2014-11-08
Explanation
The Joke
Two people go through the classic "high five" routine: "High five!" then "On the side!" then "Down low!" followed by the prankster pulling their hand away at the last second: "Too slow!"
In the next panel, one of them (dressed as the Grim Reaper, i.e., Death) says "I am sorry, Jon" -- revealing that Death was the one who pulled away during "too slow." The implication is that by denying the final part of the handshake, Death has denied Jon his death -- or, alternatively, that the "too slow" was itself the fatal moment and Jon has died because he was too slow to catch Death's hand.
The final panel shows Jon telling someone named Sarah: "They kicked me out of the Air Force, Sarah." The implication is that Jon's failure at the high-five game -- his slow reflexes -- was taken seriously enough to end his military career. In the Air Force, reflexes and quick responses are critical (especially for pilots), so being "too slow" is a career-ending failure.
The Humor
The comic takes the children's playground prank of "up high, down low, too slow" and escalates it to absurd consequences. The middle panel introduces the Grim Reaper for a dark fake-out, suggesting cosmic or existential stakes. But then the final punchline undercuts even that by revealing a much more mundane but still disproportionate consequence: getting discharged from the Air Force for having slow reflexes during a high-five. The progression from silly to existential to pathetically mundane creates a comedic whiplash effect.