Here's one for all you word mavens out there: bowdlerize. It's when you substitute an offensive expression for a family-friendly one. And I'll do better than just use it in a sentence, professor. I'll demonstrate its meaning in a poorly drawn comic strip about gender double standards.

The comic strip below got me an A- in English vocabulary, a B+ in sociology, a D in art, and a visit to the dean's office.

I most deserved the grade in art.

College education for the win!

The Atlantic is wet. If that's not enough of a surprise, then rage comics (see example) don't pass for fine art. Watch your step on that sarcasm, it's hidden in there, somewhere.

We know we're overthinking this, but just humor us a moment.

It goes without saying that rage comics are poorly drawn. Anyone can glean that from a cursory glance, and we don't dispute that. The point we'd like to make is that they are perfectly drawn.

That last line may have some of you scratching your heads, others of you readying to throw a brick through your computer monitors. We accept this. If you haven't already cracked your monitors, read on to see what we mean.

There is a difference between poorly rendered and perfectly rendered drawings. To say something is poorly rendered is to speak in terms of degrees, such as when discussing how true to life the drawing is to the subject. However, if the ultimate aim of art is to evoke sentiment, even the best-rendered (by these criteria) drawings can be flat and lifeless. You can only look at so many hyperrealistic still-lifes of fruit on a table before they cease to hold meaning. 

For the purposes of our discussion, we propose that a drawing may be said to be perfectly rendered if its sole purpose and effect is to evoke a discrete sentiment or concept. A rage comic fits this description. The characters in these comics are not characters, per se. They do not have personalities that carry over or grow from comic to comic, as each comic typically is self-contained. The characters have no names other than the sentiment they represent. Indeed, each face is but a shorthand symbol for the sentiment it triggers. They are nothing more than what they make us feel, from the eponymous rage to quiet resignation.

That said, we posit that rage comics can be likened to visual poetry. We know that's one hell of a stretch, but regardless it serves our purposes. Likening these comics to poorly drawn poetry makes them doubly appropriate for inclusion here, because, as our motto dictates, you either get good writing or bad drawings or poetry.

Rage comics give you both of the latter.

From time to time, we here at Darkwater Syndicate will share with you the rage comics we draw up. And while a picture is worth a thousand words, we wouldn't want you to feel shortchanged, so we'll be sure to provide amusing stories to go along with our bad drawings.