2012-12-15
Explanation
This comic contrasts "Child Fantasies" with "Adult Fantasies." In the top panel, a girl daydreams that "Sally Jenkins is the first female NFL quarterback detective Jedi to be Batman" -- a wild, maximalist mashup of every cool thing a kid could imagine being. In the bottom panel, the same woman as an adult fantasizes simply that "Nobody made Sally Jenkins sad today."
The humor comes from the stark, melancholy contrast between the boundless ambition of childhood imagination and the modest hopes of adulthood. As children, we dream of being simultaneously a professional athlete, a detective, a Jedi, and Batman -- all at once, because why not? As adults, our fantasies shrink to the bare minimum of emotional survival: just getting through a day without being made sad. The comic captures a universal truth about growing up -- that life gradually replaces grandiose dreams with a quiet wish for peace and emotional stability. It is bittersweet rather than cynical, as the adult version of Sally still has the same hopeful expression, just with radically diminished expectations.