War
Explanation
The Joke
A person argues that humans should be more like "other animals" because "other animals never make war." Their companion corrects them: ants do, in fact, wage war. The first person tries to dismiss this, but the companion explains that ant warfare is actually incredibly sophisticated -- ants not only raid other colonies but also take captives as slaves, and they wage complex multi-party conflicts where one group of chimps (the companion switches examples) will recruit a distant tribe to help attack a third group, while a fourth group wages a separate proxy war, and alliances shift.
The punchline comes when the first person realizes the companion has shifted from ants to describing what sounds like human geopolitics: "That is the province of MAN!" The companion, now looking even more disturbed, says "somehow that upsets me even more." A jack-o'-lantern in the corner (it was published on Halloween) adds to the mood.
The Humor
The comic dismantles the romanticized notion that humans are uniquely terrible among animals. The "nature is peaceful" trope is a common one, and Weinersmith methodically destroys it by pointing out that even ants -- tiny insects -- engage in warfare, slavery, and complex military alliances. The deeper joke is the uncomfortable realization that war, slavery, and geopolitical maneuvering may not be a uniquely human moral failing but rather a widespread feature of social animals. The person who wanted to feel bad about humanity in a simple way now feels worse, because the problem is bigger and more fundamental than they thought.
References
Ant warfare and slave-raiding are real, well-documented phenomena. Several ant species (such as Polyergus and Formica) conduct raids on other colonies and capture pupae to raise as workers. Chimpanzees also engage in organized group violence and territorial warfare, as documented extensively by Jane Goodall and others.