While TB is clumsy at portraying genuine affection (think of any scene involving Les being romantic toward Cayla), when it comes to smarminess, he’s got that down pat. Frankie embraces Darin in panel 3 like a boa wrapping itself around a feral pig. Darin recoils as Frankie’s leering mug looms mere inches away from his own, exhaling a vapor of sour coffee, generic cigarettes, and last night’s beer.
Tag: Frankie
It's Durwood
Charles
May 16, 2013 at 6:32 pmAll this has taken place this week, and yet, what’s the result?
Frankie: Wanna talk, son?
Darin: No.(After this week of treading water and worthless strips, reinforcing negative impressions of both Darin and Jessica):
Frankie: Wanna talk, son?
Darin: Yes.
Gyre
May 16, 2013 at 4:06 pm
“Give bio-dad a call”? “bio-dad”?I get that they were trying to save space, but if that’s all then why not just have Darin refer to him by his actual name. That would be a great way to show the distance between the two of them.
Or how about this: have “Bio-Dad” refer to Darin by the wrong name, thus tipping off the reader (if any still need to be tipped off) that Frankie’s motives are less than altruistic? Such a slip-up might be plausible if Frankie called him “Derwin” or “Aaron” or something that has more in common with his real name than just the first initial. Not to mention that Frankie seems to have gone to the trouble of learning everything about everybody in town: it’s unlikely that he’d carelessly misremember the name of his mark.
Looking on, of course, is Lenny, Frank Pierce’s partner in whatever scam they’re trying to run here.
Mo' Tell
Act III’s most confounding, incomprehensible story arc continues apace. Back at the motel, Frankie discusses with the mysterious Lenny his sinister plot to… to do what, exactly? Help out Fred and Ann Fairgood with their expenses? Assist Jessica in completing the documentary about her father, John Darling? And where does Frankie, who apparently lives in squalor, get the money for an extended stay at a motel (albeit one that still uses actual metal room keys), let alone to fly his partner in for “some back-up”?
Nerve
I may be forced to create a tag
for “baleful expression”!
Darin arrives home from work (that is, walks upstairs) still in a fit of pique following his phone conversation with his long-lost biological father, Frankie. Jessica appears at first taken aback at first by her husband’s display of emotion, mainly because they both spent most of their strip time these past few weeks simpering like morons. 
Then she turns on the charm, which makes her eyes look weird…in panel 3, Jess’ whiteless eyes remind me somehow of “Lizz” from the Dick Tracy strips of the 60’s, whose eyes used to scare the hell out of young me.
It's No Joke, Son
Charles
May 9, 2013 at 3:23 pm
So we’re to conclude from this that Dying Lisa never told Darin anything about his biodad, so when Darin called “Frank Pierce”, he had no idea who that was or why he was trying to contact him.
Well, maybe Lisa shared with Darin the circumstances of his conception, which would explain why a young man who obsessed over finding his biological mother would be so scornful of a man claiming to be his “Dad”. But hey, since his adoptive dad Fred is now damaged goods, you think Darin would opt for the upgrade.
Great punchline today from an author who knows a lot about “coming a long way for nothing”!
Son of Stuck Funky 
