http://www.ndbag.com/story/comic/08.html
As he continues his exploration of humanity's relationship with technology, Ndbag takes the time to warn us of some of the dangers inherent in the untrammelled advancement of science. The method he chooses, though, is an unusual one; he does so while simultaneously relating the career of eighteenth-century painter Francisco Goya.
Ndbag starts out by promising free lint. Just as Goya's early success culminated in his becoming a painter for the Spanish royal family, Ndbag at Comiccon has reached a pinnacle. He can give away lint.
It's all too easy to become dazzled by the lint, though. We recall that delighted though the royal family may have been with their portraits, there wasn't one of them that wasn't show to be, not to put too fine a point on it, hideous. Equally, we shouldn't get totally caught up in the fact that we've been given lint; we have to remind ourselves of the reasons we want the lint. Ndbag limns the fact that lint can cause untold destruction, and that only by carefully considering its vast potential can we safely continue advancing the human race.
In the second panel, we see Ndbag at a table, stylus in hand; very much as we imagine Goya at the turn of the century. Rather than etchings, though, Ndbag is giving us autographs. In this he's consciously distancing himself from Goya's new direction; the fact that prints were made contrasts starkly with the unique nature of the autograph. As the queue for autographs grows, though, we find ourselves wondering about those at the end of the queue. Have they joined to get the boogeyman's autograph, or because there's a queue for the boogeyman's autograph? In presenting us with the Euthyphro dilemma like this, Ndbag is forcing us to consider the nature of personality in the academic field.
It's only in the third panel, though, that it all comes together. The darkness of Goya's final paintings is echoed eerily by a green sock being held by a panda. Only after the initial shock has passed do we realise that Ndbag is saying the opposite; that though Pandaman seems to be in control of the sock, he is actually supporting it. The pieces then fall into place. Goya... science... lint... the breadth of the Big Picture astounds us, and we can only admire it, speechless.
In the second panel, we see Ndbag at a table, stylus in hand; very much as we imagine Goya at the turn of the century. Rather than etchings, though, Ndbag is giving us autographs. In this he's consciously distancing himself from Goya's new direction; the fact that prints were made contrasts starkly with the unique nature of the autograph. As the queue for autographs grows, though, we find ourselves wondering about those at the end of the queue. Have they joined to get the boogeyman's autograph, or because there's a queue for the boogeyman's autograph? In presenting us with the Euthyphro dilemma like this, Ndbag is forcing us to consider the nature of personality in the academic field.
It's only in the third panel, though, that it all comes together. The darkness of Goya's final paintings is echoed eerily by a green sock being held by a panda. Only after the initial shock has passed do we realise that Ndbag is saying the opposite; that though Pandaman seems to be in control of the sock, he is actually supporting it. The pieces then fall into place. Goya... science... lint... the breadth of the Big Picture astounds us, and we can only admire it, speechless.
... !!
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