursday's excellent Online Comics panel. The interest in WebComics seems to literally double every year at San Diego. Can't wait to see how this scene evolves. --Scott]


Carolyn Dimmitt

  • As Carl stands there, bruised but not dead, looking down at his mother who had fallen onto the stake in all of the confusion, he thinks, "Isn't the moral of this story supposed to be about the ill-effects of alcohol?" Meanwhile Daisy, also a vampire, is behind him swinging a bottle of wine/whiskey/beer down onto his head. Next cartoon reads, "Oh, I guess it is,"


JOhn Cardoso

  • "This isn't the worst way things could have gone."


Mr. ?

    Illogical suggestions? Well I guess 'Enter: Ibex' is amusing

  • A horde of wild kittens attack the Ibex and carl & co. get caught in the middle. Carl: No, this can't be happening!
  • Enter: 200 ft. tall Daisy (all the Ibex stand, staring up with their eyes bugging) Carl asks: D.. Daisy, is my little infidelity problem still bothering you?
  • They all fall into a black hole. Carl: I wonder if there are other universes on the other side or if this is the only one?
  • The Ibex are actually... VAMPIRE IBEX! Carl: I wonder if this will hurt as much as I think?
  • Carl, trampled: "No Wait! This can't be my last section!"
  • Carl, trampled: "I wonder if this is where I die again?"
  • Enter: Thor. (along with lots of lightning) Thor: You should have summoned me earlier! Carl, trampled,: Is it too late to now?
  • And of course, my obligatory non sequiter caption: Ocelots! Nothin' but ocelots!


Thothmes

  • As the razor-sharp hoof of a rabid bull ibex descends upon our prone hero, he cries out to us: "Can this be the end?!"


the marvelous patric

    just saw your column about making web comics! excellent stuff. that should get me going... although, the coding is the tricky stuff to learn. hope you don't mind, but i copied the source you used for that and the latest zot (which i also rather enjoy).

  • A hoof is plunged through Carl as he says, "Is THIS the untimely end of CARL????"
  • "Ye gods! I just got a paper cut during the stampede, which is causing me to lose a lot of blood..."
  • Carl's heart gives out to the shock of the stampede, killing him.... "My heart..... it's stopping??"
  • "Maybe i'm already dead and this is just my life passing before my eyes!"
  • "Maybe I'm already dead and this is just a flashback!"
  • "Maybe i died back in Section 1, and this is nothing but a post-mortem hallucination!"

    so here's the big question.... when it comes to the coding for the web comic, which i guess i'll be doing on my own, can you reccomend a good book to learn HTML? I had one back in '95... but i think it's a little outdated. I believe it mentioned something about "java" and to avoid using it because most browsers didn't support it that well.


[I've heard the Visual Quick Start series is pretty good, otherwise I think you might actually do best with the various online tutorials like Builder.com. As for myself I haven't bought a book of HTML basics in a while. Any Carl posters want to suggest a book to Patric? --Scott]


The Mystic Mongoose, aka Robert W. Armstrong

  • Carl can be seen just under the ground, in a 'cutaway perspective' view, climbing down of those ladders-leading-down-from-a-manhole-into-the-sewers. Above ground can just barely be seen the Ibex, trampling along their merry way. Carl: "Pshew!! I hope this sewer tunnel isn't a dead end." The ladder can keep going further down in the panels below, of course...


Nat Gertler

    Resubmitting, in case my previous submission was lost.

  • Dictionary Lass (secretly Mary M. Webster) says "an IBEX is a wild goat of Africa, Asia, or Europe. Isn't that right, Carl?"


James "DexX" Dominguez

    ARGH! Trying to do a 24-hour comic, but I just can't find the 48 hours necessary (24 hours for the comic, and another day or so to recover). Frustrating!!! What's worse is that I keep _thinking_ about it... and I know that's naughty. I try... I really try...

