Solution to Expletive Deleted

by Bruce Applegate

The full details of the solution to this puzzle can be seen in this pdf.

Each of the characters depicted is a character from fiction using profanities (or curses) that exist specifically in their universe. For instance, Shaggy (from Scooby-Doo) says "Zoinks" and Mork (from Mork and Mindy) says "Shazbot". Each character is using symbol swearing (as oft used in comics in lieu of profanity) that translates using a straight substitution cipher: for instance, a crescent symbol represents an O wherever it appears, in "Zoinks", "Shazbot", and other words.

Throughout the text of the puzzle there are words used that describe or define certain of the symbols used. (For instance, Mork uses the word MOON, which refers to the crescent symbol, which represents the letter O.)

Taking these words in the order they appear in the puzzle and replacing them with the corresponding letters from the cipher, you get PREZ RICKARD'S BOSS. This refers to the character Boss Smiley from comic books about the character Prez Rickard (America's first teenage president!), so the answer is SMILEY.

(Note: fonts used for text/symbols are free fonts available for non-profits from blambot.com, specifically SmackAttack BB and PottyMouth BB.)