2010-01-06
Explanation
This comic presents a darkly humorous science fiction scenario. In the first panel, two aliens are sitting in what appears to be a spaceship. One asks, "We'''re going to use an entire species as life force batteries?" The other alien responds, "They won'''t know it'''s abnormal! We'''ll call it aging!" This reframes the human experience of aging and death as an alien energy-harvesting scheme -- the idea being that what we accept as a natural biological process is actually aliens draining our life force for power.
The second panel jumps ahead 100,000 years to the "First Human-Zorblaxian Summit." A Zorblaxian alien is apologizing to human diplomats: "Okay, yes. Sorry, but take comfort! Your dead grandmothers''' spirits live on in this fully charged cell phone!" The humor comes from the aliens''' attempt to soften the revelation that they have been killing humans for energy by pointing out that at least the harvested life force went to a practical use -- powering consumer electronics. The absurd inadequacy of the consolation (your grandmother died so an alien could charge their phone) is the punchline.
The votey panel shows the alien excitedly exclaiming, "Wow! Three bars? Go, Nana, go!" This adds an extra layer of dark comedy by showing the alien enthusiastically cheering on the life force of someone'''s dead grandmother as if she were a battery performance metric, completely oblivious to why this would be upsetting to humans. It underscores the aliens''' total lack of empathy and the absurd triviality of the purpose for which human lives were being consumed.