2014-07-04
Explanation
The Joke
Two surgeons are performing an operation. One exclaims in shock: "My God... it only looks human." The other responds: "The exterior is pure chitin."
The caption reads: "What's Waldo was the most macabre book in the series."
The Humor
The comic takes the beloved children's search-and-find book series Where's Waldo? (known as Where's Wally? outside North America) and imagines a dark sequel called What's Waldo? Instead of searching for Waldo in a crowd, this version reveals what Waldo actually is -- and the answer is deeply unsettling. The surgeons discover that Waldo only looks human on the outside but is actually made of chitin (the hard material that forms insect and crustacean exoskeletons), implying he is some kind of insectoid creature in a human disguise. The joke transforms an innocent children's franchise into body horror, playing on the shift from "where" (a simple location question) to "what" (a disturbing existential/biological question).
References
- Where's Waldo? (originally Where's Wally?) is a British puzzle book series created by Martin Handford, in which readers search for the character Waldo in densely illustrated crowd scenes.
- Chitin is a fibrous structural substance forming the exoskeletons of arthropods such as insects, spiders, and crustaceans.