I don’t quite get today’s strip. There really doesn’t seem to be anything more to it beyond “haha, wouldn’t it be funny if drug stores had free ice cream days?”, which is slightly amusing but not super funny. Based on his facial expressions, this does seem to be the happiest Funky has ever been in his life. I’m guessing either he just flat out stole the medicine, or the reason why Holly is taking barrels of Advil is because Funky swiped her painkillers.
Tag: the raptor claw in Holly's hair
Knitty Gritty
I’m guessing this is a gag about her torn muscle or broken bone knitting together? I totally didn’t get it at all the first time I read this, but that’s the only thing I can think would make any kind of sense. I’ve never been a fan of Batiuk’s tradition where he has someone make a joke in the second panel and in the third panel someone sneers at them and acts like it wasn’t funny. I don’t really get why Batiuk thinks it’s funny or worthwhile, and usually the jokes aren’t any worse than the ones Batiuk actually presents as his actual punchlines.
How long do you think it will be before Holly murders Funky with one of those needles?
Chock Full of Crap
I’m assuming nobody else has heard this phrase, although I could be wrong. I Googled it briefly, and apparently it’s a phrase that World War II pilots used, so I’m assuming Batiuk either heard it on a serial or read it in a decades-old comic book. Which doesn’t explain why this would be Holly’s immediate reaction upon seeing a scooter. I wonder exactly when Batiuk gave up on making his characters unique and different and just made them all stand-ins for himself.
Did the doctor not give Holly one of these? Or recommend one? That seems odd. Although given that the medication Holly clearly has her high out of her mind, clearly she doesn’t have a great doctor.
Kiss of Death
I’m not entirely sure why Funky is smirking, since yelling to someone that you hope they break a leg when they’re going into surgery (I’m guessing, Batiuk hasn’t specified) for a broken ankle (again, we don’t know because it hasn’t been specified) seems kind of like a jerk move and not really at all funny. It’s definitely not worth the “aren’t I clever” smirk we’re getting in panel three. Funky sure isn’t acting like someone would if a loved one just suffered a painful injury and is going in to be operated on. Given how the week started with Holly being questioned about if her home is safe, Funky shouldn’t act like he’s having so much fun.
And it is me, or is it kind of odd how we’re almost through an entire week in the hospital and haven’t been told a single thing about Holly’s injury or what the treatment will be? All it would have taken is one world bubble of “We’ll have to perform surgery to repair the torn ligament”, or whatever. But I guess that would’ve taken space that was better used on Funky joking about carrying a purse, or this hospital employee telling Funky to kiss his wife, which is kind of disturbing to me.
Comic Malpractice
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.
Son of Stuck Funky 