Comic 81 - In Which Francis Takes Company
Average Rating: 5 (6 votes)

- In Which Francis Introduces Himself and Florence
- In Which Francis and Florence Admire Sweet Innocence of the Children
- In Which Francis Loses the Ball
- In Which Francis Attempts to be Happy and Smile
- The Everyday Life of Francis Ostrichmann
- In Which Francis Discovers a Trail of Doughnut Holes
- In Which Francis Is Called Chubby
- In Which Francis Engages Florence in a Staring Contest
- The Trouble With Altruism
- In Which Francis Waters a Plant
- In Which Francis Ate Too Much For Dinner
- In Which Francis Suffers Existential Angst
- In which Francis has Emotional Issues
- In Which Francis Overreacts
- In Which Francis Watched Television
- In Which Florence has a Dream
- In Which Francis is Depressed
- In Which the Screen is too Damn Small
- In Which Francis Becomes Exacerbated
- In Which Francis Hates the Internet
- In Which Florence Needs to Wipe His Nose
- In Which Francis is Away on Holidays
- In Which Francis Realizes Terrible Things
- In Which Francis Over Analyzes the Laws of Physics
- In Which Francis Makes New Friends
- In Which Francis Meets a Legless Turkey Man
- In Which Francis Rents a Movie
- In Which Francis Goes to Work
- In Which Francis Sends a Text Message
- In Which the Medium is the Message
- In Which Francis Turns on the Radio
- In which Francis Uses the Toilet
- In Which Francis Promotes His Sponsor
- In Which Francis Goes to the Zoo
- In Which Francis Encounters Turkeyman
- In Which Francis Goes to Disneyland
- In Which 'Science
- In which Francis Watches Television
- In Which Francis Seeks Freedom
- In Which Francis Encounters Another Person
- In Which Francis Encounters a Duck
- In Which Francis has Belly Button Lint
- In Which Francis Has a Beard
- In Which Francis Consumes the News
- In which Francis Has Visitors
- In Which Francis Checks His Cell Phone
- In Which Francis Goes to the Movies
- In Which Francis Does Drugs
- In Which Francis Does Drugs
- In Which Francis Goes for a Walk in the Snow
- In Which Francis Has Unexpected Visitors
- In Which Francis Makes America Great Again
- In Which Francis Bores the Reader With His Self Indulgent Thoughts
- In Which Francis Blathers On and On and On and...
- In Which Francis Goes to the Beach
- In Which Francis Exposes Himself
- In Which Francis Helps a Friend
- In Which Francis Goes to and Then Comes Home From His New Job
- In Which Francis Blathers Mush
- In Which Francis Goes Digital
- In Which Francis Contemplates the Universe
- In Which Francis Encounters the Upper Middle Class
- In Which Francis Goes on an Exciting Adventure
- In Which Francis is an Intellectual
- In Which Francis Does Cynicism
- In Which Francis Does Yoga
- In Which Francis Looks in the Mirror
- In Which Francis Digs Deep
- In Which Francis Reads the Minds
- In Which Francis Recounts the Past
- In Which Francis Browses the Web
- In Which Francis Gets Slap Happy Then Stampied
- In which the "Bro" Incident
- In Which the World Returns to Normal
- In Which Francis Spends A Day In Arcadia
- In Which Francis Sarenades the Moon
- In Which Francis Complains about News
- In Which Francis Is Bullied by the Tech Industry
- In Which Francis Really Gots to Go
- In Which Francises Super Cross-Over Adventure
- In Which Francis Takes Company
- In Which Francis Appears to have a Psychotic Breakdown
- In Which Francis has a Close Encounter with Mother Nature
- In Which Francis is Caught up in an Interdimensional Incident
- In Which Francis Inadvertantly Participates in a Public Service Announcment
- In Which Francis Communes with Nature
- In Which Francis Goes on a Trip
- In Which Francis Goes Where No Ostrichman Has Gone Before
- In Which Francis Hangs Out With His Pals in the Riff Raff Cafe
- In which Francis Makes a Discovery
- In Which Francis Makes More Discoveries
- In Which Francis Says Goodbye To His Friends at the Riff Raff Cafe
- In which Francis Reads "The Deflowering of a Victorian Lady"
- In which Francis Has a Visitor
- In Which Francis Lives His Own Personal Nightmare
- In Which Francis Get a Back Ache
- In Which Life Aquatic With Francis Ostrichman
- In Which Frances Procures the Services of a Professional of the Night
- In Which Francis Tweets
- In Which Francis Arrives at The End.
