genie-3
Explanation
This comic features a person who has been granted a wish by a genie, with the classic caveat that the genie warns about "unintended consequences." The wisher says "I wish my ex-girlfriend had never left me." The genie, rather than granting the wish in some twisted monkey's-paw fashion, instead offers surprisingly reasonable relationship advice. The genie gently asks: "Don't you think our marriage is in a dark place -- I am too emotionally immature to call it off." The person objects that the genie is exaggerating, and the genie retorts by noting they are literally quoting the person's ex-girlfriend, calling it "Voodoo? Sorcery? Neither -- exorcist."
The humor subverts the classic genie-wish trope in two ways. First, instead of the expected twist where the wish backfires in some horrifying supernatural way, the genie simply points out that getting what you wish for would actually be bad because the relationship was unhealthy. Second, it satirizes how people romanticize failed relationships and want to undo breakups while conveniently forgetting how miserable the relationship actually was. The genie functions as an unexpected therapist figure, holding up a mirror to the wisher's selective memory. The final panel references the person's daughter having "demons possessing her," which the person dismisses -- a joke about how they are in denial about problems, connecting to why the relationship failed in the first place.