I am Fred's Brain

Darin, buddy, I think the blue pen in your pocket is leaking.

It’s a stroke, all right. Poor Fred. Yet all I can think about is: what’s going on with the lady doctor’s chin? I call it a “chin” because it’s where her chin would be, but it looks more like a small goiter. It sticks out like one of Popeye’s elbows. And her bedside manner sucks: “If he’s lucky, the catheter…will break it up.” “If we’re lucky” would’ve sounded a tad more compassionate, but of course, that doesn’t set up Annie’s punchline. Look for more scenes in this arc to take place in the darkened x-ray room; this way the action takes place in a featureless void, and TB is saved the drudgery of having to draw a detailed background.

Freddy Got Fingered

C’mon, doc. If he’s wise to that “scream when the toilet seat falls” bit, do you really think Fred Fairgood is gonna fall for the old “pull my finger” routine?

At least TB gets all the hospital details right: that’s either a nurse wearing a ḥijāb, or else Igor has wandered in from the lab of Dr. “Froderick” Frankenstein.

Stroke and a Joke

“At first I thought it was just the toilet seat falling…but [Fred] would always fake a loud scream whenever that happened, as if…” As if? As if what? What? As if Fred’s schlong had gotten crushed by the falling toilet seat? That old gag?

Who knew Westview’s former principal was such a jokester? We’d always figured him for something of a square! And now, just as we come to appreciate funny Fred, his Creator (TB) has laid him low with an affliction that will likely make him Pa Winkerbean’s new roommate. Obviously Fred at some point made the mistake of letting the universe know he was feeling happy.

A Stroke of Bad Luck

Epicus Doomus
January 10, 2013 at 11:45 am
…Maybe it’s a new mix of meds, maybe it’s the constant online criticism but whatever it is [Batiuk]’s holding back on the “life sucks then you die” stuff for some reason…

Duane
January 15, 2013 at 9:58 am
It’s either cancer or someone’s dead. It’s been too long since we’ve had some tragedy around here.

Happy now? The Mom on the phone, of course, is not St. Lisa, but Darin’s adoptive mom, Fishstick Annie, with the news that Fishstick Fred has suffered an apparent stroke. FW‘s Era of Good Feeling that was 2012 belatedly, officially draws to a close. Jessica takes a turn chirping like a newlywed about the whole marriage vs. dorm dynamic.

Hide Yo' Happiness

Today Batiuk revisits one of FW‘s dominant themes. No, not clumsy sentence structure (“…go ahead again anyway”?). Nope, not bricks. Naturally, I’m talking about the need to conceal one’s happiness, lest one attract the wrath of the universe. I truly wonder if this notion exists anywhere outside the Funkiverse? Imagine being unable to express even the slightest joy, out of an abject fear of recrimination. This might work as a quirky trait for a particular character (think Joe Btfsplk from Li’l Abner), yet this phobia is clearly understood and shared by everyone in Westview. Anyway, in this case, said wrath takes the form of an ill-timed phone call from…Darin’s mom? Is Lisa checking in from the afterlife again?