  • I am sure there will be millions of these, but... Carl, in close up, lying on the ground, surrounded by pounding hooves, saying "This isn't real!" (It was going to be "This isn't happening" but hey, gotta make more space for hooves.)
  • Carl lies battered and bleeding on the ground, thinking, "Is this the end?"
  • Looking slightly annoyed, Carl says, "Wait up! This isn't an ibex!"
  • From within a cloud of dust, a thought balloon says, "I wonder if this is dangerous."

    Hmmm... trying too hard now. I'll stop.


Travis Pelkie

    So, I return, and not much has changed. That is good.

  • Okay, the only thing I can think of is a big word balloon saying, "This absurdity can't be the end for our hero, Carl, can it?" Segues nicely, I think.

    Hey, how 'bout printing the new Zot! on scrolls when it's done, huh? The juxtaposition of ancient and modern technology would be neato! Plus, I hope there will be a CYOC poster with contributor's names, mostly cuz I'd be on it, and it'd beef up my resume. (Hey, if anyone reads the print Zot! #15 (last Zybox part), find the Magnetic Fields "Nothing Matters When We're Dancing") (Also heard Moxy Fruvous' Spiderman, cool, but Ramones did it cooler, in my opinion)


[Zot on scrolls would be neat. Carl poster would be neat but difficult (copyright-wise) unless it was printed on the user's end. --Scott]


gregg lamse

  • Satan Lee [sort of a cross between Stan & the other guy]: "Is this the end of our intrepid hero?" Ibex-demolished landscape in the background. Maybe a random body part sticking up...


Lukas

    Thank you, Scott, for Zot Online. What a Godsend at this time in my life.

  • Maybe I watch too much simpsons, but how about a closeup on Carl's as he lays on the ground, saying "Is this the end of Carl?" (a la "Is this the end of Zombie Shakespeare?")

    So, anybody have duplicate issues of the "Planet Earth" Zot storyline, since I haven't gotten to read it yet?


terminus

    Help. I've burst into flame? I must have picked the wrong day to quit sniffing gasoline.

  • Carl from section 1 falls out of the sky, with a splat, ontop of the mangled remains of Carl, Mom and Ibex.
  • replay of "Ha I gave her the slip!" from section 5
  • A gyser erupts beneath the whole mess from the previous panel.
  • Pink elephant landing.
  • plot twist: Carl gets up from stampede unhurt.. "Oh MY God! I'm Immortal!"
  • Steam Roller.

    "And that's it.. I'm going back... to the future!"


Chris Shumway

    a herd of stampeding ibex are a tough act to follow...

  • OK, animation time: badly trampled Carl in foreground: "Whew! I'm glad that wasn't the end!". Over his shoulder, his mom rises from the ground, stake in hand and murderous look in eye. I guess you don't really need the animation, but it would be neat.
  • A TV set with a picture of stampeding ibex, and the narrator saying "Tune in next week to find out if this is really the end for our hero..."
  • I want to work the phrase "Same Carl-time, same Carl-channel" into the above...
  • Carl, with fangs: "Ha! Ibex are no match for a vampire! Wait... is that... the sun?"
  • Carl, badly trampled and bleeding, is crawling behind the tombstone: "I'll hide here... I sure hope this wound isn't serious"


Erin Lynn

    This is my first visit to the site, and my first attempt at this nifty thing here. Wheee! Cool!

  • Panel shows ibex leaping up high in the air; Carl says, "It's a good thing they're pronking!"

    Yes, pronking is a real word, I think. You've seen those nature shows where gazelle jump straight up in the air with their backs arched, like they're made of rubber and bouncing? That's called "pronking." I read about it in an animal encyclopedia. Honest. :)


Eric KIbler

  • Action: Carl flips himself atop the herd Dialogue: Carl: Allez oop! Next panel: Carl rides the herd with a "Yee-Haw!"


Matthew Fabb

  • A beat up, trambled Carl looks up into sky and sees a great white light and asks "Is the Meaning Of Life, really 42?"


