1 Me: I've recently been criticised for using the comic device of the silent penultimate panel too frequently.
2 Me: Here's what I have to say to that.
3 {beat}
4 {pokes tongue out}

Also known as a beat panel, indicating a silent beat in the flow of a comic.

The reason a lot of comics use it is because it is effective at providing the comedic timing pause before the delivery of a punchline. Which unfortunately has made it a bit of a cliché.

I'm going to be a bit more careful about this in the future, but sometimes you just gotta use it.

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2018-07-11 Rerun commentary: It's appropriate that I'm wearing the Calvin & Hobbes T-shirt in this strip, as the face I'm pulling in the last panel was inspired by some of the faces Calvin pulls. Now I'm wondering if I did that deliberately or not. Either option is possible.