novels
Original: novels on Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal
Transcript
Panel 1:
Header label: JANE AUSTEN NOVELS:
Text in a speech/caption box: "...and now we introduce character number 412, son of the aunt whose sister-in-law's cousin was briefly affianced to the troubled love interest of the protagonist's estranged brother's half-nephew's wife's best friend."
(A red-haired person reads a book, with a quill/pen nib pointing toward the text box.)
Panel 2:
Header label: ERNEST HEMINGWAY NOVELS:
Text in a speech/caption box: "There was a man trying to get a fish."
(The same red-haired person reads the book; small sound effect near them.)
Panel 3:
Header label: ME, TALKING ABOUT BOOKS:
Woman with dark red hair: "Why do you like Hemingway novels so much?"
Red-haired person (gesturing): "Because I am an INTELLECTUAL."
Votey:
Text in a thought/speech box pointing at an open book: "FISH TOO BIG. OLD MAN SAD. WOMAN PROBABLY TO BLAME."
Header label: JANE AUSTEN NOVELS:
Text in a speech/caption box: "...and now we introduce character number 412, son of the aunt whose sister-in-law's cousin was briefly affianced to the troubled love interest of the protagonist's estranged brother's half-nephew's wife's best friend."
(A red-haired person reads a book, with a quill/pen nib pointing toward the text box.)
Panel 2:
Header label: ERNEST HEMINGWAY NOVELS:
Text in a speech/caption box: "There was a man trying to get a fish."
(The same red-haired person reads the book; small sound effect near them.)
Panel 3:
Header label: ME, TALKING ABOUT BOOKS:
Woman with dark red hair: "Why do you like Hemingway novels so much?"
Red-haired person (gesturing): "Because I am an INTELLECTUAL."
Votey:
Text in a thought/speech box pointing at an open book: "FISH TOO BIG. OLD MAN SAD. WOMAN PROBABLY TO BLAME."
Alt text
A three-panel SMBC comic contrasting writing styles. Panel 1, labeled "JANE AUSTEN NOVELS:", shows a red-haired person reading a book; a quill points to a dense caption reading "...and now we introduce character number 412, son of the aunt whose sister-in-law's cousin was briefly affianced to the troubled love interest of the protagonist's estranged brother's half-nephew's wife's best friend." Panel 2, labeled "ERNEST HEMINGWAY NOVELS:", shows the same reader and a tiny caption: "There was a man trying to get a fish." Panel 3, labeled "ME, TALKING ABOUT BOOKS:", a dark-red-haired woman asks "Why do you like Hemingway novels so much?" and the red-haired person, gesturing grandly, replies "Because I am an INTELLECTUAL." The joke contrasts Austen's tangled prose with Hemingway's terse style, then mocks the smug fan. Votey: an open book with a blunt summary in a box: "FISH TOO BIG. OLD MAN SAD. WOMAN PROBABLY TO BLAME." — a curt, faintly sexist one-line recap of The Old Man and the Sea.
Transcribed by Claude Opus 4.8.