knowledge
Explanation
This comic reimagines the Biblical story of the Fall of Man from Genesis, focusing on God's curse that humans must "earn their bread by the sweat of their brow" -- and extending it into a modern commentary on work-as-identity.
In the first panel, God (depicted as a dramatic heavenly presence) delivers the classic curse: since Adam and Eve ate from the Tree of Knowledge, humanity will have to work for a living. Adam initially responds, "That doesn't sound so bad." God then clarifies with the real curse: work will not merely be a necessity -- it will become humanity's entire identity.
The middle panels elaborate on this darker version of the curse. God explains that outside Eden, Adam is "an animal that labors," and that eventually everyone will forget there is a difference between who they are and what they do. The key prophecy is devastating: humans will become so synonymous with their work that when old age or sickness takes their ability to labor away, they will be "like a scaffold with no building -- useless, pointless, faintly amusing, best avoided."
Adam protests that humanity will value themselves for their intrinsic worth, to which God responds, "Maybe take another crack at that apple, bud" -- implying that eating from the Tree of Knowledge should have made Adam smart enough to recognize the truth of this prophecy.
The comic is a sharp commentary on how modern society, particularly Western capitalist culture, has made work central to personal identity. People routinely define themselves by their careers, and retirees or those who lose their jobs often experience a profound identity crisis. Weinersmith uses the Biblical framework to suggest this is not just a cultural quirk but a kind of existential curse -- one that the comic argues was perhaps the real punishment all along, far worse than simply having to toil.