The Unfunnies

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.
The least disturbing thing about this series.

The Unfunnies is a four-issue "horror" comic book written by Mark Millar with art by Anthony Williams. Quite frankly, it lives up to its name.

A world resembling classic Nelvana/Hanna-Barbera cartoons is becoming increasingly messed up as characters discover sex, swearing and murder. Little do they know that it's the work of the creator of their world, Troy Hicks, who's a child molester/killer who used occult magic to switch places with one of the cartoon characters in order to escape from death row.

Issues 1 and 2 were released in 2004, and were re-released in 2007 together as The First Follies. Issues 3 and 4 were released in 2007. Each of the regular issues were released with two covers -- a mass-market cover, and an "offensive" cover.

Tropes used in The Unfunnies include:
  • Abusive Parents: Sally Gator - okay woman, your daughter did wrong. But that's not the reason to let some crazy doctor kill her!
  • Alliterative Name: Birdseed Betty, Deputy Doozy, Doctor Despicable... the list goes on, a nod to classic cartoon naming.
  • Anvil on Head: Betty Birdseed and her family get crushed by a giant weight from nowhere at the end of the comic, because Hicks needed a sacrifice to complete his evil scheme.
  • Anyone Can Die: Just about every character that's given any major screen time is going to be brutally murdered or screwed over, the sole exception being Troy Hicks.
  • The Bad Guy Wins/Downer Ending
  • Captain Ersatz: Several of the characters, Pussywhisker for example seems to be an ersatz version of Snagglepuss.
    • Hicks openly admits it, calling all characters rip-offs.
  • Crap Saccharine World
  • Catch Phrase: "Holy Hannah!"
    • Also, "Eh, Reader?"
  • Corrupt the Cutie: The first part of Hicks' plan was emailing the characters and telling them of the "wonders" he's experienced in the real world, corrupting them.
  • Covers Always Lie: The "offensive" covers represent things not appearing in the story itself, such as one of Moe Crow's sons going on a killing spree at school, or characters not seen anywhere (Dr. Despicable is represented as a cat performing an abortion on Sally Gator, when he's a human-type toon).
  • Creator Breakdown: In-Universe example, Troy Hicks seemed to having been a pretty normal cartoonist judging from some of the characters' comments.
  • Darker and Edgier: Child pornography plot point gets introduced at second page. And it only gets darker with every moment.
  • Deal with the Devil: Frosty Pete switching places with Hicks. Hicks is implied to have performed one himself, the entire comic comprising the 'eight-eight page ritual'. He needs a blood sacrifice to complete it, but he has the perfect loophole - he's the god of his world, and can create and destroy as he wishes.
  • Dying Dream: It's possible that all the events of the comic are actually the delusional fantasies of Troy Hicks before his execution.
    • We all hope so.
  • Exactly What It Says on the Tin: The majority of people one troper asked who read the book would give it only one compliment: It lived up to its title.
  • Freudian Excuse: Troy Hicks' wife hated him for not being able to give her children.
  • Henpecked Husband: Pussywhisker is forced by Polly to find men with whom she can have sex; also, Legal Beagle pays Betty Birdseed to be treated as one, for some reason.
  • Hidden Eyes: Frosty Pete (even when in devil costume at the end of the comic) and Deputy Doozy.
  • It Got Worse: Things only get worse and worse for every single character in the book the longer it goes on.
  • Karmic Death: Played straight with Polly and all men she slept with, when it's revealed that first one of them has AIDS. Sadly, completely averted with Troy Hicks.
  • Karma Houdini: Troy Hicks gets off scot free for all the child murders he commits, while an innocent cartoon character is tricked to take his place.
  • Mama Bear: Jungle Jim found hard way that Birdseed Betty is one.
  • Manipulative Bastard: Troy Hicks, but also Doctor Despicable who convinces people they have testicular cancer to win competition with other doctor in who will remove one hundred testicles. And Polly, who orchestrated her husband being one of Despicable's patients, so she can make him feel guilty he cannot give her child and not only justify sleeping with as many men she can, but even make him picking them up for her.
  • Mature Animal Story
  • The Mirror Shows Your True Self: Frosty Pete stands in front of a mirror and sees Hicks' image.
  • No Fourth Wall: "Eh, Reader?"
    • "I'm as real as the people reading this!"
  • Police Are Useless: Justified in that, before Hicks' arrival, the biggest crimes in town were petty pranks, so the cops are unprepared to face the crime spree. However, when they get told that the child killer is someone small, black, with flippers, that gives a "South Pole vibe", and don't connect that with Frosty Pete standing right in front of them, they really come across as dumb. On the other hand, Hicks is the one writing their reality now, so maybe he was just messing with them.
  • Real Life Writes the Plot: In-Universe example, Troy Hicks based what happens to Moe and Pussywhisker on events from his own life.
  • Really Gets Around: Polly, but she hides it behind her fake obsession of having a child.
  • Refuge in Audacity: It's written by Mark Millar; that's all you need to know.
  • Roger Rabbit Effect
  • Running Gag: "Eh, Reader?"
  • Shoot the Shaggy Dog: The Crow Family, the police officer trying to stop Troy Hicks, and the cartoon character with whom Troy Hicks trades places.
  • Shout-Out: In one panel, details of Peter Perfect and Penelope Pitstop's cars can be seen.
  • Sliding Scale of Idealism Versus Cynicism: Completely on the Cynicism side by as soon as the second page.
  • Talking with Signs: Chick-Chick Chickie uses signs to explain why he's forced to curse to everyone. If he ever stops doing that, Frosty Pete will kill him with a rifle. He does.
  • Through the Eyes of Madness
  • Understatement: Review in first issue says this comics might be inappropriate for kids. Might? MIGHT?!
  • Unreliable Narrator
  • Wish Fulfillment: In-Universe example, Troy Hicks uses the world of The Unfunnies to commit atrocities and go unpunished.
  • Villain Protagonist
  • You Bastard: Attempted but failed. An "Eh, readers?” catchphrase appears to be originally used whenever something funny was happening so used to suggest collusion when terrible things are done to the characters is supposed to make readers feel bad that they're laughing at all this macabre. The only problem is that the reader is too disgusted to be actually laughing.
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