My father didn't understand the joke

[otterlyhuman]

I showed my dad my new comic and he simply didn't get it. Has anyone else run into this problem when they show off their work to family/friends? It makes it difficult to tell if there is something wrong with the comic or if my father is just a bit slow.
Here's the comic, I hope it makes sense to you guys!
https://tapas.io/episode/1802413

[EmmyPax]

I legitimately laughed. It was a great reversal.

[otterlyhuman]

Haha well thank you, I'm glad you enjoyed it!

[LadyN]

How does somebody not get a clear and obvious joke? Your dad is probably just slow.

[Rhonder]

I'll put myself out there and admit I don't fully get this one either? I sorta think i understand what it's going for but not with certainty...

On the topic of woes of sharing with family,I totally get that lol. Especially since I generally write fantasy and my folks aren't savvy with the genre some tropes and conventions go over there head. That said! I've found it's useful to still pay attention to find where they're losing understanding and examine those portions for things to improve on next time. Some things won't be worth changing for someone that's completely outside your audience, but some things I've found have been overly vague or not properly conveyed & can genuinely help improve clarity and unstateding for everyone which is good

[Fuzzyman818]

My dad is to busy with working, golfing and playing poker to even give my work the right time of time of day. But that's fine, he's getting close to retirement anyways.

[BlunderingAlbatross]

badum-tish

I liked it, made me laugh

[otterlyhuman]

Yes, I agree. His mind is like a snail in many ways.

[otterlyhuman]

Haha I can definitely understand that. Especially with fantasy, that is a very difficult genre to explain to people who have no interest in fantasy.

[thel3tterm]

Oh I absolutely get that.
Honestly, I avoid showing my work to most people I know IRL because of that problem. A lot of them are older and might not really understand the conventions of certain types of humor and storytelling.
Recently, my sister actually made a point of asking to read "that comic you're working on all the time".
Gotta say, watching her read it and go "I don't really understand what's going on" was a little awkward. (She did give me some valuable feedback in other ways though, so I appreciated the interaction and her intent regardless.)

Yeah though, if other people online seem to be enjoying it, just trust that it's an issue of your friends and family being the wrong audience and not an issue with you.

[Azifri]

I didn't get it at all

[KoreanTacos]

Down to earth is usually a compliment implying the person is an all around chill or easy to get along person, but in the context of the joke its implying people "earthlings" are assholes in general, because the alien creature is being compared with those from earth.

[joannekwan]

From the first panel I thought it'd be about the new guy being down on earth for recon or research and having a play on words there. But it wasn't.

[otterlyhuman]

Haha fair point, I guess my dad even taking a look at my comic is something then!

[Fuzzyman818]

It's the equivalent of finding an extra french fry in your McDonald's bag!

[pilot-obvious]

My parents don't understand anything I do for some reason! It's not that they don't support me, it's just too difficult for them to digest? Anyways, that's probably why I don't share my work with family or IRL friends.

[otterlyhuman]

Haha well thanks, I'm happy to hear it!