acnes
Explanation
The Joke
The comic depicts a group of acne bacteria (drawn as squiggly yellow organisms against a blue-green background) having a conversation about their situation. One bacterium announces that it's great to be at their "ten-year acne" gathering, while another notes that they've caused so much destruction and are now getting antibiotic resistance. They discuss how many of them have resistance now, and one asks about "scatter plots" — but the bacteria can only respond with nonsensical babbling ("nar-nar-nar-nar-nar").
The punchline appears in the bottom panel, where a woman with red hair and acne on her face says it's "hard to say" how they're doing, joking about how you can't really get much information about bacteria — you'd need scatter plots, but good luck getting those from mindless microorganisms. The comic plays on the idea of bacteria having a reunion or conference to celebrate their achievements (like antibiotic resistance), but ultimately they're just brainless organisms incapable of actual data analysis.
The Humor
The humor comes from the absurd anthropomorphization of acne bacteria holding what amounts to an alumni reunion or professional conference, congratulating themselves on their "accomplishments" like antibiotic resistance. The final deflation — that these organisms can't actually produce scatter plots or do meaningful analysis because they're, well, bacteria — grounds the absurdity. It also works as a commentary on the real and alarming problem of antibiotic resistance, presented through the lens of bacteria being too dumb to even appreciate their own evolutionary success.
References
The comic references the growing public health concern of antibiotic-resistant bacteria, which has become one of the major medical challenges of the 21st century. The mention of "scatter plots" is a nod to data visualization in scientific research.