Some background on this comic:

Transcript (sketch):

Well, of course I did it in cold-blood, you nerd!.. I’m a reptile!"

Transcript (commentary):

This idea didn’t change much between the sketch and the final drawing, except I decided the attorney in this case was definitely an idiot, not a nerd. (These are important considerations.)

I once referred to a character in one of my cartoons as a “dork” (a popular insult when I was growing up), but my editor called me up and said that “dork” couldn’t be used because it meant “penis.” I couldn’t believe it. I ran to my New Dictionary of American Slang and, sure enough, he was right. All those years of saying or being called a “dork” and I had never really known what it mean. What a nerd.