enigmatic puzzle - Five-Minute Comics: Part 2

_{Part of the Fortnightly Topic Challenge #35: Restricted Title 1}

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Didn't actually follow the five minute rule this time -- though i guess i should have, because i nearly ran out of time! There's only 10 minutes left in the day for me. Also these aren't comics, and while we're at it, this is actually the 13th part in my series of puzzles.

Visited some ideas that I never ended up getting to make with smaller minipuzzles.

Answer

Each of these can have a three-letter RNA codon (sequence of A, G, C, and U) to make a word:

AUGMENTATION

GUACAMOLE
COLLEAGUES
MORTGAGORS
EVACUATING
???

When these are converted to DNA (change U to T), their abbreviations spell MYSELF.

The clue answers are FED, MUK, I'M JK, LOKI, I, HUN

The used keys on a QWERTY keyboard for each answer are all near each other. Interpreting them as Braille spells HOT GAS.

The text spells COURSE, taking the large border to be a C.

Each word can have its fifth letter changed to spell another word; the new letters spell IRONIC.

...The answer is EARWAX.

The answers are:

MYSELF
??????
HOTGAS
COURSE

IRONIC
EARWAX

The diagonals spell MATRIX and FIGURE.