2011-06-15
Original: 2011-06-15 on Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal
Transcript
Panel 1:
(A baby in a blue onesie floats alone in empty white space, looking around with a vacant, faraway expression. No text.)
Panel 2:
Baby: OH, GOD! I'M THE ONLY THING IN REALITY... THEY'RE ALL DEAD.. NOT EVEN DEAD - THEY NEVER WERE... BECAUSE TIME IS GONE TOO...
Panel 3:
Baby: I'M THE ONLY MIND IN ALL OF REALITY. HAHAHA! NO, NO DON'T GIVE IN... STAY SANE. MADNESS IS THE UNMAKING OF THE SELF. HOOHOOHOOHAHAHA! NO! NO!
Panel 4:
Baby: KEEP IT TOGETHER! KEEP IT TO-
Panel 5:
(Scene cuts to a man leaning over a crib, holding up a blanket, playing with the baby.)
Man: PEEK-A-BOO!
Baby: HAHA HAHA HA!
Votey:
(A thought bubble coming from off-panel, with a smiling baby's face at lower right.)
Thought: WHY DO ONE-YEAR-OLDS ALL HAVE THAT FARAWAY LOOK?
(A baby in a blue onesie floats alone in empty white space, looking around with a vacant, faraway expression. No text.)
Panel 2:
Baby: OH, GOD! I'M THE ONLY THING IN REALITY... THEY'RE ALL DEAD.. NOT EVEN DEAD - THEY NEVER WERE... BECAUSE TIME IS GONE TOO...
Panel 3:
Baby: I'M THE ONLY MIND IN ALL OF REALITY. HAHAHA! NO, NO DON'T GIVE IN... STAY SANE. MADNESS IS THE UNMAKING OF THE SELF. HOOHOOHOOHAHAHA! NO! NO!
Panel 4:
Baby: KEEP IT TOGETHER! KEEP IT TO-
Panel 5:
(Scene cuts to a man leaning over a crib, holding up a blanket, playing with the baby.)
Man: PEEK-A-BOO!
Baby: HAHA HAHA HA!
Votey:
(A thought bubble coming from off-panel, with a smiling baby's face at lower right.)
Thought: WHY DO ONE-YEAR-OLDS ALL HAVE THAT FARAWAY LOOK?
Alt text
A tall comic strip. In the first panels, a baby in a light-blue onesie floats alone in blank white space, tumbling and gazing into the distance with a blank, faraway expression. Speech bubbles give the baby an inner monologue of cosmic existential terror: 'Oh, God! I'm the only thing in reality... they're all dead.. not even dead - they never were... because time is gone too...' Then, spiraling toward madness and back: 'I'm the only mind in all of reality. Hahaha! No, no don't give in... stay sane. Madness is the unmaking of the self. Hoohoohoohahaha! No! No!' Then, struggling to hold on: 'Keep it together! Keep it to-' The final panel cuts to reality: a man leans over a crib holding up a blanket and says 'Peek-a-boo!', and the baby, now in a normal nursery, just laughs 'Haha haha ha!' The joke: the baby's blank stare hides an unimaginable solipsistic horror, instantly resolved by a simple game of peek-a-boo. Votey: a thought bubble from an off-panel person, with a cheerful smiling baby face in the corner, reading 'Why do one-year-olds all have that faraway look?'
Transcribed by Claude Opus 4.8.