Fable
Explanation
This comic presents a dark fable about existential threats, written in the style of a children's story being read in a post-apocalyptic setting.
The image shows a figure in protective gear (possibly a hazmat suit or gas mask) sitting in a chair in what appears to be a destroyed or abandoned industrial space, reading from a book. The yellow-and-black hazard stripes on the walls reinforce the sense of danger.
The text reads like a children's fable: "The nuclear missile was fast and shiny and everyone thought it would win. So, it took its time. Meanwhile, carbon dioxide worked very hard year after year, until one day..."
The joke is a grim parable about how humanity spent decades fixated on the dramatic, cinematic threat of nuclear war -- the "fast and shiny" missile -- while carbon dioxide, working slowly and undramatically, turned out to be the actual existential threat that ended civilization. The fable format (reminiscent of "The Tortoise and the Hare") recasts climate change as the tortoise: slow, steady, and ultimately victorious. The post-apocalyptic setting of the reader confirms that the carbon dioxide "won" -- the person reading the story is living in the aftermath. The comic is a pointed commentary on how humanity's attention is drawn to spectacular threats while ignoring the gradual ones that are far more likely to cause real damage.