the-portrait
Original: the-portrait on Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal
Transcript
Panel 1:
Young man (red shirt): Dad, it seems like most people develop crazier and crazier politics as they age.
Father (off-panel, speech bubble): But... you haven't.
Panel 2:
Young man: Are you just particularly thoughtful, or were you already ahead of your time when you were my age?
Panel 3:
Father (speech bubble): Come with me.
Panel 4:
(The middle-aged father sits in a green armchair, reading a book.)
Panel 5:
Caption: It is a magical object. As time wears on, I remain reasonable... but the portrait develops ever more asinine political views.
(An elderly version of the father, sitting in a darker chair, reads the book.)
Panel 6:
(The book is revealed to be a framed portrait. The portrait of the father shouts, fist raised.)
Portrait: Internment camps PRESERVED free society!
Panel 7:
Father (silhouette, speech bubble): I wish there were any other way.
Panel 8:
Father (silhouette, speech bubble): Let us never speak of it again.
Votey:
(Handwritten caption.) Ten points to anyone who uses panels 5 and 6 for a meme.
Young man (red shirt): Dad, it seems like most people develop crazier and crazier politics as they age.
Father (off-panel, speech bubble): But... you haven't.
Panel 2:
Young man: Are you just particularly thoughtful, or were you already ahead of your time when you were my age?
Panel 3:
Father (speech bubble): Come with me.
Panel 4:
(The middle-aged father sits in a green armchair, reading a book.)
Panel 5:
Caption: It is a magical object. As time wears on, I remain reasonable... but the portrait develops ever more asinine political views.
(An elderly version of the father, sitting in a darker chair, reads the book.)
Panel 6:
(The book is revealed to be a framed portrait. The portrait of the father shouts, fist raised.)
Portrait: Internment camps PRESERVED free society!
Panel 7:
Father (silhouette, speech bubble): I wish there were any other way.
Panel 8:
Father (silhouette, speech bubble): Let us never speak of it again.
Votey:
(Handwritten caption.) Ten points to anyone who uses panels 5 and 6 for a meme.
Alt text
A SMBC comic parodying The Picture of Dorian Gray. Panel 1: A young man in a red shirt says to his father, "Dad, it seems like most people develop crazier and crazier politics as they age." The father replies, "But... you haven't." Panel 2: The son asks, "Are you just particularly thoughtful, or were you already ahead of your time when you were my age?" Panel 3: The father says, "Come with me." Panel 4: A middle-aged man sits in a green armchair reading a book. A caption (continuing in panel 5) reads: "It is a magical object. As time wears on, I remain reasonable... but the portrait develops ever more asinine political views." Panel 5: An elderly version of the same man reads the same book. Panel 6: The reveal — the "book" is actually a framed portrait. The painted figure inside it shouts with a raised fist: "Internment camps PRESERVED free society!" Panel 7: In silhouette against black, the father says, "I wish there were any other way." Panel 8: He adds, "Let us never speak of it again." Votey: A handwritten note reads, "Ten points to anyone who uses panels 5 and 6 for a meme."
Transcribed by Claude Opus 4.8.