2014-01-01
Original: 2014-01-01 on Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal
Transcript
Panel 1 (caption): "I once was unlettered, unfettered, and free"
A blue stick figure runs happily across a grassy field, a musical note in a speech bubble above its head.
Caption (below): "(As to doubts, well I never had nursed one.)"
Panel 2 (caption): "A philosopher said, full of dread, 'Don't you see"
A bearded gray figure (the philosopher) gestures while speaking to the blue figure.
Caption (below): "That the life unconsidered's a cursed one?'"
Panel 3 (caption): "He made without scruple a pupil of me."
The blue figure looks on as the philosopher's pupils speak in symbols. Speech bubbles contain: a balance scale; a bird with a slash through it (negation); and "(A(a))".
Caption (below): "(As to learning, I wasn't the worst one.)"
Panel 4 (caption): "The philosopher posited chains and a key"
The gray philosopher gestures toward the blue figure, who now stands with an angry, downturned expression.
Caption (below): "But he only delivered the first one."
Votey:
A frowning, exasperated figure stands behind another figure (seen from behind). The first figure says: "I leave for one week and it's stick figure comics in verse?"
A blue stick figure runs happily across a grassy field, a musical note in a speech bubble above its head.
Caption (below): "(As to doubts, well I never had nursed one.)"
Panel 2 (caption): "A philosopher said, full of dread, 'Don't you see"
A bearded gray figure (the philosopher) gestures while speaking to the blue figure.
Caption (below): "That the life unconsidered's a cursed one?'"
Panel 3 (caption): "He made without scruple a pupil of me."
The blue figure looks on as the philosopher's pupils speak in symbols. Speech bubbles contain: a balance scale; a bird with a slash through it (negation); and "(A(a))".
Caption (below): "(As to learning, I wasn't the worst one.)"
Panel 4 (caption): "The philosopher posited chains and a key"
The gray philosopher gestures toward the blue figure, who now stands with an angry, downturned expression.
Caption (below): "But he only delivered the first one."
Votey:
A frowning, exasperated figure stands behind another figure (seen from behind). The first figure says: "I leave for one week and it's stick figure comics in verse?"
Alt text
A four-panel SMBC comic told in rhyming verse, each panel topped and tailed with a caption in a red banner. Panel 1: a blue stick figure runs joyfully through a green field with a musical note over its head. Caption: 'I once was unlettered, unfettered, and free' and '(As to doubts, well I never had nursed one.)'. Panel 2: a bearded gray figure, a philosopher, speaks dramatically to the blue figure. Caption: 'A philosopher said, full of dread, "Don't you see' and 'That the life unconsidered's a cursed one?"'. Panel 3: the philosopher's lesson appears as speech bubbles full of symbols (a balance scale, a crossed-out bird, the notation '(A(a))'). Caption: 'He made without scruple a pupil of me.' and '(As to learning, I wasn't the worst one.)'. Panel 4: the philosopher gestures while the blue figure now looks angry and scowling. Caption: 'The philosopher posited chains and a key' and 'But he only delivered the first one.' The joke: the teacher gave the student the chains of philosophical doubt but never the key to escape them. Votey aftercomic: a frowning, exasperated figure stands behind a second figure and complains, 'I leave for one week and it's stick figure comics in verse?'
Transcribed by Claude Opus 4.8.