2011-08-27

A single-panel color comic shows a family of three at a birthday gathering, gathered around a pan of food that is on fire. On the left, a woman in a green shirt and white sunglasses wears a party hat and holds a spatula, looking unimpressed. In the middle, a young boy in an orange shirt and a party hat smiles. On the right, a man in a blue shirt holds a thin stick and looks deflated. The woman says, "I don't get it. What holiday is celebrated with accidentally broken balloons and burning money?" — deadpanning that a child's birthday party is a baffling, expensive, slightly disastrous ritual. A caption below reads: "Fun Fact: Nine months before your birthday is your conceptionday." The votey is a two-panel black-and-white sketch: the boy asks "What's for dinner?" and the sunglasses-wearing woman flatly answers, "Alcohol."