Carolita Johnson’s cartoon is set in heaven, where a female angel is addressing an astronaut who’s planted an American flag on the clouds.
I first assumed the astronaut was in heaven because he died at work:
- “You died a hero.”
- “Apparently you punctured your spacesuit with the flagpole.”
- “You can take the helmet off now. You’re dead.”
I then compared the astronaut’s high-tech spacesuit to the angel’s simple robe: “You’re overdressed.”
Finally, a topical caption: “Relax. There’s no coronavirus here.”
Now let’s see how you did.
There were many entries premised on the idea that the astronaut had died. Some connected his passing to the moribund NASA program:
- “We’d heard the space program was dead.”
- “The space program is dead.”
Others focused on the way he died:
- “Oh, what happened this time…O-rings? Foam?”
- “I promise you can take the helmet off. You won’t die this time.”
These next three captions connect the astronaut’s death to the famous line Neil Armstrong said after becoming the first person to walk on the moon:
- “The smallest steps can be the most treacherous.”
- “It was a bigger step than you thought.”
- “I’m afraid it was one final step.”
The following two entries allude to another famous line, which Apollo 13 astronaut John Swigert said after discovering the explosion that crippled his spacecraft:
- “You should let Houston know you had a problem.”
- “Tell Houston you’ll have no more problems.”
Like the “Houston” captions, this entry assumes that the deceased astronaut has no more concerns: “Luckily, you don’t have to worry about the return trip.”
These two entries refer to the race to the Space Race, part of the Cold War rivalry between the U.S. and the U.S.S.R.:
- “Sorry, the Russians got here first.”
- “I’ll place it next to the Russian flag.”
There were, like that last caption, many entries that focused on the flag. These two acknowledge the difficulty of planting it on a cloud:
- “You’ll have difficulty planting that flag securely.”
- “And where exactly do you plan to stick that thing?”
Whereas these two connect it to the astronaut’s death:
- “You should probably lower your flag to ½ mast.”
- “Your flag should really be at half-mast…”
I like those last two a lot. The first caption, however, should spell out the word “half” instead of using the numerical fraction, which is distracting. And the second caption doesn’t need the ellipses. They’re the equivalent of saying “think about it” after telling a joke that’s failed to elicit an immediate response.
Here’s another caption that could do without the ellipses: “You’re a tad overdressed…”
Like I did, one of you alluded to the latest potential pandemic (which I think should just be one word): “Your Corona Virus precautions are not needed here.”
Here’s a decent “Star Trek” reference: “No, this is the final frontier.”
Several entries acknowledged that Heaven is a religious concept, but this was the best: “Isn’t it ironic that atheists with PhDs made a mistake that landed you up here?”
In this caption, the angel is exasperated by the astronaut’s stubborn refusal to admit that’s he’s dead: “Okay sure, you just discovered us and your capsule didn’t explode.”
Finally, here are three decent captions that don’t fit neatly into any category:
- “So, what did you used to do?”
- “Nice to get an American up here for a change.”
- “If only you had pursued me like this when I was alive.”
This week’s winner is, “Okay sure, you just discovered us and your capsule didn’t explode.”