Blondie (comic strip)/Headscratchers

• Where the hell are Elmo's parents? Are the Bumsteads the only source of adult guidance for the kid, and that's why he's constantly popping by? Do they even know or care where he is when school's out?
  • You can say that about every single media involving kids. Why do the adults not seem to care that the kids are poking about in a huge city or having charming discussions with random strangers? It's just a comic. :)
  • I think it's just Values Dissonance. When the strip started, a child was raised by a neighborhood and, it wasn't odd for someone else to watch your kid randomly for an hour. Back then, your kid left after breakfast, visited for lunch, and came back at dinner.
• How in the world does Mr. Dithers get away with the way he treats his employees? In the real world, a boss who did things like he did (specifically things like kicking Dagwood) would be sued into oblivion.
  • It's mostly for comic relief.
  • My guess is that, back when Dagwood first went to work for Mr. Dithers, treating one's employees that way was socially and legally acceptable (well, apart from the kicking bit, which would've constituted assault even then), so it's simply grandfathered in as a recurring motif. Also, just because employers can no longer dismiss you without warning, or demote you from executive to stock boy or whatever, without risking a lawsuit, doesn't mean that a Bad Boss can't find all sorts of other non-actionable ways to abuse you.
  • Interestingly, I had a relative who had a boss that had an uncanny resemblance to Mr. Dithers's personality, his name even rhymed with "Dithers"
• Why do Dagwood and his son look like identical twins?
  • Cloning, duh. Why do you think that Dagwood has looked the same for 70 years? Whenever "Dagwood" gets old "Alexander" replaces him.
  • They're not identical. The differences are subtle but still there: Dagwood has 3 uncombable hair on both sides of the head and a round nose. Alexander has 2 such hair and a pointy nose.
    • Of course, when the strip was created in the 30's, that was a trendy hairstyle. Why he's still sporting a hairstyle that hasn't been popular since before most of the fans' parents were born is another question entirely, but there you go.
• When did Dagwood's and Blondie's children appeared? Did they grow up, or did they just appeared out of nowhere?
  • Actually, Dagwood and Blondie started as dating teenagers, then got older, got married, had babies which grew with the years until they reached their late teens / early adulthood. The age evolution stopped at that point.
    • Which proves that Blonde was better twenty years or so ago.
• Why does Blondie have such huge breasts when she was conseptualized as a flapper?
  • Suppressed Mammaries. Since she's no longer really a flapper, she doesn't feel like taking the effort to hide 'em.

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