cats
Original: cats on Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal
Transcript
Panel 1:
Woman (to a friend): DO WE OWN THE CATS OR DO THEY OWN US?!
(A large black cat sits in silhouette in the foreground, listening.)
Panel 2:
The cat (close-up, looking grumpy): YOU ONCE DROPPED ME OFF TO GET CASTRATED, THEN PICKED ME UP AFTER YOU GOT YOUR NAILS DONE!
Panel 3:
(The two women face each other; the cat sits on a counter/perch nearby. The women cannot understand the cat — to them it is just noise.)
Cat: MOW MOW MEW! MEW! MEW! MOW MOW MOW MEW! MEW! MEW! MEW MEW!
Panel 4:
Woman (oblivious, hand on chin): SOMETIMES HE JUST STARTS YELLING AND I HAVE NO IDEA WHY!
(The black cat lies in the foreground, unimpressed.)
Votey:
A different, sketchier black-and-white scene. Several people look down at something off-panel (a screen or device) with alarmed/disgusted expressions.
Speaker: WHAT THE HELL IS THAT? A GREMLIN?
Woman (to a friend): DO WE OWN THE CATS OR DO THEY OWN US?!
(A large black cat sits in silhouette in the foreground, listening.)
Panel 2:
The cat (close-up, looking grumpy): YOU ONCE DROPPED ME OFF TO GET CASTRATED, THEN PICKED ME UP AFTER YOU GOT YOUR NAILS DONE!
Panel 3:
(The two women face each other; the cat sits on a counter/perch nearby. The women cannot understand the cat — to them it is just noise.)
Cat: MOW MOW MEW! MEW! MEW! MOW MOW MOW MEW! MEW! MEW! MEW MEW!
Panel 4:
Woman (oblivious, hand on chin): SOMETIMES HE JUST STARTS YELLING AND I HAVE NO IDEA WHY!
(The black cat lies in the foreground, unimpressed.)
Votey:
A different, sketchier black-and-white scene. Several people look down at something off-panel (a screen or device) with alarmed/disgusted expressions.
Speaker: WHAT THE HELL IS THAT? A GREMLIN?
Alt text
A four-panel color SMBC comic about cats and their owners. Panel 1: A woman asks her friend, 'Do we own the cats or do they own us?!' while a large black cat sits silhouetted in the foreground. Panel 2: A grumpy close-up of the tan cat retorting, 'You once dropped me off to get castrated, then picked me up after you got your nails done!' — revealing the cat has plenty of grievances. Panel 3: The cat loudly complains, but to the two oblivious women it just sounds like 'Mow mow mew! Mew! Mew!' Panel 4: One woman, hand on chin, says, 'Sometimes he just starts yelling and I have no idea why!' The joke: the cat is making perfectly articulate, pointed complaints, but the humans only hear meaningless yowling. Votey (bonus panel): a rough black-and-white sketch of several people staring down in alarm at something off-panel; one says, 'What the hell is that? A gremlin?'
Transcribed by Claude Opus 4.8.