2009-12-24
Explanation
This comic shows the evolution of the classic schoolyard note "Do you like me?" across different stages of a relationship, from 0 years dating through 10 years dating. At 0 years, it is the simple, innocent "Do you like me? Yes / No." At 1 year, a third option appears: "No, but I pity you, which is similar." By 2 years, a fourth option is added: "Yes. Buy me shit." At 3 years, yet another option arrives: "Yes, but in an entirely unsatisfactory way, which I'll insist you should be pleased with." At 5 years, the list has grown to include "Only in the way I like my reliable but emotionally uninteresting Volvo." Finally, at 10 years, the note has been completely rewritten: "Do you like me?" is crossed out and replaced with "Are you terrified of dying alone and unloved too? Yes / No."
The comic is a darkly humorous take on how romantic relationships evolve over time. What begins as simple, earnest affection gradually accumulates layers of cynicism, resentment, obligation, and existential dread. Each stage adds new complications that reflect common relationship complaints -- the guilt-based attachment, the materialism, the mutual dissatisfaction, the feeling of being taken for granted, and ultimately the fear that the relationship persists only because both partners are afraid of being alone.
The votey panel shows "1 Year Marriage" with the note "Do you like me?" and both "Yes" and "No" checked simultaneously. This suggests that marriage introduces a new paradox: the ability to simultaneously love and resent your partner, holding contradictory feelings at the same time -- a wry observation about the complexity of married life.