the-denial-of-death
Original: the-denial-of-death on Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal
Transcript
Panel 1:
Bald man with a gray beard, standing with arms spread wide: "I'm incapable of conceiving of myself as dead. Whenever I imagine it, I think of myself looking at a dead me. But, if I'm looking at something, I can't be dead!"
Panel 2:
The man, seated: "And, once I'm actually dead, I'll be unable to conceive of myself as dead, because I won't be able to conceive anything."
Panel 3:
The man, smiling: "I am unable to conceive of my own death, and thus I am without fear of it!"
Panel 4:
A man in a white cap and apron (a vendor at a service window): "That's nice. So, what's your order, sir?"
Panel 5:
The bearded man, now revealed to be at a food stand window: "One deep-fried bacon-butter, please."
Votey:
Close-up of the bearded man's face as he adds to his order: "A la mode, sil vous plait"
Bald man with a gray beard, standing with arms spread wide: "I'm incapable of conceiving of myself as dead. Whenever I imagine it, I think of myself looking at a dead me. But, if I'm looking at something, I can't be dead!"
Panel 2:
The man, seated: "And, once I'm actually dead, I'll be unable to conceive of myself as dead, because I won't be able to conceive anything."
Panel 3:
The man, smiling: "I am unable to conceive of my own death, and thus I am without fear of it!"
Panel 4:
A man in a white cap and apron (a vendor at a service window): "That's nice. So, what's your order, sir?"
Panel 5:
The bearded man, now revealed to be at a food stand window: "One deep-fried bacon-butter, please."
Votey:
Close-up of the bearded man's face as he adds to his order: "A la mode, sil vous plait"
Alt text
A five-panel comic. In the first three panels, a bald, gray-bearded man delivers a confident monologue: he argues he is incapable of conceiving of himself as dead, because whenever he imagines death he pictures himself looking at his own dead body, and if he's looking at something he can't be dead. He adds that once he's actually dead he won't be able to conceive of anything at all, and concludes, smiling, that since he cannot conceive of his own death he is therefore without fear of it. The final panels pull back to reveal he has been monologuing to a vendor at a food-stand window. The vendor, in a white cap and apron, says flatly, "That's nice. So, what's your order, sir?" The man replies, "One deep-fried bacon-butter, please" — a heart-attack-inducing order that undercuts his fearlessness-about-death speech. In the votey aftercomic, a close-up of the bearded man's face shows him adding, in mock-French, "A la mode, sil vous plait" (with ice cream, please).
Transcribed by Claude Opus 4.8.