Caption Contest: Zombie at the Pulpit

Help me come up with another Halloween-themed gag. Give me your best caption to this comic. I'm closing submissions end of day Thursday.

Gurus on a Mountain

I'm beginning to worry I've corrupted you. How else do you explain a FTOYWDKM caption included in this caption contest? The next time I do a caption contest featuring a pulpit, FTOYWDKM captions might be all I get!

Once again, thanks to everyone who participated. Here's a list of my collaborators:

Why don't you... (Sonny)
Meaning of life... (Klinton)

FTOYWDKM... (The Jack of all Carrs)

So you're searching... (The Jack of all Carrs)

I'm retired... (Klinton)

Welcome to the... (The Jack of all Carrs)

Dunno why... (Klinton)

I may know... (Sonny)

Families together... (jena_vdg)

Caption Contest: Gurus on a Mountain

Here in the United States it's Labor Day. So I've got a labor for you: caption this comic! You have until the morning of Friday, September 11.

Moby Dick at the Pulpit

I am so impressed with the responses to last week's caption contest. Clearly my readers are more culturally literate than me (all I know about Moby Dick I learned from watching Star Trek: First Contact). You are also so funny! As I commented to Kevin, my buddy cartoonist, after he ran a similar caption contest, "Isn't it a little discouraging that our readers are better at writing captions than us?" Kevin (being the mensch he is) wasn't at all discouraged but excited to have heard from so many capable gag writers.

Here, then, is the list of the gag writers that contributed to today's comic:

FTOYWDKM I’m not… (The Jack of all Carrs)
Do you know… (Klinton)
Knock, knock… (Eric V)
I'll close with… (Adam)
I'm a little jealous… (Klinton)
I had planned… (Adam)
“Call me Ishmael”… (The Jack of all Carrs)
I stand before you… (Eric V)
“A Big Fish” they say… (The Jack of all Carrs)
Whale, whale, whale… (Klinton)
Those opposed… (Adam)
For my 2 ½ minute talk… (Eric V.)
FTOYWDKM, and especially… (Klinton)
Love your enemies… (Adam)
“Fishers of Men”… (The Jack of all Carrs)
FTOYWDKM, call me Ishmael… (Eric V)
I better wrap up quick… (Sonny)
When the bishop asked… (jena_vdg)
I know I've been telling… (Brett Bates)
When your gospel hobby… (Craig N Kathie Haroldsen)
The Savior said… (Larry Hanson)

Caption Contest: Moby Dick at the Pulpit

Think back to your high school English days and come up with a caption to today's gag. The contest closes the morning of Friday, July 31.

Babel Aeronautics

Thanks to everyone who participated in our latest caption contest (both out loud and in your hearts). Here is a list of my collaborators.

We're actually hoping... (Eric V) 
After the failed test... (Klinton)
I mean, I know... (B.J. Harrison)
I don't think our... (joelvandegraaff)
Whenever we meet... (Brian Crow)
I guess this plan... (jena_vdg)
All we have to do... (Connor Van De Graaff)

Personally, my favorite was was Brian Crow's which definitely had a New Yorker vibe to it, but they were all great!

Caption Contest: Babel Aeronautics

It's time for another caption contest. Share your caption in the comment section.

Galactus

Thanks to everyone who participated in our first ever Ward Cartoonist caption contest. It was so much fun, we are definitely doing it again!

Here's the annotation of all my co-creators:

• Do you have... (greghumphreys1986)
• The power of the... (Klinton)
• Well OK but... (Shawn Lindseth)
• Where do planets... (bigben126)
• Take me to... (Tom Brand)
• Wait...you're saying... (Brett Bates)
• For those of you... (jon.freestone)
• Define large in... (Anonymous)
• Tell me more... (joelvandegraaff)
• Turns out the one... (Janeal Lynn Shippen)
• Wait, does this.../Every superhero.../Gigantor went looking... (jena_vdg)

It was so fun to see submissions from former mission companions, a fellow cartoonist, another fellow cartoonist's padawan, and a couple of my siblings (even if one of them didn't recognize who Galactus is). If I had to pick one, I would have gone with Brett Bates' submission, although jon.freestone's made me literally laugh out loud.

