burial-ground
Original: burial-ground on Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal
Transcript
Panel 1:
An elderly woman (a medium/psychic, in a maroon robe with a gold pendant, eyes closed, hands raised): I'm afraid... this house is... HAUNTED.
Panel 2:
Medium (off-panel): It was built hundreds of years ago... on the site of a twenty-first century burial ground.
(Two people stand before strange helmet/visor-wearing figures.)
Panel 3:
Medium (off-panel): [continuing] ...hundreds of years ago... on the site of a twenty-first century burial ground.
(A figure in a dark visor/helmet stands in the foreground; the medium's profile is visible at right.)
Panel 4:
Medium: They are forever living out their own time, even as you try to inhabit their home.
Panel 5:
Medium: So those departed spirits, trying to make us leave —
Man in yellow visor: No, no, you...
Panel 6:
Medium: ...the screams are departed spirits, trying to make us leave.
Man in yellow visor: No, no, the spirits are yelling at the news.
(The medium looks crestfallen.)
Votey:
A hand-drawn figure stands holding a megaphone/bullhorn up to their mouth. The sound coming out is a rambling murmur:
ooo healthcare ooo o deficit oo twitter...
An elderly woman (a medium/psychic, in a maroon robe with a gold pendant, eyes closed, hands raised): I'm afraid... this house is... HAUNTED.
Panel 2:
Medium (off-panel): It was built hundreds of years ago... on the site of a twenty-first century burial ground.
(Two people stand before strange helmet/visor-wearing figures.)
Panel 3:
Medium (off-panel): [continuing] ...hundreds of years ago... on the site of a twenty-first century burial ground.
(A figure in a dark visor/helmet stands in the foreground; the medium's profile is visible at right.)
Panel 4:
Medium: They are forever living out their own time, even as you try to inhabit their home.
Panel 5:
Medium: So those departed spirits, trying to make us leave —
Man in yellow visor: No, no, you...
Panel 6:
Medium: ...the screams are departed spirits, trying to make us leave.
Man in yellow visor: No, no, the spirits are yelling at the news.
(The medium looks crestfallen.)
Votey:
A hand-drawn figure stands holding a megaphone/bullhorn up to their mouth. The sound coming out is a rambling murmur:
ooo healthcare ooo o deficit oo twitter...
Alt text
A six-panel SMBC comic. An elderly medium in a maroon robe with a gold pendant, eyes closed and hands raised, declares: 'I'm afraid... this house is... HAUNTED.' She explains it was built hundreds of years ago on the site of a twenty-first century burial ground, and that the departed spirits are forever living out their own time even as the living try to inhabit their home. The people she's addressing wear futuristic helmets and visors, marking them as far-future humans. The medium concludes that the screams in the house are departed spirits trying to make them leave — but a man in a yellow visor corrects her: 'No, no, the spirits are yelling at the news.' She looks deflated. The joke: the 'spirits' are present-day (21st century) people, and their 'screams' are just everyday outrage about current events. Votey: a figure holds a megaphone to their mouth, emitting a rambling murmur — 'ooo healthcare ooo o deficit oo twitter...' — the eternal background noise of a 21st-century ghost ranting about the news.
Transcribed by Claude Opus 4.8.