Strong
Original: Strong on Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal
Transcript
Panel 1: HARD TIMES CREATE STRONG MEN.
(A man, a woman, and a child stand together outdoors.)
Panel 2: STRONG MEN CREATE GOOD TIMES.
(A golden, glittering cityscape.)
A giant disembodied head bursts in shouting: OH SHIT EXOGENOUS FACTORS!
Panel 3: HOLY LOVING FUCK A RANDOM HALF OF THE POPULATION DIED OF PLAGUE.
(A lone figure stands in an empty landscape.)
Figure: UH... WHERE WERE WE?
Off-panel / reply: AH, ALRIGHT.
Panel 4: HARD TIMES CREATE STRONG MEN.
(The man, woman, and child stand together again.)
Panel 5: STRONG MEN CREATE GOOD TIMES.
(The golden glittering cityscape again, with the giant head looming.)
Panel 6: GOOD TIMES---
The giant head bursts in again: OH SHIT EXOGENOUS FACTORS!
Panel 7: HOLY LOVING THUNDERBALLS ALL THE CROPS HAVE A NEW TYPE OF FUNGUSAAAAAAAAAGGGGGH!
(A lone tiny figure stands in a barren field.)
Panel 8: OH JESUS HOW THE LIVING ENVY THE DEAD MY GOD MY GOD MY GOD
(A gaunt, suffering figure.)
Speech bubble: PHEW. WHERE WERE WE?
Panel 9: STRONG MEN CREATE GOOD TIMES.
(Two emaciated, distressed figures.)
Figures: UH. OH. VEG.
Panel 10: The giant head bursts in: OHH SHIT EXOGENOUS FACTORS!
Panel 11: BLISTERING CAESARS OF CHRIST SOMEBODY NUKED OUR ASSES OH MY GOD WHY WHY WHY WHY WHY
(Multiple mushroom clouds rise over a devastated landscape.)
Panel 12: SO GERAPH, YOU'RE SAYING HISTORY ISN'T MADE OF PREDICTABLE CYCLES?
(Two figures talking.)
Panel 13: TO PARAPHRASE: HISTORY DOES NOT REPEAT ITSELF, BUT IT DOES SUCK A LOT.
(A figure replies in a darkened scene.)
Votey: (none)
(A man, a woman, and a child stand together outdoors.)
Panel 2: STRONG MEN CREATE GOOD TIMES.
(A golden, glittering cityscape.)
A giant disembodied head bursts in shouting: OH SHIT EXOGENOUS FACTORS!
Panel 3: HOLY LOVING FUCK A RANDOM HALF OF THE POPULATION DIED OF PLAGUE.
(A lone figure stands in an empty landscape.)
Figure: UH... WHERE WERE WE?
Off-panel / reply: AH, ALRIGHT.
Panel 4: HARD TIMES CREATE STRONG MEN.
(The man, woman, and child stand together again.)
Panel 5: STRONG MEN CREATE GOOD TIMES.
(The golden glittering cityscape again, with the giant head looming.)
Panel 6: GOOD TIMES---
The giant head bursts in again: OH SHIT EXOGENOUS FACTORS!
Panel 7: HOLY LOVING THUNDERBALLS ALL THE CROPS HAVE A NEW TYPE OF FUNGUSAAAAAAAAAGGGGGH!
(A lone tiny figure stands in a barren field.)
Panel 8: OH JESUS HOW THE LIVING ENVY THE DEAD MY GOD MY GOD MY GOD
(A gaunt, suffering figure.)
Speech bubble: PHEW. WHERE WERE WE?
Panel 9: STRONG MEN CREATE GOOD TIMES.
(Two emaciated, distressed figures.)
Figures: UH. OH. VEG.
Panel 10: The giant head bursts in: OHH SHIT EXOGENOUS FACTORS!
Panel 11: BLISTERING CAESARS OF CHRIST SOMEBODY NUKED OUR ASSES OH MY GOD WHY WHY WHY WHY WHY
(Multiple mushroom clouds rise over a devastated landscape.)
Panel 12: SO GERAPH, YOU'RE SAYING HISTORY ISN'T MADE OF PREDICTABLE CYCLES?
(Two figures talking.)
Panel 13: TO PARAPHRASE: HISTORY DOES NOT REPEAT ITSELF, BUT IT DOES SUCK A LOT.
(A figure replies in a darkened scene.)
Votey: (none)
Alt text
A tall SMBC comic mocking the cyclical-history meme "hard times create strong men, strong men create good times." It runs the cycle three times. Each time, panels show a family standing together ("HARD TIMES CREATE STRONG MEN") and a glittering golden city ("STRONG MEN CREATE GOOD TIMES"), but the cycle is always interrupted by a giant disembodied head bursting in and screaming in huge letters: "OH SHIT EXOGENOUS FACTORS!" The first interruption is a plague that kills half the population; the second is a fungus that destroys all the crops; the third is a nuclear strike, with mushroom clouds rising over a wasteland. Between disasters, increasingly gaunt and despairing survivors mutter "uh... where were we?" and try to restart the cycle, only to be wiped out again. In the final panels two figures converse: one asks whether history isn't made of predictable cycles, and the other replies, "To paraphrase: history does not repeat itself, but it does suck a lot." There is no votey. The joke: the tidy strong-men-and-good-times cycle keeps getting flattened by random catastrophes, undermining any claim that history is cleanly predictable.
Transcribed by Claude Opus 4.8.