A number of readers expressed bewilderment about the cartoon entitled “The Royal Lizard”. It has been suggested to me that one should “never explain” and normally I never do unless I think it will be funny. However I am also happy to entertain the occasional conversation about why things end up this way or that.
The Royal Lizard was developed a number of years ago and has had to wait until now to be fully developed into someone usable. This particular cartoon is primarily a joke about Twitter (although it didn’t start out that way), there are however a number of humorous moments not related to Twitter and I will explain these further.
It works this way – The King of the Frogs summons a servant, (the Royal Lizard) to take a message to the Dragon King. The Royal Lizard must make a long journey. The message delivered to the Dragon King states that King of the Frogs is now following the Dragon King on Twitter. The King of the Dragons then sends the Royal Lizard back home. The Dragon King then summons his Royal Crocodile, and (we assume) sends a message to the King of the Frogs that he too (The Dragon King) is now following him (the King of the Frogs) on Twitter.
I should also point out there are a couple of structural issues with the cartoon. The message in frame 14 could have been larger. Also, I could possibly have been more specific about the fact that the Crocodiles in the final frame were the employees of the Dragon King (although I was of the view that it was obvious enough). I was also unhappy with the dark colour I selected for the background in the Dragon King’s castle, however deadline meant that I was stuck with it.
Most of the people who use Twitter and who read this cartoon “got” it however for those who did not, and those who do not use Twitter – I am happy to point out some of the things which are actually funny.
This Cartoon is funny because:
1. The King of the Frogs has a servant who is a lizard and is referred to as the Royal Lizard and that is simply funny. It is also funny because it implies that there might be other funny animal servants e.g. Royal Bandicoot, Royal Hummingbird etc.
2. The horses that they ride are fat and look funny running. This is funny.
3. The lizard is scared when they arrive and the knights stay outside, this is an amusing tableau.
4. The King of the Dragons is scary, and the lizard is frightened. This is drawn in a comical manner that gave me considerable pleasure. Sometimes I make the face of the creature I am drawing with my own face while drawing it. This is always funny (but not visible in the cartoon).
5. The message on the parchment that is delivered is funny because it is about Twitter, which is something that happens on computers and it is transposed into a medieval environment populated by animals. Comedy gold! The idea that you would have to make a long journey to deliver a parchment, which is in fact an email about Twitter, is funny, and best of all it is not even an actual tweet! ROFLMAO! It is also in a ye olde sort of script, which is not necessarily funny but is a nice touch.
6. The Dragon King and King of the Frogs both have funny Twitter names.
7. The moment where the Dragon and the Royal Lizard look at each other after reading the message is funny partly because of the inherent tension and partly because it is so endearingly drawn.
8. The Royal Lizard is then sent all the way back, taking the previous journey in reverse, which is not hilarious but, within the context of the cartoon is a nice progression. It also sets up the tag.
9. The Dragon King then summons his Royal Crocodile (note the room is reversed and the bell is on the other side – so it is not the original castle – Frog on the left, Dragon on the right) and this is funny. A Royal Crocodile! LOL What is implied here is that the Dragon King is about to “follow back” the King of the Frogs in the Twitter sense, and use his Royal Crocodile to deliver the message (an email again). This is clearly hilarious!
10. Best of all, he didn’t even send the message with the King of the Frog’s Royal Lizard, his own Royal Crocodile will make exactly the same journey! Ahahahahah – you are kidding. This is off the chart!
11. @kingofthefrogs is a real twitter address and this is funny.
This is further explained below in the annotated version of the cartoon:
There is probably a bunch of other stuff (the knight’s pennant, the hunchback) but that will do for now. I hope this clears it all up for you. Please let me know if any of my other cartoons have caused you any concern and I will arrange to have your Crikey subscription cancelled. No refunds.
10 Comments
Hell! You are in a shitty mood. I was with you all the way-together with some embellishments of my own. But the final frame threw me as surely as if one of the fat horses had thrown me. I loved the lizard’s little pony. The Royal chamberlain being a lizard and TKOTF I found amusing, but not startling. If one is going to look at your cartoons you accept without question the Status Quo. Also, anyone who has read Wind in the Willows and the books about King Arthur, and Merlin the Wiz, see nothing odd about a cast of animals inhabiting roles written for humans. Ho hum, it’s the same but different. The grovelling of the royal lizard/gofer/gopher- suggested but not stated. Made him-for me-the funniest character of all. I wouldn’t have thought it was possible to depict grovelling without words but you did it. The bits about twittering in the court of King Arthur seems quite normal behaviour. Can I help it if I accept this sort of thing quite easily, and have done since I was four years old.
Having a very literal mind-I can’t help the way I was born-I was puzzled by the final frame. Why were the two royal gophers dressed the same as each other. Were they brothers/twins?
So here you have made points about subject matter which I’ve always taken for granted
Now I feel shitty. So there!
As the owner of First dog T Towels the Julia Gillard hot chicks T shirt and the first dog calendar and have a cat who I claim says christ on a cruskit when her dinner is delayed may I say: I still don’t get it…..But the sad thing is I still laughed at it.
What is wrong with you people? This was simple to follow – and I don’t even use twitter!
As much as I loved your explanation FD, I agree that you should never explain your art. Unless I don’t understand it at all.
“This is off the chart!” LOL!
The Frog king’s throne room and the royal lizard’s room are both in the same light grey colour scheme. The Dragon Lord’s throne room and the corridor are both in the same dark grey. And the royal crocodile’s room? Light grey. I agree, it’s not the same room as the royal lizard’s room, but I think you’ll understand why I didn’t get the last frame.
> “Please let me know if any of my other cartoons have caused you any concern and I will arrange to have your Crikey subscription cancelled.”
:-)
Hi there FDOTM person! I just adore the ‘raisin-in-the-porridge’ status you have in my life. A sweet bon mot to savor and enjoy everyday, indeed. As for the Lizard ‘toon, I also saw frames 6 to 8 as being indicative of a twitter told story. As if the story is told in the manner of a twit itself – “Am now ridding my horse, getting saddle sore…’ etc. This aspect of the ‘toon to me was another level to make it self reflective and added to its humor. Yes, some of the frames needed to be considered carefully to decode their inference, but this only made it more enjoyable. A search for the full meaning and relevance reveals the depth of the humor and the subtlety of the piece. Well done.
You should have stopped at “never explain”. Apart from being pointless – humour deficit/bypasses are incurable – it doesn’t elevate. Like knowing how sausages & laws are made.
Just seeing if I can post here or whether I need to send a horseman.
Very very nice cartoon. I am noticing accross the chaotic systems that I incarnate and inhabit a tendency towards monarchist social structures. You know people holding court.
What’s twitter?
You are perhaps the funniest bastard in Australia. Except I think for David Flint. But he doesn’t know he’s funny so that might knock him off.