new-years
Explanation
The comic shows a New Year's resolution narrative across several panels. In the first panel, a man enthusiastically declares: "New year, new me! I'm gonna get fit, find love, and achieve all my big goals, and nothing will stand in my way!"
The middle panels show a montage labeled "Later still" and "And then" -- presumably depicting the character actually following through on his resolutions over time.
The final panel delivers the twist. The narration reads: "The man was successful. In all his resolutions. Done. He's done. It doesn't exist to make you feel better about your failures. This is the end of the comic."
The joke subverts the expected structure of a New Year's resolution comic. The standard version of this joke -- which has been done countless times -- would show the character's enthusiasm gradually fading, ending with them back on the couch eating chips by January 15th. The audience expects this formula. Instead, the comic simply has the character succeed at everything, then breaks the fourth wall to address the reader directly, noting that this comic "doesn't exist to make you feel better about your failures."
The humor is in the meta-commentary: most New Year's resolution jokes function as comforting reassurance that everyone fails at their resolutions, giving the audience permission to feel okay about their own lack of follow-through. This comic refuses to provide that comfort, instead forcing the reader to confront the possibility that some people actually do succeed, and that the "relatable failure" genre of humor is really just a coping mechanism.