Comments:
11th May 2021, 4:14 PM edit delete reply
11th May 2021, 5:00 PM edit delete reply
11th May 2021, 4:33 PM edit delete reply
11th May 2021, 4:59 PM edit delete reply
11th May 2021, 4:53 PM edit delete reply
11th May 2021, 4:59 PM edit delete reply
It's what would be known as a BOGOF (Buy one, get one free), or a "Twofa"
ps. Tea sipping approved!
11th May 2021, 5:01 PM edit delete reply
11th May 2021, 5:17 PM edit delete reply
BTW - I think he's outgrown that goldfish bowl!
11th May 2021, 5:23 PM edit delete reply
11th May 2021, 8:43 PM edit delete reply
11th May 2021, 9:07 PM edit delete reply
11th May 2021, 9:01 PM edit delete reply
Uhg-lug, like many fish who live in the oceans, is stuggling more and more because of the increasing rise in ocean temperatures. Francis, like most of us, listens patiently to Uhg-lug's problems, yet with a self protective detachment. Francis wants to seem to care, but can only care superficially since he's basically powerless to do anything about it, and so adroitly sips his tea. In other words Uhg- lug's problems ( ie. the problem of ocean temperature rise) remains undelt with. Uhg-lug then coughs up garbage, signifying the worsening conditions for oceanic life. Meanwhile, as we see, on the earth's surface, ie. Francis' deck, all appears idilic, no signs of environmental catastrophe at all. Which also ties into why Francis is so blast about Uhg-lug's problems....Francis has no problems environmentally...yet.
The garbage floating in Uhg-lug's bowl symbolizes that the garbage is confined to the ocean, Uhg-lug's world, not Francis' or our world.
It's funny because we as readers feel the pregnant pause between the end of Uhg-lug's speel signified by the tea "sip" and the hanging tension of what was just said. The coughing sounds like a rebuke to what he just said, but it's misleading, because in the final panel, the gag is that he just coughed up garbage that presumably he ingested while still living in the polluted oceans. Wow. I guess an image really is worth a thousand words.
Apologies, chris-tar, I'm better at drawing than I am at writing.
11th May 2021, 9:36 PM edit delete reply
Also, is it safe to say that this could be a commentary about immigration? (the fish is a refugee), And how detached some people are from the harsh conditions people from other countries must endure when they live in their own safe bubbles of comfort? If so, because I am a nationalist (but not a Nazi), and believe in the right for individual nations to exist, I believe that all nations are individually, and ultimately, responsible for the conditions their citizens must live in. Furthermore, I feel that if a country like America, through its own hard work and ingenuity, along with its unique set of values and constitution, achieves a higher standard of living, then they deserve to reap the rewards of that without being forced to share it with every other country until their prosperity is sabotaged.
11th May 2021, 9:54 PM edit delete reply
Yes, you are correct to see the immigration part of the commentary. Uhg-lug's remark about waiting for his immigration status is mentioned to convey the idea that some countries are exploited by other countries (In this case the oceans by the land dwellers) thereby necessitating the need for some people from the exploited countries to immigrate to the country they were exploited by in order to survive or to improve their life conditions (as Uhg-lug is doing in the cartoon by immigrating to the land, even though it's obviously a hardship for him symbolized by his environment suit) in real life powerful countries often exploit poor countries for their natural resources, but destroy the ecosystem the local people rely on to live in the process. In the cartoon this is happening to the oceans.
You discription of nationalism sounds like it could make an interesting future cartoon, if you don't mind me working off of your idea that is.
11th May 2021, 10:20 PM edit delete reply
11th May 2021, 10:53 PM edit delete reply
I recently discovered that if you're going to explain something, re-run the original and add "Director's Commentary" to it.
That way you get both easy visual reference and the day off from drawing new material!
This 5 is for both the strip and the comment. Sorry, can't give it twice since you only ran it once.
4th Jun 2021, 5:14 PM edit delete reply
4th Jun 2021, 5:20 PM edit delete reply
You pulled my trick before i could pull it on Jamie59.
Now it'll seem like i'm copying you if i twist his words into a break.
4th Jun 2021, 6:26 PM edit delete reply
12th May 2021, 3:19 AM edit delete reply
12th May 2021, 4:50 PM edit delete reply