It’s great to be back here, like always. I’m happy to have another fun installment of this strip to comment on. “Doctor asks an injured woman if she’s being abused at home” is yet another of the many many Batiuk strips where I read it and am just amazed that he thinks it’s funny. And it sure seems to me that literally every time someone goes to a doctor in either this strip or Crankshaft, they inevitably act like a jerk when someone asks them a super basic question.
Is it me, or is it super amusing how everyone is all of a sudden wearing masks again? After multiple strips of people talking about the pandemic like it had passed, suddenly everyone is wearing masks. I wonder if Batiuk had the artist draw them on after the fact or what.
Comic Malpractice
Filed under Son of Stuck Funky
Son of Stuck Funky 
Oh, so this is either an elder care gag or a domestic violence gag. Either way the reader wins! I have to agree with the Spaceman here, it’s almost inconceivable that BatYarn thought this was funny somehow. And also note how once again a medical professional is portrayed as a ninny who blindly follows protocol, even at the expense of the patient’s feelings. Someone sure does have a grudge against medical professionals, I’ll tell you what. If he ever does an arc about a Hollywood doctor who collects highly-graded comic books, it’ll just be dripping with vitriol and hate.
Mugging at the ninny who blindly and blandly follows protocol is one of Batiuk’s favorite stock situations.
Wait, is Holly’s mother a shapeshifter? How did she turn herself into a schlubby, sixtysomething man since Satur…oh, that’s Funky, finally appearing by his wife’s side as this “story” enters its–Cushlamachree!–FOURTH week!
I feel as though I’m going to need medical attention before Saturday.
“Do you feel safe at home, I ask with your husband hovering right over my shoulder?”
You beat me to the punch.
I get it…”you beat me” and “punch” can also refer to domestic violence.
You don’t ask the domestic violence screening questions right in front of the husband, you goddam moron! And why is Funky in the room at all? This isn’t 1986, Tom Batiuk, medical privacy laws exist! People aren’t allowed to just loiter in the examining rooms!
And why is Funky even at the hospital? Where did Melinda go? We were led to believe this was a nice mother-daughter bonding trip in the ambulance, from a performance Funky couldn’t even be bothered to attend.
But you know exactly why he’s there, don’t you? He’s there to provide male oversight. Because Holly, being a woman, can’t possibly answer difficult questions like “does your ankle hurt when I move it like this?” Even domineering Mommie Dearest can’t be trusted with such a task, even though she arrived with the injured party.
Ugh, this is repulsive!
This is why (and I could be completely wrong here) I think he was going for an elder care gag here, like the young whippersnapper medical person is treating the decrepit old people like they’re elderly. It doesn’t read like that, but I think it was his intent here. It’s not any funnier, but it’s a little less warped.
There’s an obligatory air to it, like “are you safe at home? I mean, I know you are, because this is Funky Winkerbean where everyone knows the complete plot at all times. But I have to ask you, so I’ll just ask right in front of him so we can move on, and deny you any opportunity to bring anything to my attention.”
Tom Batiuk thinks he’s drawing attention to domestic violence, but he’s actually trivializing it.
Really? Another week of Holly? What could possibly be left of this ridiculous arc?
Lots and lots of hilarious jokes about family abuse and being mean to professionals who are trying to do their jobs!
Bless me, father for I have sinned, I have to read this story arc for another whole week.
My child, your penance is in embedded the pain of your sinning. Say three Pater Nosters and get yourself an ice cream.
Nurse Bluehair clearly doesn’t realize she lives in the Batiukverse, where no one is safe at home… or anywhere else for that matter.
“.. and am just amazed that he thinks it’s funny”
I’m sure that this strip (and many others) are meant to be mainly drama about aging, with just a slight bit of comedy at the end to take the edge off. I don’t think it is meant to be “Ha-Ha-Ha” funny.
I liked Funky better years ago when it was a comedy, but in recent years he seems to have changed it to a drama.
Given the context (i.e. our tiny community of weird Funky Winkerbean obsessives), it honestly took me a minute to figure out if you were being ironic or not. Your degree of understatement is pitch-perfect.
Saying Batiuk “seems to have changed it to a drama” is like saying a professional homebuilder put up four large panels of cardboard with holes cut out for windows and a door into a rectangle, tossed a construction paper roof on top of that, and is now advertising the structure as a “house for sale.” Sure, at a glance it may look like the thing its creator is claiming it to be, and it fulfills the basic definition, but when you take a closer look inside it’s empty, lacking in the basic elements, and won’t hold up over time.
I, too, am amused to see the return of the face masks. Don’t worry, Winkerbeans; you’re not in the high-risk age group.
On the other hand, if this turns into a story about Holly meeting a COVID patient at the hospital… Nah, Batiuk wouldn’t run a story like that without giving an interview first.
At least Mary Worth has been worth reading.
The past two days have been so bad I got nothin’
Maybe it’s different in Ohio, but in NYC all the doctors and clinics have banned anyone unnecessary from the waiting room or examining room. Unless you’re a parent accompanying a minor, you can’t come with a patient into the facility.
He’s put the masks back on, but that’s as far as he’ll go to acknowledge the pandemic.
We are back to normal with respect to that. I just went for an appointment and didn’t have to wait in my car, I could go right in and wait.
I had an auto accident back in December 2020 during the height of the pandemic. My vehicle was involved in a traffic accident on the expressway with a semi’s trailer. My SUV ended up on its side, and I lost consciousness. I also hurt my ankle and agreed to be taken to a nearby hospital for evaluation. I was in the emergency room for over six hours because they had difficulty contacting my GP.
My husband wasn’t allowed in the emergency room to see me or sit in the waiting room. He had to wait at home. Cell phones were forbidden because they could affect the functioning of medical equipment. It sure would have helped to pass the time if I had him to talk to. I couldn’t sleep because I was in too much pain. It was a long six hours.
I had no trouble answering the nurse’s questions. I was just so happy to see someone. They could have asked anything.
Holly (actually Batiuk) doesn’t seem to understand that the whole point of this intake protocol is that it’s the same for everyone. Just quickly answer “no” to the questions that don’t apply to you, and move on.
Does Batiuk freak out when a form asks him to check off his gender? Does he write in angry caps, “LOOK AT MY NAME. IT’S ‘THOMAS.’ TAKE A WILD GUESS AS TO MY GENDER, GENIUS!”
Funky was also hateful and sarcastic when he got his cataract operation. He acted like it was some kind of experimental open-heart surgery being conducted by a mad scientist. A total jérk and a whiny baby.
Something tells me that Tom Batiuk he walks into his doctor’s office, everyone quickly convenes in the supply room and they draw straws to see who’s gonna have to deal with him.
Way to rock those scrubs, sister. I love the way you dyed your hair to color coordinate. Matching fingernail polish too? *chef’s kiss*
Funky, that purse is so you! Love it!