Mooning the Comics

I'm always interested in how different cartoonists deliver the same concept. In this case, the gags turn on the reinterpretation of an image. Is that crescent shape depicting the moon, or is it outlining a mouth?

The first example comes from Jim Davis' Garfield Sunday sequence of 7/23/17.

The second is much older. It's from Mark Tatulli's Lio, 11/15/16.

Of the two, I think I prefer Tatulli's take. First, it's shorter. I feel that Davis is almost mansplaining the joke. Do we really need all that setup? How about this:

Plus, I like Tatulli's tone better. Lio gets the raspberry from the moon behind his back. The joke turns on the transformation from moon to mouth to moon again, with Lio at the receiving end of the moon's derision.

Odie not only gets the moon to smile back, but he turns and mugs to the reader. Look! We changed your point of reference! Just like we carefully explained we were going to do! Ta-da!

Two different treatments for two different audiences.

Barney & Clyde -- and Garfield

The sequence in Barney & Clyde published 1/3/14 had a rather clever reference to another comic strip. And I wonder -- was it a one-sided reference on the part of the creative team -- Gene & Dan Weingarten and David Clark -- or was Jim Davis also involved? Here's the sequence in question:
(click on images to enlarge)

Folks who are avid comics readers know that the full name of Garfield's owner is Jon Arbuckle. His girlfriend, veterinarian Liz doesn't appear in every sequence, but she did in Garfield's 1/3/14 sequence. And Garfield comes between them, making the Barney & Clyde sequence appear to provide commentary on the action!

Coincidence? Perhaps. But it did make reading Garfield a little more enjoyable (at least that day). Thanks, B&C!