Friday, January 09, 2009

Frank? Who dat?

The first new character introduced in the new-runs of For Better or For Worse was Fred the fish. Ironically, I just sent a Elly's Coffee Talk letter requesting more time with Fred, thinking I was being funny because I thought Fred would never appear again. In today’s new-run of For Better or For Worse (after a 6 strip run of reprints – our second longest), a new fish appears and his name is Frank, not Fred. There are a lot of good plot explanations why this would happen (Mike misspoke, different fish, fish renamed, etc.); however we know the real culprit is Lynn Johnston. She has misnamed her own characters so many times; it’s just a matter of time before she renames the main character to Ellen, after watching The Ellen DeGeneres Show.

As for a puppy drinking out of the fish bowl, as near as I can tell from internet research, if the fish is sensitive to certain bacteria and that bacteria was in Farley’s mouth, then Frank the fish is over. Judging from the number of websites addressing the topic, the situation of dogs drinking fish bowl water is not that uncommon.

However, the most intriguing part of this story is Michael’s explanation.

“I wanted Farley an’ Frank to meet each other…So, Frank had him over for a drink!!”

Does it seem familiar? Now for a little substitution to make this make more sense.

“I wanted Phil an’ Connie to meet each other…So, Connie had him over for a drink!!”

Michael is simply imitating his mother, and we new-run readers, who are anxious for any additional details, can now determine that the time when Phil and Michael went over to Connie’s house so Phil could meet Connie Poirier for the first time, Connie had him over for a drink.

Need more proof than that? Look at Farley’s face in the last panel. That dog is loopy from drinking.

6 Comments:

Blogger DreadedCandiru2 said...

howard,

“I wanted Farley an’ Frank to meet each other…So, Frank had him over for a drink!!”

Does it seem familiar? Now for a little substitution to make this make more sense.

“I wanted Phil an’ Connie to meet each other…So, Connie had him over for a drink!!”


That makes so much sense, I didn't even see it until you pointed it out. I realize that sounds a bit off but there are a lot of things that don't occur to you because they're sometimes too obvious.

3:15 AM  
Blogger April Patterson said...

My first thought upon glancing at the strip was to think, "Farley's swallowing Fred!" Then I read it and thought, "Lynn forgot the fish was named Fred." I even went back to the early-September strips to make sure I remembered correctly. Too bad Lynn never does that. 0_o

6:28 AM  
Blogger John F Jamele said...

The last panel has Farley looking at the readers with the most obvious "Buy Me, I'm Adorable And I'll Be On Your Store Shelves Soon" look I've ever seen.

I'm sure that anyone who writes into Coffee Talk about the renaming of the fish will be tsk'ed away by KAN, who will INFORM them that it's OBVIOUS that off-panel, Mike got another fish for Christmas, and HIS name is Frank, so there you go, you stupid haters!

6:54 AM  
Blogger DreadedCandiru2 said...

John F Jamele

I don't doubt that Lynn's screw-up will be defended by her fans; either Frank is Fred's replacement or Mike took to calling him Frank or blah-blah-blah-stop-criticizing-Lynn.

7:44 AM  
Blogger April Patterson said...

blah-blah-blah-stop-criticizing-Lynn.

No doubt. "u guyz r sech h8rzzzz! u don't have s00pr-popular comix, do u? if u did, u'd 4get yr carakhterz names sumtimes, 2, so shuttup and go way-way!!!!!eleventy!1

7:58 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Oh God. I hope Farley and Fred/Frank don't decide to have an illicit sexual encounter that ends with Fred/Frank dancing in his socks, Farley skipping town, and Fred/Frank chasing after him all the way to some Francophone den of iniquity like Montreal, home of musicians and fornicators.

Although I think my pets would probably like this strip a lot better if something like that happened. Some interspecies romance would liven things up from their perspective.

2:42 PM  

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