spot-on
Original: spot-on on Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal
Transcript
Title/caption above the panel: HOW COME ARTICLES ABOUT ARCHAEOLOGY NEVER DO THIS, JUST FOR BALANCE?
Panel (a mock news/article excerpt in a box):
"The discovery suggests culture at this location was substantially simpler and dumber than researchers previously believed. Textbooks have heretofore portrayed these people's lives as rich and intricate but they appear now to be repetitive and uncomplex. 'People have stereotypes about this period and they are just absolutely spot-on,' said one scholar."
Votey:
"What was once believed to be traditional naturalistic artwork has been revealed to be a bunch of people who just cannot for the life of them draw hands, faces, or bodies in proportion.
'My 9 year old can do better with a fistful of crayons' say experts."
Panel (a mock news/article excerpt in a box):
"The discovery suggests culture at this location was substantially simpler and dumber than researchers previously believed. Textbooks have heretofore portrayed these people's lives as rich and intricate but they appear now to be repetitive and uncomplex. 'People have stereotypes about this period and they are just absolutely spot-on,' said one scholar."
Votey:
"What was once believed to be traditional naturalistic artwork has been revealed to be a bunch of people who just cannot for the life of them draw hands, faces, or bodies in proportion.
'My 9 year old can do better with a fistful of crayons' say experts."
Alt text
A text-only SMBC comic styled as a parody news excerpt. The header reads: "HOW COME ARTICLES ABOUT ARCHAEOLOGY NEVER DO THIS, JUST FOR BALANCE?" The boxed article reads: "The discovery suggests culture at this location was substantially simpler and dumber than researchers previously believed. Textbooks have heretofore portrayed these people's lives as rich and intricate but they appear now to be repetitive and uncomplex. 'People have stereotypes about this period and they are just absolutely spot-on,' said one scholar." The joke inverts the usual archaeology-article framing that always finds ancient peoples surprisingly sophisticated, instead presenting a deadpan finding that they were just dumber than thought. Votey (aftercomic), another boxed text panel: "What was once believed to be traditional naturalistic artwork has been revealed to be a bunch of people who just cannot for the life of them draw hands, faces, or bodies in proportion. 'My 9 year old can do better with a fistful of crayons' say experts."
Transcribed by Claude Opus 4.8.