Image text: Or if you replace your car, we'll be happy to set it on fire again so you can take another crack at getting that shot.

Ok, so in this comic, Megan's friends, including our old friend Black Hat take the phrase "Can anyone tell me what's wrong with this picture?" literally and are critiquing the style and composition of the picture and not the subject.  Megan is hoping that they have any insight to why her car was on fire this morning and not a photography critique.

Image text: Your will be led to judgement like lambs to the slaughter--a simile whose existence, I might add, will not do your species any favors.

In this comic, Cueball is going through the traditional loudspeaker-having person refrain about the government having control over our lives and uses the refrain "Wake Up Sheeple", which has been referenced at least two other times in XKCD.  Sheeple is a portmanteau (another thing that is loved in XKCD) of "sheep" and "people" used as a derisive term to describe people who thoughtlessly wander through their daily lives going exactly where they are "herded" by the powers that be.

However, in this comic, "sheeple" are not that, instead are a race of half sheep/half person who have slumbered beneath the Earth for ten thousand years and are apparently going to destroy the human race.

Image text: Hi! Someone call for me? I'm a superhero who specializes in the study of God's creation of Man in the Book of Genesi-- HOLY SHIT A GIANT BUG!

So, here we have the return of the super hero from just two comics ago, Etymology-Man. And just like that comic, Etymology-Man is explaining the origination of words instead of actually helping.  For those of you who were not here on Monday, Etymology is the study of the history of words, their origins, and how their form and meaning have changed over time.

Who they want is Entomology-Man because they are fighting a giant praying mantis and an army of little praying mantises. (manti? I'm not sure.)  But, honestly, those "little" praying mantises still look huge compared to the typical size of manti.  Entomology is the study of insects.  Considering Etymology-Man, I'm not sure Entomology-Man would fight the mantis or study it.

In the image text, we find out instead of getting Entomology-Man, they accidentally call a superhero of Etiology. (UPDATE: Some commenters are suggesting Adam-ology as well, which would make a lot of sense as well.  Head to the comments for their reasoning) (I'm going to assume Etiology-Man, since the previous two superheroes have been male, but the image text gives me no reason to assume that.) Etiology is the study of causation, or origination.  An etiological myth, or origin myth, is a myth intended to explain the origins of cult practices, natural phenomena, proper names and the like.  Looking at that definition, it is no surprise that the Etiology superhero is over-matched with the giant praying mantis.

Image text: 'I can't believe I'm saying this, but I wish Aquaman were here instead--HE'D be able to help.'

This comic is a take on the traditional appearance of a super hero when a disaster strikes.  In this case, Etymology-Man arrives, who apparently has the power of Etymology which is the study of the history of words, their origins, and how their form and meaning have changed over time.  As Etymology-Man is explaining the history of the words tsunami and tidal wave while the water starts rising towards them.

Image text: Though 100 years is longer than a lot of our resources.

This is a graph of the usage of the word "Sustainable" in English in the United States each year.  And as you can see, Randall extends the graph to the point where sustainable will be used as every word.

Sustainable has been increasing in use as people of the US are concerned about making sure that Earth's resources are not totally exhausted in the near future by developing sustainable development.  Sustainable development (using wikipedia here) is a pattern of growth in which resource use aims to meet human needs while preserving the environment so that these needs can be met not only in the present, but also for generations to come.

As Randall mentions in the image text, the 100 years it takes for the word sustainable to get to 100% usage is a lot longer than most of our non-renewable (and non-sustainable) resources will last on the Earth.

Image text: You know I've always hated her.

Rarely does xkcd beat me to the explanation by providing it below the comic, however, in this case it does.

In the US, I don't know if this is the case in other countries, but when someone presents the other with bad news, they respond with (as the comic explains) a sympathetic "I'm Sorry".  That is different than the "I'm Sorry" that a person would give for something that is their fault.

As it says below the comic, Cueball switches his sympathetic "I'm Sorry" when Megan does not accept the "I'm Sorry" because it was not his fault.  This all starts to sound like an episode of the American sitcom Seinfeld.

Cueball says at the end "You know what I did..." and ""You know I've always hated her" as a wild switch to a fault "I'm Sorry".

Image text: Even if the dictionaries are starting to give in, I refuse to accept 'octopi' as a word mainly because--I'm not making this up--there's a really satisfying climactic scene in the Orson Scott Card horror novel 'Lost Boys' which hinges on it being an incorrect pluralization.

