2010-02-06
Explanation
This comic shows a couple in what appears to be an argument after an intimate encounter. A woman wrapped in a towel confronts a man (who is casually eating an apple) and says: "If you'''re bored during sex, you have to tell me!" He replies: "Why are you yelling?" She retorts: "You know goddamn well why I'''m yelling!" The second panel, labeled "Earlier," reveals what happened: the woman is shown from behind, and her entire back is covered in tic-tac-toe grids and other game doodles, implying her partner was literally playing games on her back while they were being intimate.
The humor comes from the escalating reveal. The argument in the first panel establishes that something outrageous happened during sex, and the flashback delivers the punchline: the man was so bored that he used his partner'''s back as a notepad for games of tic-tac-toe and other scribbles. The visual of someone playing pen-and-paper games on their partner'''s back during sex is absurd enough to be funny while also being a devastating commentary on boredom in the bedroom.
The votey continues the theme with a conversation where someone yells "Tic-tac-toe!" during an intimate moment, claims "It'''s, uh, my new sex yell," and the partner responds: "Well, it'''s an improvement over '''Yahtzee!'''" This suggests a pattern of blurting out board game names during sex.