2013-08-12
Explanation
This comic depicts a man buying a cat and gradually regretting it as the cat turns out to be deeply nihilistic. In the first panels, the cat speaks to its owner with increasingly bleak philosophical statements: "You will never know true love from a mate or a child," followed by "No one will remember your name when you die, so it'''s no use even bothering." The cat simply says "Meow" after delivering these devastating pronouncements, as if it were just making normal cat sounds.
The man then goes back to the pet store to return the cat, saying "Hi, I'''d like to return this cat." When asked why, he explains: "It'''s happier than me." This is the punchline -- despite the cat spouting nihilistic philosophy, the man'''s own life is apparently even more depressing than the cat'''s worldview. He is not returning the cat because it is too negative; he is returning it because even a nihilistic cat manages to be happier than he is, and that comparison is too much to bear.
The votey panel shows the cat thinking "It'''s all meaningless" with a tear in its eye, suggesting that even after being returned to the pet store, the cat continues its existential crisis. The comic plays on the common internet trope of cats being aloof and judgmental, taking it to an absurd extreme by making the cat an outright nihilist, while also delivering a surprisingly dark punchline about the owner'''s own unhappiness.