Let's get this out of the way before it starts a flame war on here: according to Merrian Webster Dictionary online, both octopi, octopuses and octopodes (only if you are English) are all the correct plural of octopus.  It is a pretty funny video, I highly recommend watching it, even if you don't care about the plural of octopus.

So, this comic is a reference to a typical fish and sea-life identification chart.  Like this or the US airforce ID chart parody.  So, its basically a parody of a parody referencing the mimic octopus which is, as the name implies, able to mimic other animals.

The Orson Scott Card novel 'Lost Boys' is (from Publisher's Weekly): "A withdrawn eight-year-old in a troubled family invents imaginary friends who bear the names of missing children in this absorbing thriller."

Image text: The best thing about Strunk/White fanfiction is that it's virtually guaranteed to be well written.

This is a comic about the writing style guide called The Elements of Style by Cornell University professor William Strunk Jr. (I assume that's him with the pipe) and New Yorker writer E.B. White (who is at the computer).  Just like in their book, they are clarifying the usage of words and phrases in the English language.  In this case however, they are clarifying the use of their names, one for their book and another for the slash fiction or erotic fan fiction involving them.

Erotic fan fiction, if you were not aware is a genre of fiction in which fans make up erotic stories involving characters from non erotic stories.

I'm sure if there was not a Strunk/White slash fiction out before, there is one now.

Image text: Guest comic by Bill Amend of FoxTrot, an inspiration to all us nerdy-physics-majors-turned-cartoonists, of which there are an oddly large number.

The top comic is a reference to this famous xkcd comic. The sudo command in linux allows a user to run as a "super-user", thus allowing them to execute the command they wish.

The next comic is a pun on the word "attractive".  The girl thinks he is using it in the fashion that he likes he and is interested in her.  He's using it in the gravitational pull way.

The next comic is a reference to the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle.  Which, if you read explain xkcd, you should know like the back of your hand.

The third comic, is a play on the sound of the word "aye".  Aye is a word used when taking a verbal vote that is used to signify a positive, like yes.  Additionally, aye sounds like the letter i.  In this case, the mathematician in Congress is voting the square root of -1, which comes out to an imaginary number known as i.  And since i sounds the same as "aye", that is how a mathematician votes.

Image text: Dear Wiccan readers: I understand modern Wiccans are not usually all about the curses and hexes. But Darth Vader was recently converted from Episcopalianism and he's still figuring it all out.

Top Comic - This is a parody of the frequent conspiracy theories that have come about since the events of September 11, 2001.  The use of the "grassy knoll" is a reference to the conspiracy theories surrounding the assassination of John F. Kennedy, a US President on Friday, November 22, 1963, in Dallas, Texas.  Some people say they saw another or different shooter over on a "grassy knoll" by the road where JFK was shot.

Middle Left - Some people say that when women are pregnant, they have a certain glow about them, whether it is just their general happiness or something else.  In this case, the woman is really pregnant and then promptly gives birth.

Middle - In this comic, the character says "Cogito Ergo Cogito" instead of the traditional phrase "Cogito Ergo Sum".  The traditional phrase is Latin for I think therefore I am, which was said by René Descartes.  In this comic, the character is playing it safe by just saying I think therefore I think.

Middle Left - This comic is a pun on the phrase "Bail out!" When it is used by fighter pilots, it means for them to hit their ejector seats and parachute to safety.  In this comic, the pilots are using the phrase as would two people in a boat that is filling up with water.

Lower Middle - This is a joke on how in Star Wars they have lightsabers.  In this case, they created black-lightsabers which use black light bulbs.  Black lights just make every thing seem really eerie and you are able to see dust and dirt particles on everything.

Right - I think that one is pretty self explanatory and pretty gross.

Lower Middle Left - I'm not sure what is up with the sandwich making one, but it appears to be an inside joke somehow.

Bottom Left - This is a lawyer who is going to make a defense that will offend women and he prepared an opening statement incorrectly thinking there would be both men and women on the jury.  This comic is an extension of the stereotypical lawyer opening "Ladies and Gentlemen of the jury...".

Bottom Right - From the start this is a full quote from Star Wars in which Conan Antonio Motti rips Darth Vader's ancient religion, which in the movie is The Force. Vader proceeds to force choke Motti until Moff Tarkin tells him to stop. In this comic, Vader's ancient religion is of course Wiccan.