That's true of most comics, really. Most of them could have been books. Or lines in a joke book. Transitioning to a visual medium is simply one method of telling jokes. You don't have to do anything any specific way at all.
So you don't see the characters, you don't see the misunderstanding that it isn't a fence, and you don't find out that he is doing calligraphy. Do know it says 'minimum' though.
You're not wrong. It was already around for 20 years, before this comic borrowed it. I think I've usually seen it with just a caption or something. And this comic didn't really add any funny.