wish-3
Explanation
This comic presents a list of the "Worst Magical Wish-Granting Creatures," spoofing the genie/monkey's paw trope of wishes gone wrong.
The comic shows several panels, each depicting a different terrible wish-granting entity. One is a "magical wish hound" that grants your wish but makes you feel like you didn't really deserve it -- playing on imposter syndrome rather than any tangible curse. Another creature is described as granting wishes but in a way that's technically correct yet completely unsatisfying, in the tradition of the "literal genie" trope.
The central joke is the subversion of the classic wish-granting horror story. Instead of wishes being twisted in dramatic, ironic ways (like in "The Monkey's Paw"), these creatures inflict mundane psychological torments. The wishes technically come true, but the emotional experience is ruined. One creature grants your wish but "you couldn't find peace" -- implying existential dissatisfaction rather than any concrete consequence.
The humor comes from the recognition that real-life dissatisfaction often works exactly this way: you get what you want, but the happiness doesn't materialize because of anxiety, guilt, or hedonic adaptation. Weiner takes the fantasy premise of wish-granting and maps it onto the thoroughly modern experience of getting everything you wanted and still feeling empty. The "worst" wish-granting creatures aren't the ones that twist your wishes into nightmares -- they're the ones that grant them perfectly and let human psychology do the rest.