It don't mean a thing if it ain't got that string! That's a fine platitude for any given situation (just try it!), but particularly on, today, National Yo-Yo Day.

Yo-yos have a long history, but their throw-disks-attached-to-string-down-and-the-thing-returns-to-your-hand technology has remained consistent since as far back as the time of ancient Greece! Those old-timey yo-yos, which were probably used by Hercules and Xena, got a whole lot better circa 1928. That's when the modern yo-yo was popularized in part by Pedro Flores, whose California-based Yo-yo Manufacturing Company shipped hundreds of thousands of the things out to kids all over the world.

These days we have yo-yos made from all manner of materials, with all kinds of fancy strings, but they still accomplish the same quality tricks -- tricks with names like "Walk the Dog," "Around the World" and "Hit Yourself In The Face And Cry."

May these comics inspire you to grab a yo-yo and practice at least two of those to your heart's content.

Wallace the Brave By Will Henry Nov 10, 2015

Lola By Todd Clark April 12, 2009

F Minus By Tony Carrillo May 12, 2010

Dark Side of the Horse By Samson Aug 10, 2016

FoxTrot By Bill Amend Aug 8, 1998

Garfield By Jim Davis Jan 14, 2007

Big Nate By Lincoln Peirce June 13, 2005

Cleats By Bill Hinds Aug 13, 2008

Calvin and Hobbes By Bill Watterson May 7, 1990

Brevity By Dan Thompson Oct 20, 2006

Marmaduke By Brad Anderson May 8, 1999

Buni By Ryan Pagelow June 29, 2012

Red and Rover By Brian Basset July 15, 2004

Ziggy By Tom Wilson & Tom II March 14, 1999 

Nancy By Guy Gilchrist June 4, 2007

The Born Loser By Art and Chip Sansom June 6, 2014