Seasonal
Explanation
The Joke
The comic is set in a world where pumpkins are depicted as an invasive, threatening force, like a seasonal plague. A grizzled frontiersman warns children that "they're back again," and we see hordes of pumpkins swarming the beach like an amphibious invasion. He arms himself with weapons to fight them off, declaring "to every thing... there is a season" -- a biblical quote repurposed as a battle cry. He blasts a pumpkin with his rifle.
The final panel delivers the punchline: the scene pulls back to reveal a mundane cafe with a sign reading "Pumpkin Spice Lattes Are Back," and a single pumpkin sits outside the shop. The entire dramatic, apocalyptic battle was just a man's over-the-top reaction to the annual return of pumpkin spice season at coffee shops.
The Humor
The comedy works on the contrast between the epic, violent Old West narrative and the banal reality of seasonal pumpkin spice marketing. Every fall, pumpkin spice products flood stores and cafes, and people have strong opinions about it -- some love it, some find the trend obnoxious. Weinersmith takes the mild cultural annoyance of "pumpkin spice season" and literalizes it as an actual war against pumpkin invaders, complete with gunfire and biblical quotations. The Ecclesiastes reference ("to every thing there is a season") does double duty as both a dramatic war speech and a literal comment about seasonal menu items.