Explain SMBC — the wiki for Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal

The Joke

This comic is somewhat unusual for SMBC in that it served a dual purpose — it was posted as part of a double update (alongside "Pruney") and was connected to a Kickstarter campaign promotion for one of Zach Weinersmith's board game projects. The comic plays on the concept of a "last chance" — the title itself references the urgency of backing a crowdfunding campaign before it ends.

The comic takes the familiar tropes of dramatic "last chance" scenarios — the kind you see in action movies or life-or-death situations — and applies them to something far more mundane, like the closing hours of a Kickstarter campaign. The humor lies in the juxtaposition of high-stakes dramatic language with the relatively low-stakes reality of backing a board game project online.

The Humor

The comedy derives from the mismatch between the dramatic framing suggested by the title "Last Chance" and the actual subject matter. SMBC frequently uses this kind of bait-and-switch, where the setup implies something grand or philosophical but the payoff is deliberately anticlimactic or commercial. There is also a meta-humor element, as Weinersmith is self-aware about using his comic platform to promote his own projects, and leans into that self-awareness as part of the joke.

References

• Kickstarter: The crowdfunding platform where Zach Weinersmith has launched several successful campaigns for board games and other projects, including BAHFest-related games and other collaborative ventures.