TheDiva
May 2, 2013 at 10:55 pm
I’m getting the subtle impression that Frankie might not be a nice person…
Like the rest of you, dear readers, I cannot even begin to fathom what sinister plot Frankie has in mind. Something to do with besmirching St. Lisa’s immaculate image, I guess. Interesting how TB’s managed to intersect two plot threads, each having something to do with A Book By Les Moore.
I don’t know whether it’s “the picture of domesticity” but has Les ever looked douchier that he does in today’s panel 2? I especially like how the Google Earth perspective accentuates his bald pate. Meanwhile, our story’s other two-toned skunk head, well, just plain skunk, arrives on the scene, driving a car with that special windshield tint that makes everything look like it’s on TV. Frankie’s car must also have a sunroof, too: it’s the only way to explain the weird shadows on the back of his head.
Tom Batiuk doesn’t care about stroke victims. The discussion of Fred’s day-to-day existence is relegated to the Sunday “throwaway” panels up top (which don’t appear in all newspapers). The former Westview principal exists these days merely to generate cheap pathos or cheaper marble-mouthed speech gags. TB is much more concerned with his special “Coda to Lisa’s Story”.
“I’ll be happy if we can just be half the parents you and Dad were.” Way to set the bar, Darin. Never mind that Fred wasn’t even half a parent to Kerry, the daughter he wasn’t even allowed to see, and the older half-sister that you (and we) only recently learned about.
Back at the motel, the world’s nosiest desk clerk continues feeding straight lines to the mystery man, who is revealed to be none other than Frankie, clean-shaven and slavishly copied from the model sheet.
Unless “just being Nordic” is a Midwestern idiom that’s too obscure to be found on Google, I’ll assume that Jessica is saying that Darin’s “just being neurotic.” Though if that is the case, I’m less sure whether Blondie’s joking or if she actually thinks “Nordic” is the correct term.
Whatever suspense Batiuk is trying to build here is undermined by a couple of things: mainly that he mentioned in an interview last month that Frankie would be returning. On the other hand, casual readers (as opposed to us beady-eyed nitpickers) may be hard pressed to connect the black-and-white-haired man we saw last week clutching a Beer in his huge hand with the black-and-blue-haired guy with the dainty hand, who’s just checked in for an extended stay at the Stveiw Motel.
From the FW Blog, Nov. 6, 2012:
At the moment, I’m hard at work on what is turning out to be a bit of a coda to Lisa’s Story. Events in the present will spark a sort of flashback/prequel which will crossover into real life with a visit to my old apartment in Elyria…as well as a crossover with Crankshaft thrown in for good measure. Oh, and lest I forget, a long lost character as well…Stay tuned.
Clearly Les does not share Cayla’s excitement over his basic-cable movie getting a free plug on a basic-cable news network. Meanwhile, somewhere in Elyria, Ohio, “a long lost character” with Paulie Walnuts hair and wearing a wifebeater clutches a can of beer and talks to his TV. It can be none other than the despicable Frankie, Darin’s biological father and St. Lisa’s…ex-boyfriend? Date-rapist?
Tom Batiuk Talks ‘Funky Winkerbean’, comicbookresources.com, March 19, 2013:
I ended up writing a story where Frankie — he’s been mentioned a couple times and has actually appeared in the strip very briefly, the guy who got Lisa pregnant — returns. In the return of that story we deepen the teen pregnancy story and say that it was a little more than just youthful indiscretion on Lisa’s part. There was some coercion involved and it’s like a coda to “Lisa’s Story.”
Guess we’ll have to wait for TB to “roll out” the story to see how he retcons this.
I wasn’t able to dig up a whole lot on the web about Frankie (he’s not even mentioned on the Unofficial FW Fan Page, though Lisa’s teen pregnancy is). I found the above strip from Act II, but can’t provide any context on what their relationship was by the time she was pregnant with Summer.
Son of Stuck Funky 