Odyssey
Ugh, it says they attempted delivery but "Nobody was home."
Ugh, it says they attempted delivery but "Nobody was home."
In this comic Cueball receives a birthday present from Ponytail: a translation of the Iliad, by Emily Wilson. The Iliad is an Ancient Greek epic poem authored by Homer about the 10-year long Trojan War which involved some of the most noteworthy warriors and leaders of that age. Wilson published her translation of the Iliad in September 2023, several weeks before the release of this comic.
Cueball then orders the Odyssey, Wilson's earlier translation of another well known epic poem of ancient Greece. In the story, a hero of the Trojan War named Odysseus journeys home. Wilson published this translation in 2017, to great acclaim, for various reasons, one being that Wilson was the first translator into English who used words that showed the original connotations better (such as 'hounded' instead of 'bitch' and slaves instead of servants).
At the start of his journey in the Odyssey (which takes place in the middle of the poem in a flashback, as the epic starts in media res), Odysseus and his crew are blown off course, and instead arrive at the island of the Lotus-Eaters. This begins a string of misfortunes and adventures which result in it taking another 10 years before Odysseus would make it home. In the comic, the same initial fate befalls the book delivery, and in expectation of a similarly tortuous journey, it is projected to arrive in 2033, 10 years after Cueball ordered the book, instead of the original 2 days (assuming that the day of ordering is the same as the day of the comic's release).
Package delays are not uncommon, and tracking websites can often cause more frustration than comfort and enlightenment, thanks to obscure status updates, and repeatedly deferred 'expected' delivery dates. However, anticipated 10-year delays, and status changes due to weather conditions and blissed out islanders are a bit more rare. The implication is that the package carrier was at sea after departing the warehouse and found themself swept onto the island and ate of the lotus flower, causing them to not want to leave and continue the delivery.
The title text refers to a moment in the Odyssey when Odysseus escapes from the cyclops Polyphemus. Odysseus, when introducing himself to Polyphemus, gives his name as "Nobody" (or in Wilson's translation, as "Noman"). After Odysseus has drugged him with drink and blinded him, the Cyclops cries out that "Nobody is attacking me!" Hearing this, Polyphemus's cyclops neighbors (quite reasonably, seeing that he is also drunk) misinterpret his words as meaning that nobody is attacking him (and therefore he is not being attacked), believe there is no reason to help and return to their homes, allowing Odysseus and his remaining crew to escape.
A frustration that is sometimes experienced by those awaiting packages is that a tracker will update to claim that the item couldn't be delivered because there was no-one available to receive it, despite having waited in for it at the appointed time, presumably because the courier falsely recorded an attempt in order to skip having to make the delivery. In this case, though, the suggestion is that someone named "Nobody" was at the delivery address, (Though if we're being consistent with Wilson's version, it should be "Noman".) and when the package carrier (or automated delivery robot) approached the front door, and was told that "Nobody is home", they decided not to deliver the package, much to Cueball's chagrin. The frustrations of e-commerce have previously featured in 281: Online Package Tracking.