2006-11-17

Main comic: A single panel set in dark Puritan-era woods. At right, a woman in a white bonnet and long black-and-white dress stands with a hand on her hip atop a heap of straw piled for burning. At lower left, a man in a wide-brimmed black Puritan hat sits facing her. She protests, "But I'm not a witch!" He replies, "Burn for your lies!" A caption beneath reads: "At this point, Reverend Winthrop made the mistake of shooting flames from his hands." The joke: in accusing her of witchcraft, the reverend himself produces literal magic. Votey: A loose sketch shows a close-up of the man's face under his broad hat, gazing upward in wonder as he says, "It's a miracle!" — failing to notice this self-incriminates him.