And so even the animals are depressed in the world of Tom Batiuk.This is not even remotely surprising.
Maybe Tolstoy started this way.
I'm not an expert on comic books (as opposed to comic strips, on which I am a very much an expert), but I feel like this strip doesn't really work, mostly because it seems like a scene that could actually take place in a Spider-Man comic book, more than in any other superhero's comic book. Isn't this kind of embarrassing situation precisely the sort of thing Peter Parker has to deal with every other issue?
No prophet, not even Billy apparently, can resist using fear in an effort to motivate his followers to behave morally/continue to follow him.