I thought this was a variation of the old joke / soap opera premise in which the mother is shown to have been unfaithful, since 2 + 5 <> 6. But they are laughing in the last panel.
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I don’t think they’re laughing, just happy. Pagelow is just a little rough with the art.
Best I got is that he was amused by the idea that an anthropomorphic numeral 5 looks like it has a fat little belly and the numeral 6 is curled up like a fetus. I’m not at all confident about that though.
It’s the baby new year.
Yeah, guys, think about the timing here.
Aha, Powers got it. Does that mean 5 died in childbirth and 2 will soon sire a new child with his daughter?
Little 6 will grow up and marry a guy just like her father, as per the cliche.
I thought it was just that 6 looked like a chubby little baby; the comments here cleared it up. Makes me wonder, though–with most animals, it’s binary (“Is it a boy or a girl?”). Maybe with numbers, there’s no easy question to ask.
Dvandom – Little 6 won’t marry a guy just like her father, she(?) will marry her father. Sorta.
Is there any reason to believe the numbers can’t reproduce asexually? 5s always spawn a 6. 6s always spawn a 7 and 2 always spawn a 3. They would seem to be born pregnant.
I’m also curious why Powers is credited with getting it. Patrick had it first!
Ted, simply because Patrick’s comment hadn’t appeared yet. Sometimes comments get “held” for some reason then inserted in the proper place later.
Well, I didn’t think it had anything to do with “because 7 8 9”.
It should have been 6-7.
Except Patrick’s comment was visible when I posted.
Comics I Don't Understand 
I don’t think they’re laughing, just happy. Pagelow is just a little rough with the art.
Best I got is that he was amused by the idea that an anthropomorphic numeral 5 looks like it has a fat little belly and the numeral 6 is curled up like a fetus. I’m not at all confident about that though.
It’s the baby new year.
Yeah, guys, think about the timing here.
Aha, Powers got it. Does that mean 5 died in childbirth and 2 will soon sire a new child with his daughter?
Little 6 will grow up and marry a guy just like her father, as per the cliche.
I thought it was just that 6 looked like a chubby little baby; the comments here cleared it up. Makes me wonder, though–with most animals, it’s binary (“Is it a boy or a girl?”). Maybe with numbers, there’s no easy question to ask.
Dvandom – Little 6 won’t marry a guy just like her father, she(?) will marry her father. Sorta.
Is there any reason to believe the numbers can’t reproduce asexually? 5s always spawn a 6. 6s always spawn a 7 and 2 always spawn a 3. They would seem to be born pregnant.
I’m also curious why Powers is credited with getting it. Patrick had it first!
Ted, simply because Patrick’s comment hadn’t appeared yet. Sometimes comments get “held” for some reason then inserted in the proper place later.
Well, I didn’t think it had anything to do with “because 7 8 9”.
It should have been 6-7.
Except Patrick’s comment was visible when I posted.