Franken Fran is no more. In a shocking and unexpected
twist, the last issue of Franken Fran was the
last issue of Franken Fran, with the author
having indicated at the end that,
surprise!!, no more would be forthcoming. The sendoff issue was something of a tribute to the whole of the series, with Fran (while sealed in a ship which has sunk to the bottom of the sea) dreaming that she is attending a party in her honor, with the guests being most every character that has appeared in the strip over its life -- including her houseful of servants; her sort-of sisters Veronica and Gavrill; many, many clones of Officer Kuhou (and probably the original as well); the Sentinals; the spies she had surgically turned into dogs early on; the infant
Pope she had delivered from the skull of a dying cardinal; and the
Flying Spaghetti Monster. The last guest to arrive, naturally, is the elusive Dr. Madaraki -- who is not actually seen, but is heard (or, more precisely, shown to be heard via voice bubble) from outside the confines of the panel.
Perhaps most distressingly of all is the utter ambiguity with which the series ends. Fran is shown to be rescued by a mini-sub, and returned to her usual surgical ways. But was she really? Or was this simply a ploy, an extension of an ever-continuing dream (since Fran, being an artificial life form, can likely long subsist in that sea floor encasement....) But, to be fair, Fran surely deserves a rest at this point. She has after all performed countless surgical miracles, and has herself had to sew her own head back on after an attack, and has been cut in half both at the waist (by herself, to leave her lower body as bait in a trap for evil animalistic sister Gavrill), and straight down from top to bottom (the latter, in a
laser accident, resulting in her building two temporary 'half-bodies' while figuring out how to operate her independently-functioning halves, which displayed distinctively different personalities). Goodbye, Fran.
StuartO))) has delivered on his promised
accordian-accompanied audio rendition of
The Ballad of Mark The Kramer --
can be found here; best listened to after imbibing an unreasonable amount of
Scotch. I mean that as a high
compliment.
In auditing news, progress is being made!!
Tem42 --
up to page 30 out of 36 -- one thing I've noticed as I've gotten deeper into the year 2000 nodes: a LOT of back-and-forth debate write-ups.
The Custodian --
on page 23 out of 39. (that's one page better than last time)