2011-07-10
Explanation
This comic tells the story of an alien first contact gone wrong. The Zorblaxians arrive on Earth claiming to be the chosen people of the "Multiverse Maker" and the center of the universe. Humans smugly dismiss this as chauvinism, citing humanity's own history of overcoming such self-centered thinking -- each tribe thought it was central, then the Earth, then the galaxy, and each time we learned we were wrong.
However, it turns out the Zorblaxians actually have evidence: the entire universe literally forms a wheel with spokes meeting at Zorblax Prime, all pulsar emissions combine to form the Zorblaxian national anthem, and certain digits of pi encode "Hooray for Zorblax." When the humans ask to join their civilization, the Zorblaxians refuse, saying their religion only permits allying with "ensouled creatures." After being rejected, humanity feels empty and purposeless, but the aliens leave behind "#1 foam hands." This humiliation motivates humanity to radically restructure society around science and technology, eventually becoming powerful enough to destroy the Zorblaxians. The comic satirizes both human arrogance about cosmological humility and the idea that spite and wounded pride can be powerful motivators for collective achievement.