The joke, I think, is that if Joe Biden is the representative, people won't leave their houses to vote because they wouldn't want to vote for him nor Trump. Since they're at home, they won't contract coronavirus and will be alive to fight in the future war.
The problem is that the setup takes way too long, which once again demonstrates their problem is brevity. On top of that, it has way too much fat to trim off so that whatever is meant to be humorous gets lost as the reader tries to decipher what's important to the overall joke. If I were to revise it, I would do just so:
View attachment 1187028
If Matt Bors has taken a class in art and writing, I'd ask for my money back. Nothing in this is left up to the viewer which, as I'm sure you'll notice, leaves little opportunity for them to laugh at the realization of the joke besides the twist at the end. But he takes it a step further and explains things that there's no need to explain. You don't need to tell the viewer that the time traveler comes in at the "Democratic Party HQ," the reader can pick up the subtext of this by seeing the people in suits agreeing to push Joe Biden. You don't need to show each and every one of them musing over this with the time traveler, you can assume that much by the fact that they heeded his advice in the next panel. I would also rewrite Biden's script to imply he is in the middle of an insane ramble to demonstrate to the reader that what he is
saying isn't important, the face he's
saying nonsense is what matters.
With this, the joke is easier to understand and doesn't get muddled in exposition which is, for all intents and purposes, irrelevant to the joke. Of course, there's still other problems like if coronavirus kills everything, why is there a resistance in the future and what are they fighting? I also can't fix the issue that this is essentially more whining masquerading as a joke. But, most importantly, it's still rather wordy. I don't believe he's workshopped this at all, because as you'll notice, I've cut out two entire panels and the delivery on the joke is still anything but snappy and relies on exposition.
I always like to quote Bill Burr's retelling of a joke, "we like our beer how we like our violence: domestic," and how he points out the fact that there's absolutely nothing you can take away and have the joke still work. Or maybe just "brevity is the soul of wit." As with pretty much any creative medium, if what you have isn't important to the overall point or message, you take it right out. Yes, you spent an hour or two drawing the DNC members yelling at each other, but if it doesn't add to the joke, them being there is worse than there being nothing.
If you get paid for this, Matt Bors, I'm expecting my compensation in my inbox.
