smoking-kills
Original: smoking-kills on Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal
Transcript
Panel 1: A woman with glasses and graying hair, wearing a red vest over a cream blouse, stands holding a pack of cigarettes and addressing a child (out of frame in the foreground).
Woman: "...So, I want you to understand this: smoking isn't cool. Smoking KILLS."
Panel 2: The woman continues. Behind her, two other children watch.
Woman: "That doesn't make sense. Karate is cool. Machine guns are cool. Sharks are cool. In fact, killing seems to be the major commonality between cool things."
Panel 3: Close-up on the woman, eyes wide and blank, stunned.
Woman: "Huh."
Panel 4 (small inset / reaction): The woman, dark silhouette eyes, taken aback.
Woman: "Wow."
Panel 5: The woman, still holding the cigarette pack, looks down toward a small smiling girl in a pink shirt.
Woman: "Maybe I should start smoking."
Girl: "See, NOW I don't wanna do it."
Votey:
A single panel. A wide-eyed person with a worried expression speaks.
Person: "What if I had a machine gun."
A second voice (in a separate speech bubble): "Better, but needs more sharks."
Woman: "...So, I want you to understand this: smoking isn't cool. Smoking KILLS."
Panel 2: The woman continues. Behind her, two other children watch.
Woman: "That doesn't make sense. Karate is cool. Machine guns are cool. Sharks are cool. In fact, killing seems to be the major commonality between cool things."
Panel 3: Close-up on the woman, eyes wide and blank, stunned.
Woman: "Huh."
Panel 4 (small inset / reaction): The woman, dark silhouette eyes, taken aback.
Woman: "Wow."
Panel 5: The woman, still holding the cigarette pack, looks down toward a small smiling girl in a pink shirt.
Woman: "Maybe I should start smoking."
Girl: "See, NOW I don't wanna do it."
Votey:
A single panel. A wide-eyed person with a worried expression speaks.
Person: "What if I had a machine gun."
A second voice (in a separate speech bubble): "Better, but needs more sharks."
Alt text
A five-panel black-and-white-and-color SMBC comic. A woman with glasses, graying hair, and a red vest holds a pack of cigarettes and lectures a child: "...So, I want you to understand this: smoking isn't cool. Smoking KILLS." The child replies that this doesn't make sense, because karate, machine guns, and sharks are all cool, and "killing seems to be the major commonality between cool things." The woman goes blank-eyed and stunned, saying "Huh," then "Wow." Persuaded by her own logic, she looks at the cigarette pack and muses, "Maybe I should start smoking." A small smiling girl in pink says, "See, NOW I don't wanna do it," having reverse-psychologized the adult. Votey: a single panel of a wide-eyed worried person asking, "What if I had a machine gun," and another voice answering, "Better, but needs more sharks" — mocking how adding violence escalates perceived coolness.
Transcribed by Claude Opus 4.8.