song
Original: song on Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal
Transcript
Panel 1 (narration over four birds perched on a branch, each labeled below):
PRIOR TO THE ARRIVAL OF EUROPEANS, THERE WERE FOUR SPECIES OF THE GENUS MOHO IN HAWAII.
Labels under each bird: apicalis / bishopi / nobilis / braccatus
Panel 2 (narration over the same birds, now with smoke/death clouds and dates):
DUE TO INTRODUCED PREDATORS, HABITAT LOSS, HUNTING, AND DISEASE, THEY DIED OFF DURING THE 19th AND 20th CENTURY.
Dates over each bird: ~1837 / ~1904 / ~1934 / ~1987
Labels still visible: apicals / bishopi / nobilis / braccatus
Panel 3 (narration):
THE LAST KNOWN MEMBER OF THE GENUS WAS A MALE MOHO BRACCATUS, WHO DIED IN 1987.
Panel 4 (narration):
THERE IS A RECORDING OF THIS BIRD, NEAR THE END OF HIS LIFE, SINGING A MATING SONG TO NO EAR THAT CAN HEAR.
Panel 5 (a single bird perched on a branch against a pale sky).
Panel 6 (a white silhouette of a bird singing into blackness, with musical notes).
Panel 7 (narration over a dark landscape):
I CAN'T HELP BUT WONDER IF ONE DAY WE'LL MAKE OURSELVES AN ENDANGERED SPECIES.
Panel 8 (narration over a desolate, post-apocalyptic landscape with a mushroom cloud):
AND SOME DREAD MORNING THERE WILL BE A LAST MAN.
Panel 9 (ruined city skyline under a red sky, a tiny lone human figure):
(no text)
Panel 10 (narration over the ruins):
SINGING OUR MATING SONG TO A MATELESS EARTH...
Panel 11 (a red-haired man with a sad expression, speaking):
Man: I'M A GOOOOD LIIIIISTENER WITH NOOOO CREDIT CARD DEEEEEBT...
Votey:
(A large speech bubble in an otherwise empty/dark scene, with the lone man's silhouette at the bottom right.)
Man: ...UNLESS SOMEONE FROM MASTERCARD SURVIVED...
PRIOR TO THE ARRIVAL OF EUROPEANS, THERE WERE FOUR SPECIES OF THE GENUS MOHO IN HAWAII.
Labels under each bird: apicalis / bishopi / nobilis / braccatus
Panel 2 (narration over the same birds, now with smoke/death clouds and dates):
DUE TO INTRODUCED PREDATORS, HABITAT LOSS, HUNTING, AND DISEASE, THEY DIED OFF DURING THE 19th AND 20th CENTURY.
Dates over each bird: ~1837 / ~1904 / ~1934 / ~1987
Labels still visible: apicals / bishopi / nobilis / braccatus
Panel 3 (narration):
THE LAST KNOWN MEMBER OF THE GENUS WAS A MALE MOHO BRACCATUS, WHO DIED IN 1987.
Panel 4 (narration):
THERE IS A RECORDING OF THIS BIRD, NEAR THE END OF HIS LIFE, SINGING A MATING SONG TO NO EAR THAT CAN HEAR.
Panel 5 (a single bird perched on a branch against a pale sky).
Panel 6 (a white silhouette of a bird singing into blackness, with musical notes).
Panel 7 (narration over a dark landscape):
I CAN'T HELP BUT WONDER IF ONE DAY WE'LL MAKE OURSELVES AN ENDANGERED SPECIES.
Panel 8 (narration over a desolate, post-apocalyptic landscape with a mushroom cloud):
AND SOME DREAD MORNING THERE WILL BE A LAST MAN.
Panel 9 (ruined city skyline under a red sky, a tiny lone human figure):
(no text)
Panel 10 (narration over the ruins):
SINGING OUR MATING SONG TO A MATELESS EARTH...
Panel 11 (a red-haired man with a sad expression, speaking):
Man: I'M A GOOOOD LIIIIISTENER WITH NOOOO CREDIT CARD DEEEEEBT...
Votey:
(A large speech bubble in an otherwise empty/dark scene, with the lone man's silhouette at the bottom right.)
Man: ...UNLESS SOMEONE FROM MASTERCARD SURVIVED...
Alt text
An eleven-panel SMBC comic. The first panels are a somber natural-history narration about the extinct Hawaiian bird genus Moho. Panel 1: four small dark birds with yellow markings perch on a branch, labeled apicalis, bishopi, nobilis, and braccatus, with the caption that before Europeans arrived there were four species of the genus Moho in Hawaii. Panel 2: the same four birds shown with clouds of death and extinction dates (~1837, ~1904, ~1934, ~1987), captioned that introduced predators, habitat loss, hunting, and disease killed them off during the 19th and 20th centuries. Captions explain the last known member was a male Moho braccatus who died in 1987, and that there is a recording of him near the end of his life singing a mating song 'to no ear that can hear.' A panel shows the lone bird on a branch; another shows a white silhouette of the bird singing musical notes into blackness. The narration then turns to humanity: 'I can't help but wonder if one day we'll make ourselves an endangered species. And some dread morning there will be a last man,' over images of a mushroom cloud and a ruined city skyline with a tiny lone figure, 'singing our mating song to a mateless Earth...' The final panel shows a sad red-haired man calling out: 'I'm a goooood liiiiistener with noooo credit card deeeebt...' Votey aftercomic: an empty dark scene with the man's silhouette and a big speech bubble adding, '...unless someone from Mastercard survived...'
Transcribed by Claude Opus 4.8.