justice
Explanation
The Joke
This is a lengthy comic that follows a sprawling narrative about the justice system and its many absurdities. The comic appears to depict a sequence of interactions involving lawyers, judges, and defendants, satirizing the way the legal system operates. Through multiple panels, Weinersmith builds a cascading series of legal proceedings where the process of pursuing justice becomes increasingly convoluted, self-referential, and detached from any actual resolution of wrongdoing.
The comic highlights how the machinery of justice -- lawyers, procedures, appeals, technicalities -- can become so elaborate that it overshadows the original purpose of determining right from wrong. Each panel adds another layer of bureaucratic absurdity, with legal professionals more invested in the process itself than in any meaningful outcome. The system feeds on itself, generating more work for lawyers and judges while the original dispute fades into irrelevance.
The Humor
The humor derives from the escalating absurdity of legal proceedings taken to their logical extreme. Weinersmith is satirizing a common frustration with the justice system: that it often seems designed more to employ lawyers than to deliver justice. The comic works as an extended visual gag where each new panel raises the stakes of bureaucratic nonsense. It taps into a widespread cultural anxiety about institutions that become so complex they lose sight of their founding purpose.
References
The comic touches on well-known critiques of the legal system, from Charles Dickens' "Bleak House" (which depicted a court case lasting so long that the entire estate in dispute was consumed by legal fees) to modern complaints about litigious culture. The joke about lawyers generating work for other lawyers is a classic legal satire trope.