So how do we know that Frankie (and his partner Lenny) are just no damn good? “Lenny and I have a production company in Hollywood…” If only Les had been around to spot them: Lenny’s bald head, glasses, and sportcoat surely would have given him away as one of those vampire-loving Hollywood types.
I love how the documentarian who makes films nobody sees has the nerve to sneer at somebody who’s had “a big hit on YouTube.”
Son of Stuck Funky 
It would be a pretty clever set-up to have Those Tech-Savvy Youngsters to be familiar enough with YouTube to see through back-to-black Lenny and Frank, but I doubt that Batiuk’s that clever.
I honestly couldn’t think how this arc could get any dumber, but Mr. Batiuk, you’ve pulled it off. My hat is off to you. I stand in line.
Yes, Durrwood, pressure Les into using our production company, seeing that he gets to write a first draft that will then be eviscerated by the studio. He’s got the juice.
I might have missed “Nazi Vampires….” but I did see their other production:
So if I’m following this arc correctly: Frankie may or may not be a former or current rapist; he may or may not run a production company, in or out of Hollywood; he may or may not be Darin’s dad, bio or paterno; Lenny may or may not be black, or even human; and Batiuk may or may not have any idea where he’s going with this storyline, and it may or may not reach its conclusion by Christmas. So far, so close?
Yeah, nobody who puts their work on YouTube is ever successful or popular. Except for Felicia Day. And Lindsey Stirling. And Wil Wheaton. And that Tunak Tunak guy. And…
Golly gee…looks like Blondie is finally catching on to her Bio-dad-in-law…
Also, you know the suddenly re-darkened “Lenny” is a bad guy because he says “nazis”, you see? Oh that Batominc subtlety. And YouTube (registered trademark)…ha ha ha! That internet, nothing but sleazy kooks I’ll tell you what. Also, check out Derin trying to look tough…whoa there, big fella…take ‘er easy! Now un-slit those eyes…slowly…one at a time. If it ends in fisticuffs, Boy Lisa might be able to take White Lenny, but Frankie or Black Lenny will destroy him.
This is playing out even more stupidly than any of us assumed it would, you know? I mean who could have guessed that the big reunion between Frankie and Boy Lisa would devolve into a dig at “Hollywood”, the internet and modern media in general, featuring some guy named Lenny? I doubt anyone had that in their FW office pool.
I remember way back when Frankie was this ominous, weirdly threatening presence, full of potential menace and mayhem. Sigh. Now he’s just another big-headed asshole, blathering on and on about a bunch of nothing. As if the strip needed more of that.
I honestly thought Frank’s company would be porn, even before asks Jess to wear a corset and thong, tie Darin up, and hit him with a baseball bat repeatedly. Of course, you still can’t mention that sort of thing in comics, but hitting Darin with a bat…hmm…
David and Josie are such dunderheaded neanderthals, that Lenny could very well be suggesting that they’ve never heard of Youtube, either — and I can’t say that would surprise me. Maybe think about putting your invisible documentaries on there, Josie, see if they gain a little traction.
There really was such a great opportunity to go into standard soap opera fare here and create Frankie into a charismatic villain who seriously endangers the Westview denziens. Frankie could have been Westview’s version of Stefano from Days of our Lives
(What????….. so I watch bad operas!!!!….sue me!…..LOL!!!)
It would actually create some real drama in this strip for the first time and actually intrigue us snarkers.
But nooooooo…Tom Batiuk in his amazing skills managers to create the most lamest way possible these type of events to enfold. You have to be very practiced at disappointing your readers this consistently to pull crap like his off.
As for Frankie becoming a real menace, it would certainly liven up the strip if Frankie was somehow turned into a supervillain, even if it’s clearly ripped off of some Silver Age B-list loser, while Darin becomes the superhero “Pizza-Face” in an epic that takes itself far too seriously.
**Now he’s just another big-headed asshole, blathering on and on about a bunch of nothing. As if the strip needed more of that.**
I stand in line, Epicus. I stand in line!
I remember way back when Frankie was this ominous, weirdly threatening presence, full of potential menace and mayhem. Sigh. Now he’s just another big-headed asshole, blathering on and on about a bunch of nothing. As if the strip needed more of that.
I think I know now why the last couple of strips have been so depressing (aside from them being Funky Winkerbean, I mean). It’s because of what Epicus said. A character with real potential to be interesting has been crushed through the Westview press and turned into another bore. Could have been interesting, at one point. But of course, we can’t have that. We can never have that.
If Frankie starts blathering on about Jim Aparo’s Phantom Stranger I swear I will strangle all these kittens, then set myself on fire.
Here’s the weirdest thing. The image here has Lenny as dark skinned. The image of Lenny on the NJ website has him clearly white. In fact, every image of him after the 17th has him as white. See the link:
http://www.nj.com/comics-kingdom/?feature_id=Funky_Winkerbean&feature_date=2013-05-17
(And in case that’s retconned I have the current image of 5/17/13 saved).
