"Testing Tone Claims"

Transcript
Page 1. Panels 1 and 2. Mad Scientist Comix. Volume 2 Number 4. The Mad Scientist narrates, "Hypothesis: guitar tone is affected by the species of wood it's made from." CC BY-SA Ken Alleman 2019. Panel 3. The Mad Scientist brandishes two identical-looking guitars. He stands next to an easel with a poster divided into a four panel grid. He says, "We have two guitars: one ash, one alder, the same otherwise." Panel 4 is a closeup of the grid. The left and right columns are labeled "changed guitars," "did not change," and the top and bottom rows are labeled "difference," "no difference." He says, "Make this grid." Panel 5. A trio of figures are tied up in their chairs: a pit bull, a woman in a fedora, and a woman in a hijab. They are all blindfolded. The Mad Scientist says, "Your subjects must never know which guitar is being played." Panel 6. The tied-up characters are in the background. The Mad Scientist stands in the foreground, preparing to play one of the guitars. He says, "Repeat a short passage. Switch guitars at uneven intervals."

Page 2. Panels 1, 2, and 3. The Mad Scientist shrugs and speaks before getting cut off. "Obviously, we aren't going to do the experiment in a comic that has no sound. But here's my point. This is the kind of test these claims demand. Otherwise, you end up believing whatever you want to be..." Panel 4. An explosion rocks the room. The Mad Scientist shields his face with his hands.

Page 3. Panels 1 and 2. MacCormac and the three Dots stand at the threshold of a freshly made hole in the wall, as does K, who inhabits a large old timey science fiction robot. His face is visible, inset, with a reverse heads-up display in the foreground. K says, "Remember us?" Panels 3 and 4. The Mad Scientist smirks, arms crossed. He says, "What are you doing? Thwarting my plans?" A voice from off-panel says, "They're not." Panel 5. Ken sits calmly on an overturned piece of wreckage from the massive hole caused by the explosion. He is foregrounded against the light shining in from outside the Mad Scientist's layer. Ken says, "I am."

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