2008-12-06

A single-panel comic. A yellow banner caption reads: "DOCTOR TIP: TRY TO EASE FAMILY MEMBERS INTO THEIR LOVED ONES' PASSING." Below, a female doctor in a white coat talks to an elderly, balding man wearing glasses. The doctor cheerfully says, "Your wife's doing great!" The man replies, "Really?!" The doctor, now looking awkward with hands raised, walks it back: "Well... not THAT great." Votey (aftercomic, in black and white): The man, deadpan, asks, "She's dead, isn't she?" The doctor, deflecting, counts down: "Only 75%... 50%... 25%... Aaand, yeah, she's dead." The joke is the doctor absurdly trying to gently ease the man toward the news by pretending his wife's death is a gradual, decreasing percentage rather than already a done fact.