em
Original: em on Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal
Transcript
Panel 1:
Em Dash: HEY EM DASH HAVE YOU SEEN SEMICOLON? OR COMMA?
(A hash/pound sign and a long em dash are visible on the left; a colon and an interrobang "!?" are on the right; a quotation-mark pair "99" sits at bottom left.)
Semicolon (the colon-like punctuation mark on the right): !?
Panel 2:
Unseen speaker: WHY DO YOU ASK?
Em Dash (now drawn as a long horizontal dash): I JUST USED TO SEE THEM ALL THE TIME
(A colon punctuation mark is at right.)
Panel 3:
Em Dash: WE USED TO ALL MAKE SENTENCES TOGETHER. NOW ALL I SEE IS... IS...
(Two round dots/period-like punctuation marks float in the panel.)
Panel 4:
A speech bubble: WAIT A MINUTE.
(A large dot/period punctuation mark is shown next to a bloody knife being held against it.)
Votey:
(A speech bubble inside a hand-drawn frame, with a long diagonal line/dash beneath it.)
Voice: ALL FOR EM DASH-ALL!
Em Dash: HEY EM DASH HAVE YOU SEEN SEMICOLON? OR COMMA?
(A hash/pound sign and a long em dash are visible on the left; a colon and an interrobang "!?" are on the right; a quotation-mark pair "99" sits at bottom left.)
Semicolon (the colon-like punctuation mark on the right): !?
Panel 2:
Unseen speaker: WHY DO YOU ASK?
Em Dash (now drawn as a long horizontal dash): I JUST USED TO SEE THEM ALL THE TIME
(A colon punctuation mark is at right.)
Panel 3:
Em Dash: WE USED TO ALL MAKE SENTENCES TOGETHER. NOW ALL I SEE IS... IS...
(Two round dots/period-like punctuation marks float in the panel.)
Panel 4:
A speech bubble: WAIT A MINUTE.
(A large dot/period punctuation mark is shown next to a bloody knife being held against it.)
Votey:
(A speech bubble inside a hand-drawn frame, with a long diagonal line/dash beneath it.)
Voice: ALL FOR EM DASH-ALL!
Alt text
A four-panel black-and-white SMBC comic in which punctuation marks are characters. Panel 1: An em dash asks, "HEY EM DASH, HAVE YOU SEEN SEMICOLON? OR COMMA?" Scattered around are a pound sign, a long dash, quotation marks, and a colon-like mark that replies with a startled interrobang "!?". Panel 2: An off-panel voice asks "WHY DO YOU ASK?" The em dash (a long horizontal line) answers, "I JUST USED TO SEE THEM ALL THE TIME," with a lone colon nearby. Panel 3: The em dash says, "WE USED TO ALL MAKE SENTENCES TOGETHER. NOW ALL I SEE IS... IS..." as only two round dots (periods) float in the panel. Panel 4: A speech bubble says "WAIT A MINUTE," and a large period is menaced by a bloody knife held against it, implying the periods have been murdering the other punctuation marks. Votey: A separate framed panel with a speech bubble reading "ALL FOR EM DASH-ALL!" above a long diagonal dash, punning on "all for one and one for all."
Transcribed by Claude Opus 4.8.