Joe Biden keeps this simple comic strip on his desk — here's what it says

• Former Vice President and presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden announced Sen. Kamala Harris of California as his running mate on Tuesday.
• Biden's announcement also drew interest for other reasons, particularly after his campaign released a photo of the moment.
• The image revealed a framed comic, one that had a special meaning for the Democrat.

Former Vice President and presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden announced Sen. Kamala Harris of California as his running mate on Tuesday, finalizing the Democratic ticket for the 2020 presidential election.

But Biden's announcement also drew interest for other reasons, particularly after his campaign released a photo of what appeared to the exact moment.

The photo revealed Biden holding a phone while video-conferencing with Harris on his laptop. And behind his laptop revealed a framed comic, one that holds a special meaning for the Democrat.

The comic is a simple two-frame piece from Dik Browne's "Hägar the Horrible," a 1970s-era comic strip of a charming viking from the Middle Ages, according to comics subscription website Comics Kingdom. "Hägar the Horrible" has appeared in numerous advertisements and pop-culture references, in addition to nearly 2,000 newspapers.

In Biden's comic, Hägar appears stranded in the sea as his ship burns in the background during fierce storm. The viking bellows out to the sky, "Why me?!," to which the clouds responds with, "Why not?"

Biden said he kept the cartoon on his desk for decades and that it humbled him in times of need, according to PBS.

The image helps Biden remember that "a lot of people are going through a lot worse than you're going through, and the way they get through it is … they have people reach out, touch them, give them solace," PBS reported in 2018.

Biden is no stranger to grief. In 1972, Biden's wife, Neilia, and one-year-old daughter Naomi were killed in a car crash. His two sons, Hunter and Beau, survived. Beau later died of brain cancer at 46 in 2015.

"I remember looking up and saying, 'God,' as if I was talking to God myself, 'You can't be good. How can you be good,'" Biden said during a 2012 seminar comprised of family members of military veterans who were killed. "You probably handled it better than I did. But I was angry."

"I promise you, and you parents as well, the thought of your son or daughter, or your husband or wife, brings a smile to your lips before it brings a tear to your eye," Biden said. "It will happen. My prayer for you is, that day will come sooner or [sic] later."