paw-2
Explanation
This comic riffs on the classic "monkey's paw" trope from W.W. Jacobs' famous short story, in which a magical monkey's paw grants wishes but with horrible unintended consequences. A character makes a wish on a monkey's paw, saying it will give him what he wants but with "horrible consequences." He then wishes he could somehow learn about his parents' medical history -- a mundane and responsible health concern.
The twist comes when the monkey's paw grants the wish by having his parents come back to life (or contact him), and the character realizes that the "horrible consequence" is actually having to deal with his parents being alive. He shouts "Curse you, monkey's paaaaw!" not because something went wrong with the wish, but because seeing his parents again is itself the unpleasant side effect. The joke plays on the idea that sometimes the monkey's paw doesn't need to be creative with its cruelty -- family relationships are already complicated enough to serve as their own punishment.