On a larger scale, the war between randomness and organization, in which Zippy fights on both sides. In today’s strip, he’s in his random mode, distributing non sequiturs from a polka-dot van:
One thing doesn’t lead to another. Instead, things just pop up from out of nowhere, without rationale.
But at other times in Zippy’s world, everything leads to something else, in steps. On paths that might go in surprising directions, the way conversations tend to wander.
Either way, linearity bites.