Explain SMBC — the wiki for Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal

Angle

2021-11-01 View on smbc-comics.com → 1 revision
Angle
Votey panel for Angle
This explanation is incomplete or may contain errors. It was generated by AI and has not yet been reviewed by a human editor.

Explanation

This comic features two people outdoors who encounter an old, pleasant-smelling building. One character sniffs and detects "the mellow odor of beautiful old books" -- suggesting a library cellar. They discover a little reading room with a row of "unoccupied casual chairs."

The twist comes in the final panel: "That's funny. These look like rooms but they're actually houses." The scene zooms out to reveal that what appeared to be a cozy library interior is actually a set of small houses viewed from the outside. The visual joke plays on perspective and the concept of angles -- the comic's title. What the characters interpreted as an interior scene (book-filled rooms, reading chairs) turns out to be something entirely different when viewed from another angle.

The humor derives from the mismatch between romantic expectations (stumbling upon a hidden library) and the mundane reality revealed by a shift in perspective.

View History (1) Original Comic
← Previous Comic Next Comic →