start
Original: start on Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal
Transcript
Panel 1:
First character (a person with short dark hair, shown from behind): I'm thinking of starting a religion.
Second character (a person with a bun, in a green shirt): That's easy.
Panel 2:
Second character: Run around making confusing but charismatic speeches. Be a bit contradictory, for mystery's sake, but more or less straightforwardly promote an uplifting vision of the good life.
Panel 3:
Second character: Then die and have someone else simultaneously promote you as perfected while packaging your message in simplified form for popular consumption.
Panel 4:
First character: Do I have to do the die part?
Panel 5:
Second character: It's easier for sure. Jesus has Paul. Socrates has Plato. Confucius has Mencius.
Panel 6:
Second character: Look, you can't be a straight shooting advertiser if you're promoting yourself.
Panel 7 (the two figures stand silhouetted on a hilltop):
First character: I was hoping to take advantage of my followers during my own lifetime.
Second character: That's called a cult.
Votey:
Caption (handwritten): Personally, I'd go with the cult.
First character (a person with short dark hair, shown from behind): I'm thinking of starting a religion.
Second character (a person with a bun, in a green shirt): That's easy.
Panel 2:
Second character: Run around making confusing but charismatic speeches. Be a bit contradictory, for mystery's sake, but more or less straightforwardly promote an uplifting vision of the good life.
Panel 3:
Second character: Then die and have someone else simultaneously promote you as perfected while packaging your message in simplified form for popular consumption.
Panel 4:
First character: Do I have to do the die part?
Panel 5:
Second character: It's easier for sure. Jesus has Paul. Socrates has Plato. Confucius has Mencius.
Panel 6:
Second character: Look, you can't be a straight shooting advertiser if you're promoting yourself.
Panel 7 (the two figures stand silhouetted on a hilltop):
First character: I was hoping to take advantage of my followers during my own lifetime.
Second character: That's called a cult.
Votey:
Caption (handwritten): Personally, I'd go with the cult.
Alt text
A seven-panel SMBC comic. A person with short dark hair tells a friend (a person with a bun in a green shirt) that they're thinking of starting a religion. The friend says it's easy: make confusing but charismatic, slightly contradictory speeches promoting an uplifting vision of the good life, then die and have someone else simultaneously promote you as perfected while simplifying your message for popular consumption. The first person asks, "Do I have to do the die part?" The friend says it's easier that way, citing Jesus/Paul, Socrates/Plato, Confucius/Mencius, and adds you can't be a straight-shooting advertiser while promoting yourself. In the final panel the two stand silhouetted on a hilltop; the first person admits, "I was hoping to take advantage of my followers during my own lifetime," and the friend replies, "That's called a cult." Votey: a loose hand-drawn doodle of a cloud or puff with the handwritten caption, "Personally, I'd go with the cult."
Transcribed by Claude Opus 4.8.