exist
Original: exist on Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal
Transcript
Panel 1:
Billy (a small red-haired boy): DADDY, DO I... HOW CAN I BE SURE I EXIST?
Father (a red-haired man with glasses): OH MY GOSH, BILLY!
Panel 2:
Father: THAT IS WAY TOO BIG OF A QUESTION FOR SUCH A LITTLE KID!
Panel 3:
Father (now lying in bed in the dark, eyes shut, gesturing): YOU'RE AS REAL AS THIS HOUSE, REAL AS MOM AND GRAMMY!
Votey:
Father (still lying in bed, sketchy desperate drawing): REAL AS MOM2, MOM3, MOM4, AND MY TRILLION DOLLAR BUSINESS OF BEING A JEDI AND WORLD CUP WINNER!
Billy (a small red-haired boy): DADDY, DO I... HOW CAN I BE SURE I EXIST?
Father (a red-haired man with glasses): OH MY GOSH, BILLY!
Panel 2:
Father: THAT IS WAY TOO BIG OF A QUESTION FOR SUCH A LITTLE KID!
Panel 3:
Father (now lying in bed in the dark, eyes shut, gesturing): YOU'RE AS REAL AS THIS HOUSE, REAL AS MOM AND GRAMMY!
Votey:
Father (still lying in bed, sketchy desperate drawing): REAL AS MOM2, MOM3, MOM4, AND MY TRILLION DOLLAR BUSINESS OF BEING A JEDI AND WORLD CUP WINNER!
Alt text
A four-panel SMBC comic. Panel 1: A small red-haired boy named Billy looks up at his red-haired, glasses-wearing father and asks, "Daddy, do I... how can I be sure I exist?" The startled father replies, "Oh my gosh, Billy!" Panel 2: The father smiles and says, "That is way too big of a question for such a little kid!" Panel 3: Cut to a dark scene of the father lying in bed at night, eyes screwed shut and hand raised, insisting, "You're as real as this house, real as Mom and Grammy!" The joke: his reassurance to his son is actually him lying awake trying to convince himself his own life is real. Votey (aftercomic): The father, drawn in a loose desperate sketch still lying in bed, continues spiraling: "Real as Mom2, Mom3, Mom4, and my trillion dollar business of being a Jedi and World Cup winner!" — revealing his "reality" is escalating into obvious fantasy.
Transcribed by Claude Opus 4.8.