Hydra
Explanation
The Joke
The comic references the mythological Hydra, the multi-headed serpent from Greek mythology that would grow two heads whenever one was cut off. In the first panel, a narrator explains this classic myth: "If you once remove a head from the Hydra, there grow two in its place." A child then asks, "Do you think da bad guys'll catch it?" The parent figure, looking troubled, pauses and then says "Look, kid..." before the scene shifts. In the final panel, the child (now grown) asks a different adult, "Dad, where does mythology come from?" The reply is: "Nobody knows, son. Nobody knows."
The joke is that the parent clearly could not handle the child's innocent question about the Hydra story (the child treated the myth like a real news story about a dangerous animal on the loose) and gave up on explaining mythology altogether. The final panel implies this created a generational gap in understanding, where the grown-up child now has no idea where mythology even comes from, and the next parent just deflects the question entirely.
The Humor
The comedy comes from the child interpreting a mythological story with the same literal, anxious concern they might show watching a news report about a dangerous animal. The question "Do you think the bad guys'll catch it?" treats the Hydra like a loose tiger rather than an allegorical monster from ancient storytelling. The parent's defeated "Look, kid..." is a recognizable moment for any parent who realizes a conversation has gone in a direction they are not prepared to navigate. The final panel's punchline -- treating the origin of mythology as an unsolvable mystery -- satirizes how cultural knowledge gets lost when adults give up on difficult explanations.
References
The Hydra is from Greek mythology, most famously encountered by Heracles (Hercules) as one of his Twelve Labors. The creature lived in the swamps of Lerna, and its regenerating heads made it nearly impossible to kill. Heracles defeated it by cauterizing each neck stump after cutting off a head, with help from his nephew Iolaus.