Contact
Explanation
The Joke
The comic shows a group of serious-looking officials sitting around a conference table. The caption reads "Shortly after first contact with aliens." Rather than discussing the monumental scientific, diplomatic, or existential implications of alien contact, the group has unanimously agreed that they "must wait several decades before transmission in order to not seem desperate."
The joke transposes the social anxiety of dating and texting etiquette onto a first-contact scenario with extraterrestrial intelligence. Just as people agonize over how long to wait before texting someone back so they don't appear too eager, humanity's official response to aliens is governed by the same insecure impulse: "We can't reply right away — they'll think we're desperate."
The Humor
The humor comes from the absurd mismatch between the stakes (first contact with an alien civilization, arguably the most important event in human history) and the pettiness of the concern (appearing too eager). The visual presentation reinforces the joke — these are clearly high-ranking officials in a formal government setting, making their commitment to playing hard-to-get even more ridiculous. It's a sharp commentary on how deeply human social insecurities run: even in the face of cosmic-scale events, our first instinct is to worry about looking cool.