Monday, November 02, 2009

The Return of Frank the Fish

In today’s new-run of For Better or For Worse, we return again to one of the only new characters introduced into the storyline – Frank the Fish. Frank’s one and only appearance was in this strip from January 10, 2009. Lynn Johnston appears to be sticking with the name Frank, even though the fish was originally named Fred during its first appearance in September, 2008 at the beginning of the new-runs.

The last appearance of Fred the fish was in this strip. As you can tell, the last appearances of Fred and Frank the fish could easily lead you to a conclusion about how they might perish. Fred could get accidentally dumped out of his bowl while riding in a wagon. Frank could be accidentally eaten by Farley. In fact, those were my presumptions considering often the fish appeared in the strip.

Now Frank has reappeared, but he appears to be dead. How long he has been dead it is difficult to say. He could have actually died back in January, for as much attention has been paid to him in the strip. When you get right down to it, this may be one of the most ordinary animal deaths Lynn Johnston has done in this strip. Everyone remembers the heroic death of Farley as a high point in the strip. The death of Mr. B the bunny does not warm the hearts of most people. As Mr. B was lying in April’s arms, his shiver was interpreted as a death rattle by Dr. Elly, who nauseated us with talk of miracles occurring. Then, if Mr. B’s tumor did not get him, certainly Elly putting him in the freezer did. The last part of this charming tale was April getting a new bunny, while Mr. B was still in the freezer.

With Lynn Johnston at the height of her story-telling powers, just what will she do with Elly and Michael discussing the death of Frank the fish? Will she go for heart-warming, or will she go with stomach-churning? In today’s strip, Michael checks Frank’s temperature with his finger for illness. That’s kind of cute, and it is not a repeat of something Lynn has already done in the strip. We’ll just have to wait and see how Lynn plays it. I have high hopes.

4 Comments:

Blogger DreadedCandiru2 said...

I have high hopes for another reason; it's not hard to see that the bathos we're about to endure will be used as "proof" that Elly isn't batshit nuts and actually cares about her children. It isn't going to occur to them that this is the perfect opportunity for a crazy phony to fake that she likes Mike.

3:09 AM  
Blogger April Patterson said...

Probably a maudlin backyard funeral. I don't expect a toilet-flush funeral at sea.

3:51 AM  
Blogger howard said...

dreadedcandiru2,

...it's not hard to see that the bathos we're about to endure will be used as "proof" that Elly isn't batshit nuts and actually cares about her children.

This is very likely, since the death of Mr. B was very much along those lines. April cried a lot and had Elly alongside her. Somehow I don't see Michael crying much over Frank the Fish though.

5:36 AM  
Blogger howard said...

aprilp_katje

Probably a maudlin backyard funeral. I don't expect a toilet-flush funeral at sea.

I agree. There is a lot more chance for sadness and grief with the backyard funeral.

5:38 AM  

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