Nothingness

I got the idea for this cartoon while watching the movie Dead Poets Society last night. I must confess that I have always (though not openly) been fascinated by existentialism and have been reading and contemplating a lot on it recently.
Death has always been a major theme for existentialism. Is death the only certainty in life (apart from taxes)? Does death makes life absurd (other than providing a healthy source of food for the worms)?
I wonder?
