classics
Explanation
This comic shows a parent declaring "I'm tired of bowdlerized versions of classic literature! My kids are gonna read the original Wizard of Oz!" The next panel shows the parent reading the original L. Frank Baum text to a child at bedtime. The passage describes the Tin Man explaining how he "got the axe and chopped off a wolf's head" and other violent details from the original story.
The parent then comments "God, imagine how much blood" there would be from the described violence. The humor comes from the gap between nostalgia-driven assumptions about classic children's literature and what those stories actually contain. Many people who complain about sanitized modern versions of classics don't realize that the originals were often surprisingly dark and violent. The original Wizard of Oz books by Baum contain considerably more violence than the famous 1939 film adaptation, and parents who insist on "the real version" might be surprised by what they find. The comic gently mocks the reflexive assumption that older automatically means better or more appropriate.