Doctors an' Thugs
On the April's Real Blog today, I was determined to parody Dr. John Patterson, the often-ignored father character not only in the For Better or For Worse comic strip, but also in April's Blog. I had set up in the previous day's postings that Howard Kelpfroth had gotten into some kind of fight and some damage had been done to his mouth as a result of that fight, in order to get Howard into the good doctor's office. While I was doing this post, I realized why it was that John and his office appear rarely. The other April's Bloggers have no real connection to the story. Nothing at John's office affects the things going on in the lives of the children. John's relation to the family is based almost solely on his reactions to the things going on with Elly.
The last main sequence in the strip with John at the office had him feeling old compared to his associate, Dr. Everett ? (the morsel). In some of the commentaries on FBOFW, they describe him as Dr. Everett Morsel, but I could not find the actual last name. All I know is he is enthusiastic, appealing to 14-year-old girls, has a goatee, and likes to finish phrases with "man." Anyway, that sequence led to John wanting to buy a new car as a sign of youth, which led right back to Elly and her reactions to that desire. After that, John receded into the background, and it became an "Elly buys a car" story.
The same thing happened in April's Real Blog, when I posted the "Howard goes to John's office" story. The story left nothing to which the other April's Bloggers could react or parody. The John parodies in April's Blog usually have to do with his penchant for model trains, which he does at home, and hence the relation. For some reason, LJ does not write family interraction with John in the office place. There are no stories of April stopping by the office and meeting Dr. Everett ? There are no stories of John doing his own children's dental work, or his children's friends' or his wife's friends' dental work (at least not that I know of).
Come the September letters, if Howard is not imprisoned and forced to use prison dentists, he will get a followup checkup in which I hope to explore some of those relationships that Lynn, for whatever reason, chooses not to explore.
The last main sequence in the strip with John at the office had him feeling old compared to his associate, Dr. Everett ? (the morsel). In some of the commentaries on FBOFW, they describe him as Dr. Everett Morsel, but I could not find the actual last name. All I know is he is enthusiastic, appealing to 14-year-old girls, has a goatee, and likes to finish phrases with "man." Anyway, that sequence led to John wanting to buy a new car as a sign of youth, which led right back to Elly and her reactions to that desire. After that, John receded into the background, and it became an "Elly buys a car" story.
The same thing happened in April's Real Blog, when I posted the "Howard goes to John's office" story. The story left nothing to which the other April's Bloggers could react or parody. The John parodies in April's Blog usually have to do with his penchant for model trains, which he does at home, and hence the relation. For some reason, LJ does not write family interraction with John in the office place. There are no stories of April stopping by the office and meeting Dr. Everett ? There are no stories of John doing his own children's dental work, or his children's friends' or his wife's friends' dental work (at least not that I know of).
Come the September letters, if Howard is not imprisoned and forced to use prison dentists, he will get a followup checkup in which I hope to explore some of those relationships that Lynn, for whatever reason, chooses not to explore.
posted by howard at 8:30 PM
1 Comments:
I enjoyed the groupies angle, too!
I was looking through the archives at FBORFW.com, and I saw that Grandpa Jim had a May 2003 sequence where he goes to John's office and ends up getting lost and confused. Also, Dee was working in the pharmacy in John's building when she went back to work after her leave with Merrie. But I'm not sure if she's going to work there again post-Robin. I couldn't find the strips involving her work at the pharmacy, though I dimly remember their existence. John and Dee had both mentioned them in letters I'm too lazy to search for at the moment. ;)
I vaguely remember April having her dental checkup there, but couldn't tell you when that was.
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