Grant Schreiber

  • Edgar G Robinson close up: "Mother of Mercy! Is this the end of Carl?"
  • Carl in Beetle Bailey bloody lump: "I guess this is it."
  • Local News Anchor:"Death by Ibex is more common than you think." (And now sports!)
  • Angry Ibex: "This anti-stampedism must end!"
  • Wide-eyed girl:"And it remains a mystery to this very day!"
  • Ruined store, two happy people picking through the wreckage. 1st person: "I'm selling this on eBay!" 2nd:"Is that his penis?"


Catt Jan Roxxanne

  • Carl, on his knees, bleeding, bruised and pummled, holds his dying heart to his chest and shouts towards the sky "Is.. this... the... END...!"
  • A mangled Carl speaks "I wonder if death is as final and forboding as they say it is...?"

    While I have the oppoutunity to feed thousands of my most secret and private thoughts through modern technology, I thought I would take advantage of that freedom here on this website: "Survivor" is dumb. Thank you for allowing me to release this bottled thought of rage. As thanks, I shall buy a copy of Reinventing Comics and tell everyone I see on the street that it is the bees knees. Again, thank you.


Robin Lionheart

    Hm, how to connect
    "Ah!! We're being trampled by a herd of stampeding ibex!" with.
    o O ( Oh... I guess it is. )

  • How about a panel of Carl crying out:
    "This is crazy! Life isn't this arbitrary!"
  • Less funny, but also workable:
    "A herd of ibex? But this isn't northeast Africa!"
  • (holding necklace) "Does this mean my ibex-repelling talisman is a fake?"


Wei-Hwa Huang

  • Carl: "That made absolutely no sense!! It's not like Scott McCloud to insert wild animals into a strip for no good reason!!"
  • 'Ibex'? Shouldn't that be 'ibexes,' or 'ibices,' or something? Is the plural really ibex'?


Drew Melbourne

  • A novel solution: Tombstone. "Later." Thought balloon: "Bert? Isn't this the grave we'd dug for Carl?"
  • Mom and Dad's tombstones. Thought balloons: "This is all HIS fault."
  • And my favorite: "Later." A pig stands over Carl's tombstone. (Go with me here.) He says, "Ife-lay is-pay ange-stray."


Sean Kinlin

    Ibex are really cool! I've seen them in a few zoos, and really love their horns. Not knowing the rigorous definition, though, I went and looked Ibex up on the online Webster's. That's where the description of the horns in my first suggestion comes from."

  • Carl thinks, "Wait! The Ibex isn't the one with large recurved horns transversely ridged, is it?" as he gets trampled.
  • Carl thinks, "Hmm, I think getting trampled by an Ibex isn't ever fatal."
  • Carl escapes being trampled, thinking, "The Ibex isn't a carnivorous animal, is it?" as an Ibex behind him growls and salivates.


Ross Horowitz

  • Carl and Mom are brushing themselves off from stampede. Carl: "Bet that wasn't what you expected to happen..." Mom has murderous look in her eyes

    .


Matt Diggins

  • How bout Carl awakes from a dream sweating. He says "Man, Whenever I drink BUD I always dream of stampeding Ibex! Im just glad it isn't real."


Kean Soo

  • Carl crawls out of the stampeding herd, battered and almost dead. He collapses on railroad tracks... Carl: This isn't the end!!
  • Carl rolls out of the stampede and falls into a open grave. Carl: This can't be my grave!!


Zack 'Vorro' Adgie

    Ibek? of all the things i expected to see, i didnt expect ibek...

  • "That can't POSSIBLY be an ibek meat processing plant!"

    Or something like that.


Wade Bowen

  • A trampled and unbelieving carl: This can't be serious.


Glenn Kenadjian

  • Carl (obviously trampled on): "It's not too much to ask what happened here is it?"


Jason Ramos

  • Show the some running ibex, one is collapsing, antother is saying "Carl? CARL?!!Is this the end???"
  • Closeup of Carl's lips, saying..."Rosebud" caption panel--"is this Carl's final words?"


Martin Hackett

  • It may be traditional cartoon fair, but why not have a crumpled, barely recognizable Carl with one hand in the air, saying, "Medic...?"




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