The Return of Frank the Fish part IV
In today’s new-run of For Better or For Worse, Michael and Elly are having a conversation about Frank the Fish, as if they were two sisters who just buried an elderly relative, and now they are busy complimenting themselves on what a nice job they did. That sets up the joke -- Farley the dog is digging up the gravesite – so it wasn’t as nice a funeral as they had planned after all. In other words, the first 4 panels were a setup for the Farley digs up the grave joke. I don’t mind this strip as much. Aside from Michael sounding like he was an old woman, the joke did not rely on lame wordplay, but a visual joke. That is always better than bad wordplay for the punch line.
On the other hand, the dialogue to set up the final panel joke coming out of Michael is so not like a little kid, it is far funnier than the joke of the strip. You can tell how much these words are from Lynn Johnston when Michael says, “Frank the Fish”. The use of the phrase “the Fish” where something has the name of what it is, has been a running joke of mine ever since Lynn used the phrase last year to describe Farley and to point out that it was Farley the Dog and not Farley Mowat the author. Coming out of Michael, it sounds like there is another Frank that Michael knows, who met an ignominious end and did not have a nice funeral.
On the other hand, the dialogue to set up the final panel joke coming out of Michael is so not like a little kid, it is far funnier than the joke of the strip. You can tell how much these words are from Lynn Johnston when Michael says, “Frank the Fish”. The use of the phrase “the Fish” where something has the name of what it is, has been a running joke of mine ever since Lynn used the phrase last year to describe Farley and to point out that it was Farley the Dog and not Farley Mowat the author. Coming out of Michael, it sounds like there is another Frank that Michael knows, who met an ignominious end and did not have a nice funeral.
posted by howard at 10:23 PM
6 Comments:
howard,
Coming out of Michael, it sounds like there is another Frank that Michael knows, who met an ignominious end and did not have a nice funeral.
isn't it nice how Lynn's leaden ear for conversation always gives people such odd ideas; it's the funniest thing she's accidentally done in years.
Coming out of Michael, it sounds like there is another Frank that Michael knows, who met an ignominious end and did not have a nice funeral.
Heh. I know! I'm guessing she did this in case a casual reader had missed the fishy-funeral strips and came in today not knowing who this "Frank" is. Without "the fish," Casual Reader might think Mike's "he croaked an' we buried him" is an awfully callous way to talk about their dear friend Frank. OTOH, it's still a callous way to talk about a dead pet, so whatever, Lynn. "Frank the fish" is awkward and far from the way actual humans speak.
dreadedcandiru2,
isn't it nice how Lynn's leaden ear for conversation always gives people such odd ideas; it's the funniest thing she's accidentally done in years.
Lynn’s dialogue is one of the best things about the strip…for us snarkers.
aprilp_katje,
I'm guessing she did this in case a casual reader had missed the fishy-funeral strips and came in today not knowing who this "Frank" is.
So, this could be Lynn’s version of “soap opera speak” where the characters repeat each other’s names regularly, in order to help out new viewers. That makes sense, although it raises the question of why Lynn Johnston wouldn’t do something like this more often. There have been many strips where the most faithful readers of the strip have been dumbfounded about what was going on.
That makes sense, although it raises the question of why Lynn Johnston wouldn’t do something like this more often.
I have occasionally noticed her having characters use one another's names when it wasn't necessary/intuitive to do so. Maybe she just thinks of such things on and off, though.
aprilp_katje,
I have occasionally noticed her having characters use one another's names when it wasn't necessary/intuitive to do so. Maybe she just thinks of such things on and off, though.
Moments where she remember her artistic integrity. For example, how Michael and Lizzie have start popping up with button noses is probably the result of one of those moments (even though it is too early to match the reprints she has been using).
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