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| Superstition |
 Title text: It's important to teach yourself to feel responsible for random events, because with great responsibility comes great power. That's what my wise Uncle Ben told me right before he died; he might still be alive today if only I'd said rabbit rabbit that year! |
Explanation
This comic references the superstition, which is known to have existed as far back as 1909, of saying "rabbit rabbit" on the first day of a month in order to have good luck.
It also mocks magical thinking. There are many superstitions about actions that either cause bad luck (e.g. "step on a crack, break your mother's back", walking under a ladder, breaking a mirror) or protect against bad luck (e.g. carrying a rabbit's foot, throwing salt over your shoulder after spilling some). The comic suggests that the reason for superstitions like these is to make people feel guilty over random unpleasant events, if they fail to obey the instructions that are falsely claimed to prevent those events.
"Uncle Ben" is a reference to Spider-Man, whose uncle told him that "with great power comes great responsibility". He was not actually aware of Peter Parker's developing super-powered abilities, his aphorism being about far more mundane abilities to improve people's lives, but this still became the central guiding tenet for the superhero's philosophy. The title text flips this and implies that by taking on a great responsibility one will gain the concomitant degree of extra power. The adherence to superstitions to control our fate implies that we all have great powers, however, and we must therefore use them responsibly.
Transcript
- [Blondie, Cueball and a child (Hairy) are walking from left to right. The child is turning towards Cueball.]
- Cueball: Oops, I forgot to say "rabbit rabbit" on January first!
- Hairy: Why do you do that?
- Cueball: Just a superstition.
- Hairy: What's a superstition?
- Cueball: It's a way to train yourself to feel like any bad thing that happens is your fault.
Trivia
- As of January 7th, 2026, both the 1x and 2x version of this comic had no anti-aliasing applied (1-bit black and white). It was fixed later that day.
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