zardax
Explanation
The Joke
A fantasy creature (possibly a lizard-person or dragon) called Lord Zardax complains that nobody cares about him and his kind. His advisor explains that humans have their own problems: "They control the banking system and change their laws to suit each other, and their leaders give themselves all the credit." Zardax is outraged: "It's not fair! They're not even trying to create a unified autocracy under a single overlord! They just bicker about 'democracy' every day, but does anyone pay attention? No!"
In the final panel, the advisor suggests they "encourage their awakening with another round of increasingly unsubtle omens," and Zardax laments, "What's the use?"
The Humor
The comic takes the classic fantasy trope of an evil overlord scheming to conquer humanity and flips it: the dark lord isn't frustrated because humans are too strong or virtuous, but because humans are already doing terrible things to each other without any outside help, and they're not even organized about it. Zardax is essentially jealous that humans have achieved chaotic dysfunction that makes his planned tyranny redundant.
The additional joke is that Zardax views democracy itself as a poor imitation of his desired autocracy — the bickering and infighting of democratic politics is, to him, just badly executed authoritarianism. His advisor's suggestion of "increasingly unsubtle omens" parodies how fantasy villains escalate their warnings, while also implying that no matter how obvious the signs, humans are too preoccupied with their own squabbles to notice an existential supernatural threat.
Votey
The red-button panel typically adds an additional punchline that extends or undercuts the comic's premise.