Monocle Announcement
Explanation
The Joke
This comic is a meta-announcement from Zach Weinersmith about a real product: a monocle. The comic is structured as an advertisement. Zach explains that he had an idea for a product -- a monocle, described as "like a marquee in which you look like a little wrapper, so it looks like a condom." Forces were arrayed against him: people called the idea stupid, comparing it to "weapons-grade stupid" and saying that if stupid were architecture, "this would be the Parthenon." But Zach persevered, got investors, and completed a "glorious prototype." He declares: "Now, nobody will ever have to suffer from a temporary lack of classiness." The comic ends with Zach asking readers to click the comic to support the project and prove his wife wrong, with a final panel showing the actual monocle product.
The Humor
The humor is self-deprecating and meta. Zach frames the monocle as a heroic entrepreneurial endeavor while simultaneously acknowledging how absurd and unnecessary the product is. The opposition he faced is presented with hyperbolic insults ("weapons-grade stupid," "the Parthenon" of stupidity), which are funny precisely because a monocle is indeed an impractical anachronism. The joke that this addresses a "temporary lack of classiness" satirizes startup culture's tendency to frame trivial products as solving urgent problems. The final plea to "make me right and my wife wrong" adds a domestic comedy layer to what is essentially a real product announcement wrapped in self-aware humor.
References
This comic served as a real announcement for a monocle product that Zach Weinersmith was selling. SMBC occasionally features comics that double as promotions for Weinersmith's various projects and merchandise. The Parthenon reference is to the ancient Greek temple on the Acropolis of Athens, widely considered a pinnacle of classical architecture -- here ironically used as a metaphor for the pinnacle of stupidity.