2014-09-15
Explanation
The Joke
An old woman calls for help, saying a man stole her purse. A person in a pink costume (resembling a superhero) arrives and says "Have no fear! Opposite Man is here!" The woman asks, "Oh God, are you going to do the opposite of what I want?" The hero replies that he was disgusted and is actually "Anti-Opposite Man."
The woman then asks, "So... nothing will happen now?" The hero says "No! This is a disguise! I'm actually Sudden Damage Man!" But then nothing happens, and he admits, "Nothing happened..." followed by "Of course not, for I am really... Batman!"
The woman then says "Then help!" but he replies "I can't. I'm not Batman. I'm Systematically..." She cuts him off and just wants her purse back. The final panel shows the costumed character running away with part of the woman's belongings.
The Humor
The comic satirizes the trope of superheroes with gimmicky identities by creating an absurd chain of contradictory superhero personas. Each time the character reveals a new identity, it negates or contradicts the previous one, creating an infinite regress of nonsense. The woman just needs help with a simple problem (her stolen purse), but instead gets trapped in an increasingly frustrating loop of the hero redefining himself.
The final punchline suggests the "hero" was actually a con artist all along, using the confusion of multiple identities as a distraction while he steals from her, adding a layer of dark humor to the already absurd situation.