2013-04-09
Explanation
This comic tackles the classic theological Problem of Evil -- the question of how evil can exist if God is all-good, all-knowing, and all-powerful. A bespectacled man poses this famous philosophical challenge to a priest, who offers an unconventional rebuttal: if there were no evil in the universe, there would be no Batman. The man is immediately converted, shouting "Praise the Lord!" The caption below reads: "The quickest way to convert comic geeks is the 'Argument from Batman.'"
The humor works on multiple levels. It parodies the structure of classic theological arguments (like the Argument from Design or the Ontological Argument) by substituting a pop-culture justification for a philosophical one. The joke is that for a comic book geek, the existence of Batman -- a hero whose entire identity depends on the existence of evil and crime -- is a more compelling reason to accept the existence of evil than any abstract philosophical argument could be. It satirizes both the sometimes tortured logic of theodicy and the obsessive priorities of comic book fans.
The votey (bonus panel) shows the man having a delayed realization: "Wait... but if Batman isn't real..." This undermines the entire argument, since the priest's reasoning depended on Batman being a real consequence of evil in the universe. The man is on the verge of realizing the logical flaw -- that a fictional character can't justify real-world suffering -- adding a final layer of absurdity to the whole exchange.