Even though by now Orneryboy has already proven himself to be a very callous guy who tends to solve most of his problems with violence, I feel conflicted about this strip because I don’t like the idea that my work could be interpreted as promoting cruelty to animals. I’m fine with cruelty to zombies though. And cruelty to shitty co-workers. Just leave the kitties out of it.

Anyway, the joke here is supposed to be that an inanimate object is somehow “speaking” to Orneryboy, coaxing him toward violence. Or that he is merely projecting his own violent instincts onto the bat. Which one, I’m not even sure. This isn’t even an isolated occurrence in this comic, either. I seem to recall a later instance involving a fence picket. I don’t know, maybe Orneryboy is legitimately crazy! I mean, the guy yells at the sun, for fuck’s sake.