The question may have occurred to you, what is the winning formula in these Comic Contests? Well, I've gone and done a bit of research and found which elements are most common in each of the nine positions (3 backgrounds, 6 characters) in the 36 strips comprising the 35 contest winners thus far. To wit:
For every frame, Background3 wins more often than any other background.
The most common winning element on the left side of the middle frame is tv1-1.
And so forth.
Putting it all together, one could conclude that this is the winning formula:
21432
By the way, those are 'none's in positions 2 and 4, not height props.
For CC36, you have two options: the ALL option or the NONE option.
If you choose the ALL option, take the template cartoon shown above, and add dialogue, thoughts and narration to make it funny. No changes to the template are permitted.
If you choose the NONE option, make a comic that shares no elements with a previous winning cartoon. I've done the hard part; below I will share with you the forbidden elements in a NONE comic. Some of these names may not be exact, but their meaning should be clear:
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Forbidden Elements
Frame 1:
Background: background, background2, background3, bunker, bushes2, desert2, diesel, field, grassy, graveyard, laboratory, moonscape, ocean, odd, prison, sidewalk, trees, wall2
Left: asiangirl1, biggabe2, bongo22, deuce11, feetforears1, gabe12, hammer11, itoldyou1, jon31, kid11, kovaks, letter11, maura11, maura41, mike21, neal1, none, pants1, phil21, phone1, robot12, roger1, rube11, scientist1, tv1
Right: biggabe1, boozer2, bug12, clango12, cowboy2, diablo22, donkey2, elephant2, gabe11, ghost2, hammer22, helmut2, hooker2, itoldyou2, kovaks, letter12, maura32, neal1, neal2, none, pants2, pc2, robot11, scientist2, sorrow1, think2, trash2
Frame 2:
Background: background, background2, background3, bunker, bushes2, desert2, diesel, field, grassy, graveyard, laboratory, moonscape, ocean, odd, planet, prison, sidewalk, trees, wall2
Left: asiangirl12, bongo22, clango21, diablo11, feetforears1, gabe12, gray11, hammer21, height2, helmut1, itoldyou1, jon21, killersquirrel1, kovaks, letter11, maura31, maura41, mike21, neal1, none, phil21, phone1, roger1, sorrow2, spigot1, squirrel21, think1, tv1
Right: biggabe3, boozer2, bug12, clango12, clango22, cthulhu2, diablo22, donkey2, dragon2, gabe11, gabe12, ghost2, hammer22, helmut2, jesus2, kovaks, maura42, maura52, maura62, neal1, neal2, none, pants2, roger1, scientist2, sorrow2, think2, trash2, zoe2
Frame 3:
Background: background, background2, background3, bunker, bushes2, desert3, diesel, field, grassy, graveyard, laboratory, moonscape, ocean, odd, prison, trees, wall2
Left: asiangirl1, biggabe1, biggabe3, bird1, bongo22, bug11, cthulhu1, fire, gabe12, hammer21, hammer22, height2, helmut1, itoldyou1m itoldyou2, jon21, killersquirrel1, kovaks, maura41, neal1, none, phone1, roger1, skeleton1, tv1, tylerpoints1
Right: biggabe1, boozer2, clango22, cowboy2, donkey2, elephant2, gabe11, ghost2, height2, helmut2, itoldyou2, kovaks, maura22, maura62, neal1, neal2, none, pants2, phil22, satan2, scientist2, sorrow1, think2, toothingnip12, trash2, tv2
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If I made any mistakes on that list, it's my fault, not yours; assume it's right. Deadline is Friday morning at 10:30 Eastern time (14:30 GMT).
Be funny, be creative, have fun!
==Ken