2013-03-05

A four-panel SMBC comic. A balding bearded man in a green vest and party hat throws a birthday party for a girl named Sally, who sits glumly at a table behind a cake with lit candles, wearing a party hat. He cheerfully says "Happy birthday, Sally!" She replies, "Bah! It's just one more step toward the grave." He protests, "Hey! What kind of attitude is that?" and she deadpans that a year is just the arbitrary marking of the time it takes Earth to travel around the sun. The man, now smiling, declares that birthdays aren't a special step toward the grave—EVERYTHING is a step toward the grave. In the final panel, Sally retorts: then why, only on her birthday, does he remind her of the things that might kill her by having them wear spiked hats, putting fire near her face, and feeding her loads of cholesterol? He shrugs, "Gotta have a sense of humor." Votey: a small black-bordered panel where the man holds a box and says, "There's a present in this box, but I can't open it. The present represents happiness," turning the gift into a bleak metaphor for unreachable happiness.