it-doesn39t-look-good
Original: it-doesn39t-look-good on Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal
Transcript
Panel 1:
An older woman with gray curly hair (the mother) speaks into a phone:
Mother: SWEETIE, I NEED YOU TO FLY HOME.
Panel 2:
The daughter's reply comes in a jagged shout bubble, then the mother answers.
Daughter: WHAT? WHY?
Mother: IT'S YOUR FATHER... IT DOESN'T LOOK GOOD...
Panel 3 (header banner reads "LATER THAT DAY..."):
The red-haired daughter has arrived and rushes in, alarmed.
Daughter: WHERE'S DAD? IS HE ALL RIGHT?!
Panel 4:
The father is shown seated. He is now bald on top with a newly grown gray goatee and beard, looking annoyed/defensive.
Father: I'M FINE. I JUST DECIDED TO GROW A GOATEE, OKAY?
Panel 5:
The father sits in a red chair, the tail of his speech bubble continuing from the previous panel.
Panel 6:
The mother stands beside the seated father, looking grim, hand to her chest.
Mother: IT DOESN'T LOOK GOOD.
Panel 7:
The red-haired daughter stands next to the mother, looking serious and concerned.
Daughter: I THINK WE SHOULD PULL THE PLUG.
Votey:
A close-up of the distressed red-haired daughter (the mother's hairstyle/face), crying, with a large hand-lettered speech bubble.
Woman: Even if we can't see it... he's suffering
An older woman with gray curly hair (the mother) speaks into a phone:
Mother: SWEETIE, I NEED YOU TO FLY HOME.
Panel 2:
The daughter's reply comes in a jagged shout bubble, then the mother answers.
Daughter: WHAT? WHY?
Mother: IT'S YOUR FATHER... IT DOESN'T LOOK GOOD...
Panel 3 (header banner reads "LATER THAT DAY..."):
The red-haired daughter has arrived and rushes in, alarmed.
Daughter: WHERE'S DAD? IS HE ALL RIGHT?!
Panel 4:
The father is shown seated. He is now bald on top with a newly grown gray goatee and beard, looking annoyed/defensive.
Father: I'M FINE. I JUST DECIDED TO GROW A GOATEE, OKAY?
Panel 5:
The father sits in a red chair, the tail of his speech bubble continuing from the previous panel.
Panel 6:
The mother stands beside the seated father, looking grim, hand to her chest.
Mother: IT DOESN'T LOOK GOOD.
Panel 7:
The red-haired daughter stands next to the mother, looking serious and concerned.
Daughter: I THINK WE SHOULD PULL THE PLUG.
Votey:
A close-up of the distressed red-haired daughter (the mother's hairstyle/face), crying, with a large hand-lettered speech bubble.
Woman: Even if we can't see it... he's suffering
Alt text
An eight-panel SMBC comic drawn as a family medical-emergency drama. Panel 1: a gray-haired mother phones her daughter and says, "Sweetie, I need you to fly home." Panel 2: the daughter shouts "What? Why?" and the mother answers gravely, "It's your father... it doesn't look good..." Panel 3, under a banner reading "Later that day...": the red-haired daughter rushes in crying, "Where's Dad? Is he all right?!" Panel 4: the father is revealed sitting in a chair, now bald on top with a freshly grown gray goatee, saying defensively, "I'm fine. I just decided to grow a goatee, okay?" In the final panels the family treats the goatee as if it were a terminal illness: the mother, hand to chest, says "It doesn't look good," and the daughter declares, "I think we should pull the plug." The joke is that they react to Dad's unflattering new facial hair as a life-or-death medical crisis. Votey panel: a tearful close-up of the woman saying, "Even if we can't see it... he's suffering."
Transcribed by Claude Opus 4.8.