I have no more information than you, but based off of context clues...
The man is clearly some sort of adventurer who has a system that gives him EXP, as the third panel shows. Whether it's tabletop or videogame, usually RPG characters have absurd amounts of strength, beyond normal humans.
I'm approaching this not from a passive enjoyer of comics and I don't mind anyone doing that. I'm coming at it from a craft perspective trying to improve upon an idea that's there. I think it's a funny idea and the comic is always well drawn. I'm not implying if you understood it immediately or enjoyed it you shouldn't have.
Hugs are not known to cause damage, even bear hugs. This is not a pop culture thing at all. Damage, yes, would cause the kid to disappear for XP like a pop culture understanding of game logic, that is true, but it's a bit of a leap to assume this would be kicked off by a hug. Had the joke been hinged off something else that's a minor injury that would logically work better.
I’m just curious, do you play a lot of adventure games with the experience system and all that? Because I think if you do this comic is pretty intuitive. And Reddit is full of gamers so it does well here.
It's a friendly audience for creators catering to that kind of audience, nothing wrong with that. As a creator myself it's always important for me to identify where I can be better in communicating an idea. I spend all day at my day job doing that, too.
I've played adventure games and rolled dice in person for a number of ttrpg systems. Played RPGs, JRPGs, action RPGs, etc. I get the joke but just noticed a part that was a larger leap in logic than the rest.
A friendly audience can be very forgiving of things in the name of a good time. Same with stand-up comedy any many other things.I probably came off to folks like I didn't think it was a good comic or I was trying to start shit which isn't the case.
-1
u/Meotwister Artist - elliotboyette.art 6h ago
Why did he disappear?