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Explanation
The Joke
The comic is titled "Amusing Comics About Animals" and presents a series of panels where different animals are drawn in a cute, appealing style -- but instead of delivering wholesome animal humor, each animal voices the bleak, anxious, or uncomfortable inner monologue of a human being. A dog talks about wanting to go on a date but being too depressed to leave the house. A bear mentions overreacting to a minor situation because of unresolved childhood issues. A mouse standing at a gravestone delivers a grim observation. A hedgehog or porcupine announces that its penis is covered in spines. A hamster at a gravestone notes someone "died at 5" and remarks about how long people live.
Each panel follows the same formula: an adorable animal illustration paired with text that is decidedly not cute, ranging from clinical depression to existential dread to uncomfortable biological facts.
The Humor
The comedy relies on the stark contrast between form and content. The "amusing comics about animals" format is a well-known internet genre -- think of motivational posters with kittens or wholesome webcomics featuring anthropomorphized critters. By using the exact same visual style but filling it with human psychological dysfunction, awkward medical facts, and mortality, Weinersmith parodies how we use cute animal content as emotional comfort food. The joke is also self-referential: the title promises "amusing comics about animals," and the comics technically are about animals, but they are amusing in a deeply uncomfortable way rather than the heartwarming way the reader expects.
References
The comic parodies the popular internet genre of cute animal comics and memes (such as "Pusheen," "Lil Bub" content, etc.). The individual animal facts referenced (such as porcupine spines on reproductive organs) are loosely based on real and often disturbing zoological trivia that circulates online.