The strip presents a shipload of pirates anachronistically placed in modern times (where they put quarters in dockside parking meters) who walk with a two-dimensional stiff-leggedness, invariably carry cutlasses by their sides, repulse women (who run from their fleas), and behave as though they had failed an intelligence test.
The basic themes are the laziness and stupidly of the crew, the blundering absurdity of Capt. Crow, and the rankness of Nate, the bewhiskered but gentle beast. The jokes are often predictable, yet at the same time come off as freshly made.
Overboard is also the name of a 1987 movie starring Goldie Hawn and Kurt Russell.