Okay, that's it for the summer movie preview week. Back to the regular schedule Monday.

2026 Summer Movie Preview Week

I've got such a backlog of Superhero* comics that I'm going to be sharing them all week long: Monday-Friday. We'll start with a little mayhem. I need you're help to come up with a caption to today's gag. You can leave your punchline in the comments section or in my email inbox or on Instagram (which I've begrudgingly started posting to again) or send me a letter or a fax or smoke signal or...

I'll post the winning entry Friday, so get me your captions before then.

*The big guy in today's gag is Galactus, the villain in last year's Fantastic Four movie. One look at his outfit and you know that guys was created by Jack Kirby, the incredible artist who might be most responsible for the comic industry today.**

**It's either Kirby or his frequent collaborator Stan Lee.

The Old Guru on Top of the Mountain Gag

Over the years I've done gags featuring some of the oldest cliches in cartooning. Today's comic features another tired cliche that cartoonists reach for when they're not feeling particularly clever.

Like the other cartooning cliches featured on this blog, I'm interested in seeing your take on this. Can you think of a better caption than the one featured? Please leave your captions in the comments section.

Ye Olde Ward Ball

I'm going in the way back machine for today's comic. This was one of the very first gags of mine published in the New Era. I was tickled to no end when that magazine selected it for a caption contest. So tickled, in fact, that I'm doing it again. Please submit your best caption to today's gag.

The Old Guy in the Desert Gag

Along with the deserted island gag and the guy on the psychiatrist's couch gag, the guy in the desert gag makes up the holy trifectia of cliche gags. And like my earlier entries into these long-standing cliches, I'm asking you to come up with a caption for this gag. I'm also looking for your thoughts on additional comic strip cliches I should tackle for future caption contests.

So, to review I need from you, dear reader:

1. A new and improved caption for this gag and
2. Suggestions for future caption contests.
   

Another Cartooning Cliche

Several months ago we had a caption contest on this blog where I asked you to provide suitable captions to one of the most cliche cartoons in all of cartoondom--the deserted island. I had so much fun reading your submissions, that I decided to do another one. Today's cartooning cliche in need of your captions is the guy sitting on the psychiatrist's couch.
Please share your best captions, otherwise, I'll never feel the need to draw the guy crawling through the desert gag.

The Biggest Cliche in Cartooning

Today's gag is a riff on the biggest cliche in cartooning: the deserted island. Anyone who has so much as glanced at the comic section in any newspaper has been exposed to it dozens of times.

The reason it is so popular is because it's so versatile. You can pretty much use it for anything. Shoot, within the LDS cartooning world alone I've seen it a half-dozen times.

So, here's my challenge to you, dear reader: come up with another LDS-specific caption for this strip.

He's Not a Ref, He's a Judge in Israel

There's also the three-hour Blocking foul and a trip to outer darkness after picking up a fifth foul. And...that's all I got.

How about you? Share yours in the comment section.

A Panel in Desperate Need of a Better Caption

Several years ago The New Era purchased a gag I submitted of a ward basketball game where one team was dressed in suits of armor. The caption I supplied had a member of the other team commenting to a teammate that ward basketball is getting too violent.

I liked the joke, but I liked it even more when The New Era published it as a caption contest (mainly because it meant that I got the entire "Extra Smile" page to myself--see page 39). In fact, I liked the idea so much that when I submitted the following comic last year, I secretly hoped they'd do it again.

Alas, they opted not to purchase the following gag. The image is strong, I'm just not too happy with the caption. Perhaps you can help. I look forward to your submissions.

Lime Osmond

This week's comic comes out of a comment I made in my last post regarding the stale nature of Mormon jokes regarding both Jell-o and the Osmond family. By combining the two, you couldn't come up with a more cliche Mormon gag if you tried.

Or could you?

I'm issuing a challenge to my readers to please help me make the above gag the most cliche ridden Mormon cartoon ever produced. For example, you might add the text: "Now you can give it to your Home Teaching family on the last day of the month." or: "I'm going to place it on a doily as part of the centerpiece for my Relief Society lesson."

I eagerly await your responses.