a-potemkin-village
Original: a-potemkin-village on Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal
Transcript
Panel 1:
Woman: I can't believe I'm finally moving in with you!
Bearded man: Are you familiar with the concept of a 'Potemkin Village'?
Panel 2:
Bearded man: It's a political notion when you have a visiting dignitary. You only let them see a small area that you've carefully manipulated, so that it has the appearance of prosperity.
Panel 3:
Bearded man: The Soviets were notorious for deceiving visitors into thinking communism was a massive success.
Panel 4 (showing the woman walking through a doorway as the man speaks):
Bearded man: But it was all a fable. A Potemkin Village.
Panel 5:
Woman: Okay, what's your point?
Bearded man: Remember when you first came here.. the kitchen was clean. Remember how I flossed recently. Remember how I flossed the morning after?
Panel 6:
Woman (distressed, hands on face): Oh my god.
Panel 7 (interior scene with a frog/creature on the floor, woman standing in the room):
Woman: Oh my god.
Panel 8:
Woman: Is there expired mayonnaise on the balcony?
Bearded man: Welcome to Red Square, comrade.
Votey:
A roughly sketched man's bearded face.
Speech bubble: The snakes mostly keep to themselves
Woman: I can't believe I'm finally moving in with you!
Bearded man: Are you familiar with the concept of a 'Potemkin Village'?
Panel 2:
Bearded man: It's a political notion when you have a visiting dignitary. You only let them see a small area that you've carefully manipulated, so that it has the appearance of prosperity.
Panel 3:
Bearded man: The Soviets were notorious for deceiving visitors into thinking communism was a massive success.
Panel 4 (showing the woman walking through a doorway as the man speaks):
Bearded man: But it was all a fable. A Potemkin Village.
Panel 5:
Woman: Okay, what's your point?
Bearded man: Remember when you first came here.. the kitchen was clean. Remember how I flossed recently. Remember how I flossed the morning after?
Panel 6:
Woman (distressed, hands on face): Oh my god.
Panel 7 (interior scene with a frog/creature on the floor, woman standing in the room):
Woman: Oh my god.
Panel 8:
Woman: Is there expired mayonnaise on the balcony?
Bearded man: Welcome to Red Square, comrade.
Votey:
A roughly sketched man's bearded face.
Speech bubble: The snakes mostly keep to themselves
Alt text
An eight-panel comic. A woman happily tells her bearded partner she's finally moving in with him. He responds by asking if she knows the concept of a 'Potemkin Village' — a political deception where a visiting dignitary is only shown a small, carefully staged area made to look prosperous, a tactic the Soviets used to make communism seem successful, though it was all a fable. As the woman walks deeper into the apartment, he reveals his point: the kitchen was clean and he flossed only because she was visiting. Realizing his home is a staged facade, she puts her hands to her face in horror, repeating 'Oh my god,' and we see a messy interior with some creature (a frog) on the floor. She asks if there's expired mayonnaise on the balcony, and he replies, 'Welcome to Red Square, comrade.' The joke: he kept his slovenly apartment a Potemkin Village to lure her in.
Votey: A crudely drawn bearded man's face says, 'The snakes mostly keep to themselves' — implying yet another grim hidden detail of the apartment.
Votey: A crudely drawn bearded man's face says, 'The snakes mostly keep to themselves' — implying yet another grim hidden detail of the apartment.
Transcribed by Claude Opus 4.8.