Explain SMBC — the wiki for Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal

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" -- dismissively waves off the question as if the answer should be obvious.

The second panel provides the common-sense answer: "Gee, what would a land mammal that has to have water and builds settlements near water be flooded by?" This is the straightforward geographic explanation -- humans settle near water sources, water sources flood, therefore flood stories are universal. There's no mystery to solve.

The third panel layers on additional reasoning: floods are caused by common weather phenomena (hurricanes, monsoons, seasonal rains), and dramatic natural disasters naturally become foundational myths in oral traditions. The character emphasizes these are extremely common events, not rare apocalyptic occurrences.

The fourth panel synthesizes the argument: "Flood myths are just an obvious consequence of the intersection of basic geography, basic meteorology, and basic narrative." The comic argues that you don't need to invoke a literal global flood or shared ancestral memory -- you just need to recognize that humans plus rivers plus storms equals flood stories, everywhere, independently.

The final exchange is the punchline: "So you don't murder 90% of humanity at once, then?" God's response -- "Look, that's a different question" -- is deliberately evasive. After spending the entire comic providing rational, naturalistic explanations for flood myths, the conversation suddenly pivots to the actual theological claim: that God deliberately drowned nearly all of humanity. God's refusal to answer directly is both comedic and pointed -- the scientific explanation for why flood myths are common is entirely separate from whether the biblical flood narrative describes a real act of divine judgment. The comic humorously separates the anthropological question from the theological one, while leaving the more uncomfortable question conspicuously unanswered.