Gyre – must be Cayla’s brother.
@Merry Pookster: I don’t know whether to curse you or thank you for posting that video. Yes, I watched the whole thing, so I guess I’m one of the 12 people in the world who can know say they’ve seen Hard Rock Zombies, a movie that makes no sense and perfect sense all at once.
“Hey, Ray! Tom Batiuk here. Listen, you know those scary summer movies Curtis is always trying to go see? Do you have any random movie titles lying around that are too lame even for your strip? You do? Do you mind if I use one? Great! I really appreciate this, let me send you an autographed copy of Lisa’s Stor– hello? Ray? Hello?”
Well, let’s not be too judgmental, kids. Not every studio can get their hands on a triple-A property like “The Woman Who Got Cancer and Then She Died of Cancer”.
Yeah – Hollywood, OHIO. Whatever. So one way or another, BatHump needs to steer this out of control freight train toward, “We’re making the REAL Lisa’s Story here at Moroni’s. We just need a small investment from youse guys.”
At least I assume that’s what this is all about. But with each passing day, it looks like it’s getting harder and harder to get there.
So not only does Lenny no longer look black, he also has gone from looking menacing to looking kinda goofy.
Am I the only one who thinks if this story doesn’t start to move along soon, even the characters will lose interest?
speaking of Cayla, I believe we should have a days since last appearance counter for her too. It would be almost the same as Khan’s.
Not that I’m complaining, mind you.
@ Jimmy: “Hard Rock Zombies” might be terrible…. but this FW comic strip is worse.
Oh… I was listening to Indie music at the Detroit Bar in Costa Mesa CA and they were playing “Hard Rock Zombies” on the TV behind the bar … i watched it with no volume, just the local bands playing on stage.
Awesome.
Batyuck can only dream of reaching that level of creativity.
@Gyre, I’m pretty sure Lenny’s race-shifting is just another coloring goof; kind of like how the famous green pitcher behind Montoni’s counter was red on Monday, or how Lenny’s jacket was blue when he walked in and is teal today (and–spoiler alert!–turns blue again tomorrow).
Does this mean we are going to get a strip or two where Frankie Goes To Hollywood?
Oh anonymous Funky Winkerbean Comics Kingdom colorist… the only person who cares less about their craft than Tom Batiuk.
I’m going to assume that Frankie is trying to produce a Roger Cormanesque knock-off of “Lisa’s Story” and that he wants Darin’s blessing or some damn thing. This will allow Darin his moment of righteous anger and continue the deification of Saint Lisa. I hate these characters.
By the way, I’m also going to assume that Les didn’t use real names in his book, hence the “David” and “Josie” from Frankie. So it makes sense that Frankie would know who everyone is from descriptions in the book, but he’s even dumber for thinking he knows their real names as well. Farewell to a potentially interesting character. Frankie we hardly knew ye.
In re. to TFHackett, like I said, it’s every appearance of Lenny’s after 5/17/13. He is suddenly white in every one of them. That isn’t careless coloring, that suggests a deliberate effort.
Gyre–i can’t figure it out; either Threatening Wedgeman Posse Member Black Lennie was dropped down the memory hole a la the “marraige” gaffe, in which case they could just as easily replace all the strips prior to that; or he was supposed to be Art Teacher/Hollyweird Producer White Lenny all along, in which case they just color the strips going forward and no more is said (a la Cayla, i guess). But having him be black when he and Frank were being portrayed as ominous villains, and white when he’s a sleazy Hollywood operator? WTF.
Doing a half-assed job about correcting/changing their minds? That does sound plausible…
“Cut! Lenny, the line was ‘It was a big hit straight-to-cell phone… You’ve probably heard of it…’ Now get it right next time!”
My best guess about Lenny? Batiuk decided having a sleazy Hollywood producer be black would be racially insensitive and they did a poor job of retconning it.
I can’t blame Batiuk for not wanting to make African Americans be villains* I still can’t actually give him any credit since this is the sort of thing that a writer should think of BEFORE they start writing.
*Especially since the only other African Americans in this strip were either sent off to college (and never appear again) or are wives who have no impact on the plot.
Remember, folks! This on-the-fly retconning of Lenny is the result of a full year of preparation. You can’t buy QA like this, not for love or money!
Darin: *jabs Jess in the side, HARD* “There, you see? Do you see? Genre fiction. Filthy, dirty, EVIL genre fiction! We’re leaving and we’re leaving NOW.”
Jess: “Um, aren’t ‘Superman’ and ‘Star Wars’ both genre fiction?”
Darin: “Yes, but I like them, so SHUT UP!”
Frankie: “What, you’re leaving already? We were just psyching ourselves up into performing our studio’s theme song.”
Lenny: “It’s performed to the same tune as ‘The World is Waiting For the Sunrise’! Hey, where’d I put that ukelele?”