2010-09-16
Explanation
This comic depicts a woman presenting her boyfriend with a graph showing that she has reached "peak giving-a-shit" six months ago. She explains that caring is a finite resource, and he used it all up by constantly complaining about video game release dates. To continue the relationship, she is researching "alternative giving-a-shit resources" such as lust, fear of change, and an abstract feeling of obligation.
The punchline comes when the man asks if they are breaking up, and the woman instead suggests they should have kids -- implying that having children is one of the "alternative resources" couples use to sustain a relationship when genuine caring has been depleted. The comic satirizes long-term relationships by treating emotional investment like a commodity subject to depletion, borrowing the language of resource economics (peak oil, alternative energy) to describe the mundane reality of relationship fatigue.