2013-07-14
Original: 2013-07-14 on Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal
Transcript
Panel 1: A man with flame-like red hair speaks to a blonde woman (referred to later as Sally).
Narration/man: "Sally flicked an idle thought. No doubt she has declared our love to be DEAD."
Panel 2: The red-haired man continues, melodramatically.
Man: "And in the cruel light of dawning, I see it all too clearly. We're just physical processes. If there is no observer, if there is no observer if there is no observer, then there is no physical processes."
Panel 3: The man continues.
Man: "Oh, you may prattle of fields and forces and atoms, but they are mere SIGNIFIERS. They are the scrap-paper of hope pasted to nothing in the vain hush that it'll take shape!"
Panel 4: The man, now in shadow/darkness.
Man: "I am not even nothing. I am the shadow of nothing. The absence of absence. The absence of absence. The OH. HI SALLY."
Panel 5: Sally (the blonde woman) appears beside him; the man looks sheepish.
Panel 6: A small inset shows the man (now looking unsettled, mouth open) and Sally smiling.
Sally: "Maybe protons DO exist."
Votey:
Handwritten note.
"Dear Zach,
I am offended by your red-head tokenism.
Sincerely,
Internet"
Narration/man: "Sally flicked an idle thought. No doubt she has declared our love to be DEAD."
Panel 2: The red-haired man continues, melodramatically.
Man: "And in the cruel light of dawning, I see it all too clearly. We're just physical processes. If there is no observer, if there is no observer if there is no observer, then there is no physical processes."
Panel 3: The man continues.
Man: "Oh, you may prattle of fields and forces and atoms, but they are mere SIGNIFIERS. They are the scrap-paper of hope pasted to nothing in the vain hush that it'll take shape!"
Panel 4: The man, now in shadow/darkness.
Man: "I am not even nothing. I am the shadow of nothing. The absence of absence. The absence of absence. The OH. HI SALLY."
Panel 5: Sally (the blonde woman) appears beside him; the man looks sheepish.
Panel 6: A small inset shows the man (now looking unsettled, mouth open) and Sally smiling.
Sally: "Maybe protons DO exist."
Votey:
Handwritten note.
"Dear Zach,
I am offended by your red-head tokenism.
Sincerely,
Internet"
Alt text
A six-panel SMBC comic. A melodramatic man with flame-red hair monologues to himself, believing his partner Sally has lost interest in him. He spirals philosophically: they are 'just physical processes,' and if there is no observer there are no physical processes; fields, forces, and atoms are 'mere signifiers,' 'scrap-paper of hope pasted to nothing.' He declares, 'I am not even nothing. I am the shadow of nothing. The absence of absence. The absence of absence. The OH. HI SALLY.' In the final panel Sally has quietly appeared next to him, and a small smiling Sally says, 'Maybe protons DO exist,' affectionately puncturing his existential despair. Votey (aftercomic): a handwritten letter reading, 'Dear Zach, I am offended by your red-head tokenism. Sincerely, Internet' — a self-aware joke about the comic featuring a red-haired character.
Transcribed by Claude Opus 4.8.