CARTOON CAPTION/ANTI-CAPTION CONTESTS CONTINUE! I coulda been a contender! And I wouldn't be surprised if you coulda been one, too!

Of the three candidates in Caption Contest #47 (two men at desk while posse chases man in corridor), one is

"How soon can you start?"

by John Maynard of Berkeley, California.

I also came up with that one! It sprang to mind immediately, but I decided to go with something else after reading the very first entry at Dan Radosh's Anti-Caption Contest #47: Peter Moore's

"When can you start?"

I figured many people would come up with something along those lines, so I opted for

"My money's on the man with the ax."

Coincidentally, that caption also had a cousin at the Anti-Caption Contest: Arthur's

"We hired the axe to chop the bat
We hired the bat to whomp the gun
We hired the gun to blast Mr. Hobbes
We hired Mr. Hobbes to catch the fly
But I don't know why we swallowed the fly
Perhaps we'll die."

Moving along to the winner of Caption Contest #45 (Gahan Wilson's couple walking down corridor lined with wall- and ceiling-walking toddlers), congrats are due to Thomas Buell, Jr. of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, for

"Back in my day, kids had a little respect for the law of gravity."

California now leads Pittsburgh by a 9-6 score, just like Debbie leads David 9-6 in Where Was I?

At Anti-Caption Contest #48 (elderly man across from girl violinist in messed-up room), the winner is Sincent's

"Oh, don't mind the mess. I'm just painting the bathroom a pretty red. Can you play Roses are Red? Can you play it perfectly? The last one couldn't..."

My losers:

Insert viola joke here.

"Stop fiddling around--clean up your room!"

Caption Contest #49 is here. Anti-Caption Contest #49 is here.

Image by David Marc Fischer using Samsung cameraphone