When is a joke not a joke?
Comic Reviews for week ending 9/11/2022
Good morning, my friend,
I keep up with other writers and reviewers of comic-related content, even when that content is outside of print/digital comics. The MCU and DCEU get my attention for obvious reasons.
Well, our favorite topic of late, She-Hulk, caught my attention for a brief snippet in the prologue of episode #3. The show creators decided to post “fake” social media comments deriding She-Hulk for being a woman. I say “fake” because those comments were manufactured for the show, but some folks have said (depending on who you believe) that the comments were copied from real social media accounts.
The comments aren’t part of this topic, however. What caught my attention was a YT personality’s strange take. He thought those comments were successfully presented as a good joke, and it struck me as odd since the comments were clearly not successful jokes.
When is a joke not a joke? When it’s not written as a joke.
Before I can explain when something isn’t a joke, it will be easier to define what is a joke.
A joke is an unexpected reaction between two or more incongruous ideas. It’s the reaction to an action. It’s the punchline to a setup. Two or more things that don’t normally go together react to create a humorous surprise.
The humorous part isn’t the setup (“A man carrying a duck walks into a bar.”). The humorous part is the unexpected reaction from the duck when the bartender asks, “What can I get you?”
Get it? Two or more ideas come together, producing an unexpected reaction.
There are always exceptions, of course, but this is the basic structure for what most humans intuitively understand as a joke.
Back to She-Hulk. Why wasn’t that opening montage of social media troll comments a joke? Simple. Because there was no reaction. She-Hulk didn’t see the comments and react to them in an unexpected way. The comments didn’t contain an unexpected statement (e.g. “Why does she need negabands to Hulk out?”).
The comments were simply presented. It’s a setup with no punchline. An action with no reaction.
The only possible way to interpret the comments as a joke would be if you were up to speed on the harsh criticism of fandom and placed those comments in a context outside the show. At best, you could say the show is making a cultural reference joke, but you’d have to be steeped in online culture and have a one-sided point of view about the culture for the joke to make sense. In short, it’s a joke that only works for the people who wrote it. For everyone else, it’s not a joke.
Humor is hard. Telling jokes that work consistently requires a subtle mix of timing, artistry, and awareness. However, getting the basic structure of a joke is easy as… cake. 😉
Let’s recap.
A joke is an unexpected reaction between two or more ideas
If there’s no reaction, there is no joke
If you tell a joke that requires knowledge and mindset outside of the listening/viewing audience, your joke will fail.
What’s your favorite joke? Tell us in the Comments, and we’ll add it to the next newsletter.
Now, let’s get on with this week’s reviews.
RISE OF DRACULA #6 – Review
007 #2 – Review
THE INVINCIBLE RED SONJA #10 – Review
THE NINJETTES #1 – Review
DRAGON WHISPERER (VOL. 2) #4 – Review
BLADE RUNNER: BLACK LOTUS #2 – Review
THE BOOGYMAN #1 – Review
COVER OF DARKNESS: ORIGINS #1 – Advance Review
13 SHOTS OF WHISKEY: BURNT ENDS #2 – Indie Review
FALLEN #1 – Indie Review
OVER THE ROPES: BROKEN KAYFABE #4 – Review
Blitz (Vol. 1) (Ablaze Publishing)
Robyn Hood: Baba Yaga (Zenescope Entertainment)
Cover the Dead with Lime #2 (Blood Moon Comics)
Bloodborne: The Lady of the Lanterns #2 (Titan Comics)
Sherlock: A Scandal in Belgravia, Part 2 #2 (Titan Comics)
Show's End: The Second Coming #3 (Mad Cave Studios)
Lovecraft: Unknown Kadath #1 (Ablaze Publishing)
Army of Darkness vs Reanimator: Necronomicon Rising #3 (Dynamite Comics)
Immortal Red Sonja #6 (Dynamite Comics)
Vampirella: Mindwarp #1 (Dynamite Comics)
Lazer Brain Comics #1 (Indie Submission)
The Isle of the Dead (Indie Submission)
That’s the shortlist for now. We’ll add more titles and adjust as time and resources allow.
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Have a great day!