up

A black-and-white comic. In the main panel, a robed figure representing Christ, drawn as a large dark silhouette on the right, raises a hand and proclaims: "Behold! I will move 'up' and having now gone into 'up' I will move around only to come 'down' and instantly be elsewhere!" Two bearded men in robes watch. One asks, "Should we tell him?" The other replies, "No. Just clap. He looks so happy." A caption underneath reads: "To his lasting embarrassment, during the Second Coming, Christ had thought our universe was two-dimensional." The joke: Christ is excitedly describing ordinary 3D movement as if it were a miraculous trick, having mistaken reality for two dimensions, and the onlookers humor him rather than correct him. In the votey aftercomic, a close-up shows the same bearded Christ figure now scowling, declaring in a large speech bubble: "You know what, this was so embarrassing I'm going to let the tribulation continue for ten millennia." He petulantly extends the apocalypse out of wounded pride.