flood-2
Explanation
This comic examines why flood myths appear in so many cultures around the world, offering increasingly practical (and darkly funny) explanations.
In the first panel, a figure asks God: "God, why do so many cultures have flood myths?" God's initial response -- "Boy, apes are stupid" -- dismisses the question.
The second panel offers the first real answer: "Gee, what would a land mammal that has to have water and builds settlements near water be flooded by?" This is the pragmatic explanation -- ancient civilizations built near rivers and coasts because they needed water, so of course they experienced catastrophic floods regularly. Flood myths aren't mysterious; they're the predictable result of settlement patterns.
The third panel adds more explanations: floods are natural consequences of weather patterns (hurricanes, monsoons), and these catastrophic events naturally become part of a culture's mythology. The character notes that "these are also really common" weather events.
The fourth panel introduces a darker angle: "Flood myths are just an obvious consequence of the intersection of basic geography, basic meteorology, and basic narrative," suggesting that the real question isn't why flood myths exist but why anyone thinks they need a supernatural explanation.
The final panel delivers the punchline: "So you don't murder 90% of humanity at once, then?" God responds: "Look, that's a different question." The joke is that after providing perfectly rational, scientific explanations for flood myths, the person circles back to the theological question -- did God actually commit genocide by flood? God's evasive "that's a different question" is the funniest part, because it neither confirms nor denies divine mass murder while implicitly acknowledging it's at least plausible. The comic uses the mundane explanation of flood myths to set up the much more uncomfortable theological question about the biblical flood narrative.