Loophole Abuse/Comics

Comic Books

• In one album of De Rode Ridder ("The Red Knight", a Belgian comic), a villain tricks the hero into swearing an oath not to use his sword against him. The Red Knight, being The Fettered, is honor-bound to keep it, even when the villain eventually attacks. He circumvents it by giving his sword to his female sidekick, who is not bound by the oath and still carries a grudge against the villain for a Kick the Dog moment earlier in the album. The results are... messy.
• Subverted in an issue of Spider-Man, Spidey is riding on top of a car as it drives through New York (with the driver's consent). A cop pulls up next to them.

Spider-Man: Bet you a buck this isn't covered by traffic regulations.
(Next panel, Spidey is holding a citation)
Spider-Man: Huh. It is. Who knew?

• A Desperate Dan comic in The Dandy has him deliver a grand piano to a friend, so he oils the castors, gives it a push and "drives" it down a motorway. On passing a police car, one of the policemen comments that there is nothing in the rulebook about a piano needing an M.O.T.
• In Judge Dredd, the most popular Mayor of Mega City One was Dave the Orangutan—put forward by the Judges in an apparent attempt to discredit democracy since there was no specific rule against it. He was so popular that after he was assassinated the post was abolished for ten years due to the public feeling that no one could replace him.
• Invoked by Scrooge McDuck in Don Rosa's story "The Guardians Of The Lost Library". Unfortunately for him, it doesn't work.

Referee: Are you nuts? You can't conduct an archeological excavation in the middle of a soccer championship!
Scrooge: Oh, so? Show me that rule in the rulebook!
Assistant: Gosh, he's right! It is allowed by the "King Tut" rule of 1922!
Referee: No, the rule was voided after it resulted in a curse on whosoever dared enter the locker room!

• In Green Lantern, this is used by the rulemakers themselves. The Guardians sent a Green Lantern to a particularly nasty planet and he is almost immediately killed, so the Green Lantern sends his ring out to find a worthy successor. Enter Jack T. Chance. After "taking care" of a prominent threat on the planet, he is called back to Oa by the Guardians for discipline, but Jack says that he did what he had to do and would rather quit than be bound by the rules of the Guardians. The Guardians, lacking a suitable replacement for Jack, stated that a Green Lantern was not required to be a "nice sentient" and gave him back the ring with provisions that it could not be used outside of the planet Jack was stationed. The reason the Guardians were so annoyed with Chance was because of his own Loophole Abuse. Green Lantern Rings couldn't be used to make lethal attacks, so once Jack discovered this, he would use his ring to battle foes to the point of exhaustion - and then shoot them.
• As pictured above, various forms of Loophole Abuse crop up in FoxTrot. More examples can be found at that work's page.
• Used for laughs in the Young Justice No Mans Land special. Robin is depressed about being banned from helping Batman. Superboy points out that Bats never said anything about YJ steering clear of Gotham. So he and Impulse go on a ROAD TRIP!
• In Mega Man, the original six Robot Masters want to help Mega Man after his "I Know You're in There Somewhere" Fight, but they are programmed to destroy Mega Man. So they do...by destroying the Copy Robot.
• Lex Luthor once made a deal with Mxyzptlk where Mxy would provide Luthor with the means to render Superman powerless. Part of the deal was that Luthor must never tell Superman about Mxy's role in this. Not enjoying the idea of being unable to let Superman know how he defeated him, Luthor tried to circumvent that part of the deal by telling someone who would tell Superman about the deal. Unfortunately, the person Luthor chose as his messenger? Clark Kent. Whoops.
• In the fantasy comic strip Yamara, a toad familiar is tasked with bringing a newly-revived ex-vampire her first non-blood meal in centuries. The cleric forbids him from serving her meat, while another character threatens him with punishment if he offers her fruits or vegetables. His solution is to serve her cream of mushroom soup.
• In the story "Marriage Vows," in issue #15 of The Haunt of Fear, the heroine wanted to marry one Prince Dashing but was hampered by the fact that her father had promised her hand in marriage to the ruler of a neighboring kingdom in exchange for a big fat loan. Let's just say that she found a way to take that promise very literally...

Newspaper Comics

• Calvin once responded to the test question "Explain Newton's First Law of Motion in your own words" with, "Yakka foob mog. Grug pubbawup zink wattoom gazork. Chumble spuzz."
  • Another example:

Mrs. Wormwood: CALVIN, PAY ATTENTION! We're studying geography! Now, what state do you live in?
Calvin: Denial.
Mrs. Wormwood: *sigh* I don't suppose I can argue with that...

• Employed by Peter in FoxTrot, where he writes a book report three pages long in a massive font. Apparently, the teacher didn't say anything about font size.
• The Pointy-Haired Boss in Dilbert once instituted a company policy where each bug fixed would earn the fixer a $10 bonus. However, there was no rule against adding new bugs for the sole purpose of fixing them.
• In one strip of Garfield when the eponymous cat was on a diet, he invoked this trope when he realized a cake was carrot.
  • Not to mention the time Jon tried to teach Garfield self-control. He left a box of kitty treats in the room Garfield was in, telling him not to touch it. He left the room, then reentered a short while later. Garfield took everything except the box.
  • Even more audacious when Garfield was on another diet and Jon told him "You may have a salad." Garfield promptly helped himself to some pork chops, and when Jon called him out he claimed that no one had ever told him that pork chops were not a salad!
  • And once again: "This salad needs something. I think I'll garnish it. With a ham!" *wham*
• In Peanuts, Lucy often uses this trope to trick Charlie Brown into kicking the football. The format is as follows:

Lucy: I'll hold the ball and you come running and kick it.
Charlie Brown: I'm not falling for that again!
Lucy: <insert apparently airtight promise here> (e.g. "Here's a signed document, testifying that I promise not to pull it away.")
Charlie Brown: Okay, I guess you mean it this time. (e.g. "It is signed! It's a signed document. I guess if you have a signed document in your possession, you can't go wrong. This year I'm really gonna kick that football.")
[Lucy pulls the football away yet again]
Lucy: <insert explanation of the loophole she left herself> (e.g. "Peculiar thing about this document -- it wasn't ever notarized.")