life
Explanation
The Joke
An elderly person discovers the Fountain of Youth. The guardian of the fountain asks if they would like to go back to their youth -- back to "the angry teens, the confused twenties, the anxious thirties, the mid-life crisis forties, the cynical fifties, or the ailing sixties." The old person pauses, then says they would really be more interested in "eternal youth, thank you very much." The guardian clarifies: what they actually want is the Fountain of Beauty. In the final panel, the old person has been transformed -- they are standing in front of the fountain, now young and beautiful -- but the guardian says, "Sorry, I thought you wanted the Fountain of Youth," implying that what was given was literal youth (with all its problems), not the idealized version.
Actually, looking more closely: the old person says "I'd really be more about external validation, than actual youth" -- admitting they don't actually want to relive youth's emotional turmoil, they just want to look young. The guardian then says the person actually wants the "Fountain of Beauty." The final panel shows the fountain blasting the person away, suggesting the fountain rejects vanity, or simply that wanting beauty over genuine youth has consequences.
The Humor
The comedy comes from the honest deconstruction of what people actually mean when they say they want to be young again. Nobody really wants to re-experience the anxiety, confusion, and emotional chaos of their younger years -- they just want to look good and have fewer physical ailments. By separating "youth" (the actual experience of being young) from "beauty" (the superficial appearance of youth), the comic forces the character to admit their desire is really about vanity and external validation rather than any genuine wish to relive their formative years. It is a sharp observation about how nostalgia for youth is really nostalgia for smooth skin and working knees.