2014-12-24

A vertical SMBC comic. Panel 1: A child runs into a bedroom yelling 'DAAAAD! THERE'S A MONSTER UNDER MY BED!' Her dad, lying in bed, calmly replies 'Oh... weird. Do you see it?' Panel 2: The child peers under the bed where a dark figure lurks, saying 'IT WANTS ME TO JOIN IT... BECOME ONE WITH IT...' Dad: 'WHAT?' Panel 3: The child reports the monster's pitch: 'IT'S SO HAPPY IN HERE. SO PEACEFUL. NO SORROW. NO STRUGGLE. NO GROWING OLD...' Dad, now alarmed, shouts 'NO DAD! NO! IT'S A TRICK!' Panel 4: The child stands by the bed; the dad's voice asks 'DADDY?' Panel 5: A sinister shadowy face fills the frame and intones 'THERE IS NO DADDY NOW' as the child screams 'AAAAAH!!!' Panel 6: The child stands in a doorway and asks 'MOM, CAN I SLEEP WITH YOU TONIGHT?' Panel 7: The mother, in bed wearing glasses and reading a book, replies wearily 'AGAIN?' The joke flips the monster-under-the-bed trope: the dad gets absorbed by the monster while reassuring the child it's a trick, and the unfazed mom treats it as a routine occurrence. Votey: A close-up of a man's grim, brooding face under the caption 'MARRIAGE IS WAR.'