"I don't really get it. Nothing is happening. Yet I am sitting here, staring at it. Thinking about what those two might be thinking about. Maybe they just talked about something, something important perhaps. Maybe they're content just to sit there, together in silence. Watching time happen.
Somehow, I feel that this is the strongest xkcd yet. It's in my head."
A lot of comes from playing with your expectations. I was expecting a somewhat humorous geeky pun or reference; about 90% of XKCD is figuring out the reference. What does he mean by "Time"? They're just sitting there. Where are they sitting? What are they looking at? What's their relationship like? This reminds me of times when I too have just sat there, with a friend or a girlfriend or whatever, contemplating.
And in the meanwhile Randall has just made you FEEL EMOTIONS.
I used to live near this grafitti: http://instagram.com/p/WcpTGfSzx1/ and I would often go and stand and quietly contemplate it while I had my morning coffee and cigarette. It's hard to articulate but it feels rewarding to think about what whoever the artist is had in mind when they made it.
"I don't really get it. Nothing is happening. Yet I am sitting here, staring at it. Thinking about what those two might be thinking about. Maybe they just talked about something, something important perhaps. Maybe they're content just to sit there, together in silence. Watching time happen.
Somehow, I feel that this is the strongest xkcd yet. It's in my head."
People like what they want to like, I guess.