The connection to comics in the second panel is merely coincidental; the joke is simply that the character on the right is indulging in an excessively delayed episode of “l’esprit_de_l’escalier“, delivering the comeback that he had been unable to think of for 32 years.
P.S. Actually, reading comic books is not a bad way to (help) learn a foreign language. I had a fun time working through all of the “Asteríx” albums (in German) during my first year here.
Yeah, it’s the “you can never think of a good comeback until just after you no longer need it” trope.
Okay, but… Is that comment saying that Left Guy was a poor reader >>back in fifth grade<< and Right Guy comes up with it only now, with no particular prompt? Or is it somehow a "I see you're glued to your phone" remark? If we could construe the latter to imply it displaces reading?
@ Mitch4 – The guy on the left was probably just a “good student”, who teased the other kid just because of his “less erudite” choice of reading material. The retort from the guy on the right merely states that he can read (but not at which level). He’s not claiming to be among the best, he’s merely asserting supremacy over the illiterate masses. In other words, this retort is not only unbelievably late, it’s also shamefully weak.
“Well, the jerk store called and they’re running out of YOU!”
“Is that comment saying that Left Guy was a poor reader >>back in fifth grade<< and Right Guy comes up with it only now, with no particular prompt?
Yes. That's it entirely. The guys are in line and suddenly on guy blurts out "At least I know how to read". And …. conversation pursues.
" Or is it somehow a "I see you're glued to your phone" remark?"
No. It isn't. But it is misleading and distracting.
….who gets made fun of in grade school for reading comics? The people making fun read comics. The people made fun of are the ones reading Encyclopedia Brown.
Comics I Don't Understand 
The connection to comics in the second panel is merely coincidental; the joke is simply that the character on the right is indulging in an excessively delayed episode of “l’esprit_de_l’escalier“, delivering the comeback that he had been unable to think of for 32 years.
P.S. Actually, reading comic books is not a bad way to (help) learn a foreign language. I had a fun time working through all of the “Asteríx” albums (in German) during my first year here.
Yeah, it’s the “you can never think of a good comeback until just after you no longer need it” trope.
Okay, but… Is that comment saying that Left Guy was a poor reader >>back in fifth grade<< and Right Guy comes up with it only now, with no particular prompt? Or is it somehow a "I see you're glued to your phone" remark? If we could construe the latter to imply it displaces reading?
@ Mitch4 – The guy on the left was probably just a “good student”, who teased the other kid just because of his “less erudite” choice of reading material. The retort from the guy on the right merely states that he can read (but not at which level). He’s not claiming to be among the best, he’s merely asserting supremacy over the illiterate masses. In other words, this retort is not only unbelievably late, it’s also shamefully weak.
“Well, the jerk store called and they’re running out of YOU!”
“Is that comment saying that Left Guy was a poor reader >>back in fifth grade<< and Right Guy comes up with it only now, with no particular prompt?
Yes. That's it entirely. The guys are in line and suddenly on guy blurts out "At least I know how to read". And …. conversation pursues.
" Or is it somehow a "I see you're glued to your phone" remark?"
No. It isn't. But it is misleading and distracting.
….who gets made fun of in grade school for reading comics? The people making fun read comics. The people made fun of are the ones reading Encyclopedia Brown.
Speaking of bullies in grade school . . .
