After drawing the original version of today’s strip, I had the feeling that I had used the joke before. That wouldn’t exactly be a first, but in this case it wasn’t so much “I’ve done a variation on this” as “I’ve done this word for word!” – I couldn’t find it through Oh No Robot, so it must not be a strip that’s transcribed, and I wasn’t about to go through the archives and look for it (though you’re certainly welcome to!), so I changed the last panel slightly instead. If you want to see the original version, it’s up as today’s new voting bonus at TopWebcomics!
Well, you must admit it isn’t too surprising, especially after all this time, for such a sensation to arise. I mean, apart from the usual variations which gives each arc its own flavour and unique joke opportunities, the grand line has generally been found to be a chain of events comparable to: Standard universe -> Something seems wrong -> Reality is awry -> Reality is awry differently -> Things seem to be clearing up -> Things all go to pot -> Everything seems fine -> Reality isn’t fine after all, the universe and reality flowing from state to state, following no rules but the easy line of what would be most humorous at the time. With tiny unique problem arcs popping up independently, too.
All very fun and all, but don’t you think it might be time to give the ol’ continuum a rest? No, better; I *challenge* you to see how long you can keep things interesting before the universe breaks again.
Oh yes.