theory-3
Explanation
This comic parodies conspiracy theories about the authorship of Shakespeare's works -- a real and long-running debate in literary scholarship.
The setup presents a character discussing an anti-Shakespearean authorship theory. They argue that Shakespeare could not have written his plays, citing a supposed hidden code on page 312 of the First Folio where, if you read the first letters of certain words, they spell out "bacon-related words" -- a reference to the Baconian theory, which claims that Sir Francis Bacon was the true author.
The second panel delivers the rebuttal: a character points out that "Shakespeare" made plays, and the audience attended those plays, and that other playwrights and critics of the era mentioned Shakespeare by name. In other words, the simplest explanation -- that Shakespeare wrote Shakespeare -- is supported by abundant contemporary evidence.
The humor operates on the classic SMBC pattern of contrasting elaborate conspiratorial thinking with blindingly obvious common sense. The comic mocks how authorship conspiracy theorists often rely on convoluted hidden codes and cryptographic analysis while ignoring the straightforward historical record. The "bacon-related words" detail is particularly funny because the Baconian cipher theory is one of the most famously strained examples of apophenia (finding patterns where none exist) in literary history. The comic does not take a strong scholarly position but rather lampoons the methodology of the conspiracy theorists, suggesting that the elaborate code-breaking approach is absurd when the plain evidence is right there.