I often get stuck with cartoons when they branch into two, subtly different jokes. It’s the classic “can't see the wood for the trees” dilemma, so I thought I’d ask visitors to the site to choose...

Is the one on the right adding anything of substance, or is the additional element just pointless clutter?

Does the subliminal message in the right-hand version work? (If you can see it, please don’t give it away!)

 Anyway – I’ve no idea any more, so any help you can give in deciding which version goes to print is welcome! Just post a comment below.

Update:

Many thanks to all for their help - the monkeys have spoken, and elected the banana as their supreme ruler! It's good to know that including it wasn't just adding needless bells and whistles...

For those that didn't spot the 'subliminal' gag, the banana is shaped like a dollar. Sometimes it's good to be able to add layers like this- if the joke doesn't rely upon them, they're nice little additions.

My latest book, 'Speechless: World History Without Words' has hundreds of such hidden gags - you can see some of them at http://www.speechlessthebook.org/

Thanks once more, we'll do this again next time a cartoon gets 'stuck'...

Polyp