2012-04-11
Explanation
This comic is a retelling of Genesis 18:20-33, in which Abraham negotiates with God over the fate of Sodom. In the biblical account, Abraham bargains God down from needing 50 righteous people to spare the city to just 10. This comic plays the scene for laughs by having the negotiation spiral out of control. God announces He will destroy Sodom for its sin, and Abraham asks if He would spare it for 50 good people. God agrees to check but finds fewer than 50. Abraham then tries 45, then 40, and each time God comes back having found fewer than the threshold.
The comic takes a sharp comedic turn as the exchange becomes increasingly absurd. Abraham starts to sound less like a righteous intercessor and more like a persistent haggler, and eventually God gets fed up, declaring He is destroying Sodom immediately. Abraham accuses God of having wanted to destroy it all along. God retorts that Abraham is drunk. Abraham denies it, then in the very next panel appears to be clearly drunk, slurring about "10 good bitches" and whether God has even checked, before vomiting. The comic ends with Sodom in flames, and a caption saying Abraham "just had this dry cleaner's coupon," implying even his supposed righteous concern was really about mundane self-interest.
The votey panel shows Abraham asking "Can I still enter the Promised Land?" -- still trying to get something out of the deal even after vomiting and watching Sodom burn, adding a final note of shameless opportunism to the retelling.