A Million? A Million!
by Jeff
Sometime between Wednesday and Thursday this week, Explain XKCD crossed past 1 million pageviews since we opened this site in late summer 2009. So, I just wanted to put up a quick post to say thank you to all our readers and commenters. Without you, this wouldn't be the site it is today. Thanks all, it means a lot to us that you stop by and help everyone understand every XKCD.
And don't forget to friend us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter.
Convincing
by Jeff
Image text: And if you labeled your axes, I could tell you exactly how MUCH better.
This comic is a typical xkcd compilation. Relationships, math, graphs and of course, the twist.
Cueball wants to get back together with Cutie (or Megan), but she declines and shows him a graph showing why. She thinks that the downward trend of the graph will convince him that their relationship is also in decline. But, Cueball takes that as this is a girl who does not follow proper protocol and label her axes (plural for axis) on her graph. We do not even know the unit of measure on the graph, let what each axis corresponds to.
For all we know, the horizontal axis could be labeled "Time" and the vertical axis could be labeled "Crappiness of Relationship" or "Unawesomeness of Relationship". In that case, a downward trend would be positive.
In the twist, Cueball sees that he can do better than this girl and switches his position and decides HE is going to break up with HER.
Guest Week: David Troupes (Buttercup Festival)
by Jeff
Image text: Guest comic by David Troupes of Buttercup Festival, who is living in that lovely tree outside your window.
Wow, a Tuesday comic? I'm thrown off, that's why this is so late. Was not expecting that. But, I guess with "Guest Week" anything can happen.
This one from David Troupes of Buttercup Festival, which can be found here.
Pretty straight forward, Cueball and Cutie sitting on the moon and she says that she has never been so happy. But, then she stops herself. Once she pegs her old high school nemesis with a rock (moon rock?!), then she can truthfully say "I've never been so happy."
Illness
by Jeff
Image text: <3 If there's anything you can do, I'll let you know. For the moment, any simple distracting online games sent to sick@xkcd.com would not be unappreciated.
Much love to Randall and his family. There would be no explainxkcd.com without xkcd.com. We will be here.
Mutual
by Jeff
Image text: A universe that needed someone to observe it in order to collapse it into existence would be a pretty sorry universe indeed.
In this comic (a rare one without text in the comic portion) both characters are thinking about each other. However, because it is xkcd it is not that simple because one could be thinking about the other thinking about them. Ok, let's see if I can make that clearer. Potentially, Cueball is thinking about the possibility that Cutie (or Megan 
) is thinking about him. Or it could be the opposite way around. Or both.
And the image text adds another layer to the comic. The text is a reference to quantum mechanics and Schrodinger's cat which both say roughly that something may or may not exist (or in the case of Schrodinger's cat - may or may not be alive) until we observe it. In this comic, there are two universe, one with Megan and one with Cueball. Both are separate, but both are thinking of each other, but not observing (or seeing) each other. One could think that they are a great distance apart. In the comic, both characters look extremely sad, since they are not observing each other, merely thinking about each other.
That's what I get from the comic. This looks to be one of those that is open to interpretation. What do you get? Let's hear it in the comments.
Connected
by Jeff
Image text: Or love in general, for that matter. It just leads to the idea that either your love is pure, perfect, and eternal, and you are storybook-compatible in every way with no problems, or you're LYING when you say 'I love you'.
This is another one of those xkcd's that I classify as "emo". Each and everyone one is cynical about love and its effects. Since there is nothing to explain here, besides Young Cueball and Young Cutie sitting around talking about their musical tastes. Cuties is sitting on a rock for some reason.
I'll wait for the next comic that makes a joke about Lord of the Rings and wormholes or something.
Bad Ex
by Jeff
Image text: Since the goatee, glasses, and Seltzer & Friedberg DVD collection didn't tip you off, there will be a $20 negligence charge for this service.
In the image text, Seltzer & Friedberg refers to Jason Friedberg and Aaron Seltzer who are writers and film-makers who have created such terrible movies such as: Scary Movie, Date Movie, Meet the Spartans and all the other films that look and sound just like those. They have never received over 10% on Rotten Tomatoes and are universally reviled by film critics.
The rarely seen character "White Hat" appears in this comic as the shoulder to lean on for Cueball.
Leaving
by Jeff
Image text: What'll I say -- "I was staring at some cat vomit when I got the news?"
Nothing to explain here. Please move along...
Have a great weekend, everyone!
Falling Asleep
by Jeff
Image text: Sweet unintersecting dreams!
This is one of those xkcds that come along every few weeks that's always about feelings and always strike me as a little creepy and weird. I'm not sure what it is about them, but they are easily my least favorite type of xkcd. Plus, they do not need any real explaining, so what's the fun in that?
Anyway, this comic uses typical perspective and literary tricks to make you think that Cueball and Cutie and sleeping in different beds. Hint: the fact that they have the same color red comforter is the give-away. And then in the last frame they show both characters sleeping in the same bed. Conceivably, leaving the world behind.
That's all I've got. What do you think?
All The Girls
by Berg
Image text: You know that I'll never leave you. Not as long as she's with someone.
Today's comic is pretty straightforward. A young couple (whom I'll refer to as Cueball and Cutie, just because I like the way that sounds) is in love. In the first panel, Cueball says he's lucky to have Cutie, a perfectly fine thing to say to someone when you're in love. In the second panel, Cueball tells Cutie he loves her most out of all the girls in the world, which is again a perfectly fine thing to say when you're in love. Trouble sets in, however, in the third panel, where Cueball offers his qualifying statement, that he loves Cutie the most of the subset of girls who also love Cueball back.
Now, on it's surface it would appear that Cueball is making a hollow statement, in that the subset of girls who love him back must be smaller than the set of all the girls in the world, and we assume, because we are nerds, that that subset is probably only a few girls in size. I like to be optimistic, though, and presume that Cueball, due to his smooth head and sentimental heart, is loved by nearly all the girls in the world, and so his sentiment is still very sweet.
The image text, however, crushes any optimism one might have in the situation. Written in Cueball's voice, we have another compliment/qualifier pair. Cueball assures Cutie that he'll never leave her- so long as she's with someone. Cueball clearly has an unrequited love for another, and so really is being as shitty as we all thought he was originally. Please forgive my false optimism- I know now what a cold, cruel place the world can be.
...and now, off to Comic-Con I go, where I shall find out what a crowded, stinky place the world can be. I'm learning a lot today!