Brutkey

Tom Gauld
@tomgauld.bsky.social@bsky.brid.gy
Title: New year's resolution 

A man sits at a table with a coffee writing in a notebook: “This year i will devote myself completely to reading serious, improving literature, forsaking easy pleasures and tirelessly seeking out truth and profundity in the work of the greatest writers.”

He looks at it
Says: Hmm... 
then “Scratch Scratch Scratch scratch” scribbles out words until the text reads: “This year I will read for Fun” com.atproto.sync.getBlob.jpg Panels one and two: 
Two white mice make their way through a maze.

Panel three:
Having completed the maze, the two mice are rewarded with some fruit. Two scientists watch them. One says:
 “Poor little things: all that thought and effort just to earn themselves a little treat.”
 
The second scientist looks at a clock and says: “Coffee time!”

Panels four and five:
The two scientists make their way through a maze of corridors to a door marked “Canteen”

Panel six:
The scientists look at the food on offer. One says: “Ooh, Donuts!” com.atproto.sync.getBlob.jpg A happy book says:
I'm so proud you chose me as your holiday read! I can't wait to start entertaining you! 

A smiling drink says:
And I'm right here! Ready to keep you cool and refreshed while you read! 

A gleeful phone adds:
Yay! So great! How about we kick things off with a load of the same old rubbish you always look at, plus some gloomy news and mavbe a few emails from work!! 

Hours later...

The drink and book lie untouched. 

The phone is out of view but a bubble reads:
Scroll Scroll Scroll Scroll Scroll 

The book says
“I hate that guy.” com.atproto.sync.getBlob.jpg Title: Doubts cast on another beloved inspirational tale 


Panel 1
Our investigations team has learned that the names "Jack" and "Jill" were invented to conceal a less than salubrious past. 
(image of smiling Jack and Jill with  a bucket)

Panel 2
The pair claim to have climbed a hill to "fetch a pail of water" but we found a number of water sources much closer to their cottage.
(image of a water pump, atwo fountains and a drinking trough)

Panel 3
(image of a book with the title "WELL: a memoir" by Jill)

Jill now concedes that her account of Jack's fall and her own "Tumbling After" was intended to convey feelings, not "Cold facts". 

Panel 4
Multiple medical experts expressed Surprise that a broken crown was successfully treated with "Vinegar and brown paper.
(Image of Jack with is head wrapped in brown paper beside an xray of his damaged skull).
com.atproto.sync.getBlob.jpg