2016-05-22

XKCD Isn't Funny - #1674 - Adult

 (1) That shopping cart is full of AirHeads, and (2) I died at 41 from what the AirHeads company spokesperson called 'probably natural causes.'

Props to Randy for trying to take his 'relatable' thing in a new direction, even if it doesn't quite work.

I actually think the last panel is pretty amusing on its own. The contrast between the (assumed) somber mood of the will-reading and the childish content of the will is a pretty good form of darkish humor.

The first three panels, on the other hand, are basically a waste of space. We've all seen the "I don't feel like an adult" tweets, we don't need them in comic form. It's just bait for people to type "Get Out Of My Head, Randy!" into the forums.

Putting the first three panels next to the last panel with no transition also creates a slight jarring effect. There's no "the next day" or any other transition, suddenly he's just dead. It made me do a double take, like I'd misread the comic and he was killed by something he'd done earlier. This comic should just be the last panel on its own. You'd have to rewrite it slightly but it wouldn't be too much of a change. Maybe there could even be a second punchline, like one of the people sitting says to another "Jesus, this kid was an idiot, no wonder he died from a sugar overdose" or something like that.

This comic also comes off as rather inauthentic, at least to me. Randall is, at the time of writing, thirty-one. He's married. I think he's past the "wow, I can't believe I'm doing all these things" phase. And grocery shopping? I did that when I was in grade school, c'mon.

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