That seems like some fast acting “sedative” if the nurse thinks it would be affecting Funky’s sense of humor as she’s injecting him with it. Where has she been all week? This whole cataract storyline seems to be nothing but Funky making one joke after another only to have someone say he’s not funny. It’s also kind of funny when you read the week in context, how it goes from Funky being nervous and anxious to “Hey! Here’s a cow joke for literally no reason at all!”.
I’m pretty sure she should be giving him anesthesia and not a sedative, too.
Pink Cataract
Today’s strip is a good example of why you should try and make sure your art and writing convey the same tone and mood. The writing makes it seem like Funky is supposed be cracking wise and attempting and failing to be funny. But his expression in second panel totally contradicts that. He just looks weary and exhausted, to the point where I would assume the original dialogue was “Why? I’m not going to live to see it.”.
And the nurse’s expressions throughout this strip are more “I’ll pray for you, since you’re trapped in a nightmare hell marriage” and less “Oy, your husband has a lame sense of humor”.
Cataract Ranch
So now we’re back to “Funky’s Body is Failing, Chapter 43”. Is that supposed to be Corey in the first panel? I hope so, because it’s legitimately hilarious that he’d have no clue that his dad is about to have surgery. Years ago, somebody must have told Batiuk that the way to get readers up to speed on what’s happening in your story is to have one character ask another what’s happening, because he sure does it a lot, and it’s super awkward every time.
Oh, and Funky is still nervous, in case you didn’t know. I really don’t know why Batiuk thinks “someone is nervous about surgery” is comedy gold, but he does.
R.I.P., Funkman
So ends the epic OMEA 2021 Signfest (I hope). This is an awkward strip. I guess the first two panels are designed to be redundant in case the newspaper cuts them off, but having Harry ask if Funky is nervous about the surgery (and naming the type of surgery again) right after he’s told Funky isn’t looking forward to it is just awkward. Fear of death as a punchline is also awkward but totally normal for this strip. It’s funny how whenever something bad happens to Les or Lisa it’s portrayed as high tragedy, but with Funky it’s always for a lame joke or making fun of him.
Funky giving away all of his clothes is funny to me, only because I assume his wardrobe is 99% Montoni’s t-shirts and aprons.
Clouds and Clods
It always kind of amazes when Batiuk does this kind of thing. I think he is the absolute last person who should be making fun of anyone else for being in a cloud, considering he can’t even get his own character’s names right anymore. Or when he’s just finished his third consecutive day of “two uninteresting, unattractive people stare silently at signs”.
I don’t quite get what Becky and Harry’s expressions signify here. Are they both just baffled and confused about what “the cloud” is? That’s probably it.
I wonder if the OMEA even knows they’re featured in this strip anymore. If they did, I can’t imagine they’d like being associated with it. I have to imagine the main emotions it elicits in readers are “nausea”, “annoyance” and “bafflement as to how it still exists”, which usually aren’t what you want people to think of when they think of you.
Son of Stuck Funky 