2012-09-24
Explanation
This comic is titled "Funtime Activity: Leaving Sad Product Reviews" and presents three fictional product reviews that are ostensibly about consumer goods but actually reveal deep personal sadness and existential despair. The first review is for a Towel Rack (4/5 stars), where the reviewer writes: "Came broken. Got rid of it. Now I know how Mom felt about me." The mundane experience of receiving a defective product triggers a painful childhood memory of feeling unwanted. The second review is for a Novelty Garden Gnome (3/5 stars): "It's degrading over time, but then, so is everything large enough to matter." What starts as a product complaint about durability spirals into a bleak philosophical observation about entropy and impermanence. The third review is for a Can-o-matic (5/5 stars): "This can opener did not work as promised, which served as a fine reminder that 'justice' is but a shadow the powerful cast upon the weak." Despite giving five stars, the reviewer uses a broken can opener as a launching point for a Thrasymachean critique of justice.
The humor lies in the absurd contrast between the banality of online product reviews and the profound emotional and philosophical weight the reviewers attach to their purchases. Each review starts with an ordinary consumer complaint but veers into territory far too heavy for the context -- abandonment issues, existential dread, and political philosophy, respectively.
The votey panel continues the theme with another review that reads: "Hasn't made my penis larger yet, but I am very optimistic." This shifts the tone from philosophical sadness to a different kind of sad product review -- someone earnestly reviewing what is presumably a scam product, revealing a naive hopefulness that is itself a form of pathos.