Which is funnier: a dotted line or a solid line?

Clue:  This is according to a guide to drawing comics

Answer:  A dotted line.  (The answer is in black text on the black background.  Highlight it to view.)

Citation:  Suck School of Comic Art, Suck.com, (Nov. 7, 1997)

"[There's] only a very fine line between the ability to concentrate intelligently on an objective and an unhealthy obsession." —Amanda Quick, The Perfect Poison (2009)

From Prof. Oddfellow's sketchbook:

Is it true, as Momus suggests, that there are "few tales which would not be improved by the addition of the phrase 'suddenly, a shot rang out'"?  Decide for yourself as we alter the opening lines of . . .

THE SATANIC VERSES by Salman Rushdie

"To be born again," sang Gibreel Farishta tumbling from the heavens, "first you have to die." Suddenly, a shot rang out.

 

From Prof. Oddfellow's sketchbook:

Is it true, as Momus suggests, that there are "few tales which would not be improved by the addition of the phrase 'suddenly, a shot rang out'"?  Decide for yourself as we alter the opening lines of . . .

VALIS by Philip K. Dick

Horselover Fat's nervous breakdown began the day he got the phonecall from Gloria asking if he had any Nembutols.  Suddenly, a shot rang out.

Which is funnier: a pencil mustache or a handlebar mustache?

Clue:  This is according to a guide to drawing comics

Answer:  Pencil mustache.  (The answer is in black text on the black background.  Highlight it to view.)

Citation:  Suck School of Comic Art, Suck.com, (Nov. 7, 1997)

Smart Home Hacks author Gordon Meyer reviews our latest book, The Ghost in the [Scanning] Machine: "It's another amazing work . . . Conley's union of ghostly images and enigmatic quotations is near perfect."

The label "near perfect" reminds Prof. Oddfellow of the math behind the idiom, "Close, but no cigar":
 

Handwriting etiquette calls for a neat dash through misprinted characters. However, several such character obliterations actually form new characters—creation through destruction. Can you dash off the names for each of the would-be transformations below? (Click on the image for answers.)



(Dedicated to Gary Barwin and Geof Huth.)

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Geof Huth writes:

WAXING GIBBOUS (FUTURE)

"Consequently, as the semicolon suggests, their stars are recreated from numbers."

—Morse Peckman, Word, Meaning, Poem (1961)

 

Is it true, as Momus suggests, that there are "few tales which would not be improved by the addition of the phrase 'suddenly, a shot rang out'"?  Decide for yourself as we alter the opening lines of . . .

PRIDE AND PREJUDICE by Jane Austen

It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife.  Suddenly, a shot rang out.

From Prof. Oddfellow's sketchbook:

Pretending to Have Been Robbed

"It's the oldest trick in the book.  They strip themselves, leave their clothes concealed somewhere, then come into town pretending to have been robbed, in the hope of finding some muttonhead like you to take pity on them and give money or clothes they can sell." —Karen Maitland, Company of Liars (2009)