2011-05-13
Original: 2011-05-13 on Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal
Transcript
Panel 1:
Child: Daddy, is there really "evil" in the universe, or are there just temporary foes and personal failures we contextualize as part of a broader scheme?
Panel 2:
Father: Humanity once believed in evil, but later we realized reality was stranger... more nuanced... more... bleakly complex.
Panel 3:
Father: That's why we created Skull-King, the giant robotic scourge of mankind.
(He presses a button on a remote.)
Sound effect: CLICK
Panel 4:
A TV screen lights up showing Skull-King, a flame-headed skeletal monster with green clawed hands, looming over a burning city.
Panel 5:
Child (distressed): 30 billions have died because complexity is sad?!
Panel 6:
Father: Baby, it was either that or looking within. Have you EVER tried looking within?
Panel 7:
Child (thinking, eyes closed): Maybe none of this matters...
Panel 8:
Child (screaming): AAAH!
Panel 9:
Caption: SOON...
Skull-King (firing an energy beam at the city): DIE, MONSTER!
Votey:
A large close-up of Skull-King's grinning skeletal face with three white horns, flames burning behind a purple cityscape, mouth open with a red tongue and green clawed hands raised.
Child: Daddy, is there really "evil" in the universe, or are there just temporary foes and personal failures we contextualize as part of a broader scheme?
Panel 2:
Father: Humanity once believed in evil, but later we realized reality was stranger... more nuanced... more... bleakly complex.
Panel 3:
Father: That's why we created Skull-King, the giant robotic scourge of mankind.
(He presses a button on a remote.)
Sound effect: CLICK
Panel 4:
A TV screen lights up showing Skull-King, a flame-headed skeletal monster with green clawed hands, looming over a burning city.
Panel 5:
Child (distressed): 30 billions have died because complexity is sad?!
Panel 6:
Father: Baby, it was either that or looking within. Have you EVER tried looking within?
Panel 7:
Child (thinking, eyes closed): Maybe none of this matters...
Panel 8:
Child (screaming): AAAH!
Panel 9:
Caption: SOON...
Skull-King (firing an energy beam at the city): DIE, MONSTER!
Votey:
A large close-up of Skull-King's grinning skeletal face with three white horns, flames burning behind a purple cityscape, mouth open with a red tongue and green clawed hands raised.
Alt text
A nine-panel SMBC comic. A child asks her father whether there is really "evil" in the universe or just temporary foes and personal failures people contextualize as part of a broader scheme. The father explains that humanity once believed in evil but later realized reality was stranger, more nuanced, more bleakly complex. He clicks a remote and a TV lights up: "That's why we created Skull-King, the giant robotic scourge of mankind" -- a flame-headed skeletal monster with green clawed hands looming over a burning city. The horrified child says "30 billions have died because complexity is sad?!" The father replies, "Baby, it was either that or looking within. Have you EVER tried looking within?" The child thinks "Maybe none of this matters..." then screams "AAAH!" The final panel reads "SOON..." as Skull-King fires an energy beam at the city, shouting "DIE, MONSTER!" Votey: a close-up of Skull-King's grinning horned skull face with flames and a purple cityscape behind it, claws raised.
Transcribed by Claude Opus 4.8.