Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal (SMBC)

Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal (SMBC) is a webcomic by Zach Weinersmith that has won Web Cartoonist’s Choice Award for Outstanding Single Panel Comic. Some webcomics contain plots that slowly develops over time while others do not possess a narrative and are instead stand alone [1]. Consequently, SMBC is a comic that does not rely on narrative to provide structure to the webcomic and instead relies on wit and humor. In the age of the internet, websites are compelled to compete for the limited attention spans of web users [2]. A storyline may provide advantages in terms of structure and engagement, but the stand-alone nature of SMBC comics possesses its own advantages in the form of spreadability and ease to pick up as context is not required.

Rather than employing narrative to provide organization, each publication of SMBC provides structure through the utilization of three elements of webcomics: hidden comic, alt-text, and main comic [3]. For instance, the SMBC comic “straw man” has a main comic that illustrates a scenario where a man stating that you shouldn’t use straw man arguments is countered by a strawman argument. Hovering over the main comic, the alt-text displays, “The only thing unrealistic about this is that the guy is yelling in person and not online.” Lastly, the hidden comic is a black and white sketch of the second character responding with “AND STOP IMPLYING THAT I’M A NAZI!” Through the straw man comic, Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal demonstrates the components of main comic, alt-text, and hidden comic in a comprehensive format.

Through the use of colorful palettes and bubbly character designs, SMBC’s unique art style reflects the contents of its subject matter. For example, the border lines are oftentimes skewed and the characters lack detail, yet the style conveys the topics across in a light-hearted format to which the art style complements. Likewise, the length of the comics themselves can vary widely. Sometimes they include a paragraph of words and stretch multiple panels while other times, it’s just a single panel with a couple speech bubbles. Furthermore, the variety of topics and random nature of the comics themselves contribute the the entertainment value as every panel is fresh and unexpected in some manner. In this particular comic “straw men”, the two characters are discussing about strawman arguments while happening to acting out exactly what they are describing leaving a lasting impression in terms of remembering the concept. By incorporating humor and a sense of self-awareness into the comics, they become a form of art that’s almost unintentionally educational through the use of humor. By enabling the reader to introspect on various aspects through the lens of humor, the comics provoke laughter and insight through the use of entertainment.

1. Misemer, Leah. “Webcomics. ”Keywords in Comics Studies. New York: NYU Press, forthcoming. 17 Jan 2019, https://gatech.instructure.com/courses/33225/files/folder/Unit%201%3A%20Webcomics%20and%20Digital%20Culture?preview=2831041.

2. Falkinger, Josef. "Limited Attention as a Scarce Resource in Information-Rich Economies." The Economic Journal 118, no. 532 (2008): 1596-620. http://www.jstor.org/stable/20108876.

3. Bramlett, Frank. Linguistic Discourse in Webcomics. The Language of Pop Culture. 22 January 2019, https://gatech.instructure.com/courses/33225/files/folder/Unit%201%3A%20Webcomics%20and%20Digital%20Culture?preview=2831043.