Hierarchy

Main comic, single panel: A man with brown hair and a mustache stands with his eyes closed, gesturing toward a presentation of Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs drawn as a colored pyramid. The tiers from top to bottom read BODILY NEEDS, SAFETY, LOVE AND BELONGING, then a jagged glowing blue-teal burst sticker labeled NEW MOUNTAIN DEW BLUEBERRY CYCLONE wedged in as its own tier, and finally SELF-ACTUALIZATION at the base. A caption below reads: "Look, without sponsorship, we couldn't afford to promote Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs at all." The joke is that a soda ad has been inserted as a fake human need into the famous psychology pyramid. A promotional banner at the bottom advertises two Kickstarter books for May 2026: "Parenting - An SMBC Collection" and "Sawyer Lee and the Quest to Just Stay Home," both by Zach Weinersmith. Votey (aftercomic): a close-up of the same mustached man's face with a speech bubble reading "IT TOTALLY BLUE ME" followed by a trademark symbol — a pun on the soda being blue.