Snarking Tomorrow’s Strip Today
When the_berserker posting as Duncan tossed off the line about April’s grandpa Jim trying to buy his dog Dixie some Havarti from Mr. Singh’s store and then Duncan recommending the cheese shop to him, it did not even occur to me that the_berserker was giving a lead-in to tomorrow’s strip of Dixie having an accident in the Patterson home. So, I had Howard (whose has a long history with Dixie and Havarti) go on a tangent, thinking that it was a storyline intentionally handed off by the_berserker to whomever wanted to take it. Well, I was quite surprised to see the Sunday colour strip. What am I going to use for snark tomorrow since I have pretty much done the mother lode today?
Constable Paul Wright. He is in the middle of one of his almost weekly visits to see Liz. I have done a number of internet searches on the working schedules of the Ontario Provincial Police and found nothing so far. My guess is that they are required to work weekends, and get time off during the week, but it may not be that way every week. So, I have been varying the days of the week where the good constable gets to visit Liz. The most recent humour has been derived almost entirely from the Shiimsa/Paul/Liz relationship that schmoosie used with the cat clothes and was continued by aprilp_katje posting for Liz, based on the bizarre monthly letters’ description of Liz’s relationship with her cat. qnjones, who has recently taken over the character, so far does not seem interested in that line of humour, and has focused on Liz’s indecision over men for Liz-based snark, and not on the visiting Paul or the meowing of Shiimsa. I am probably going to have to adjust my Paul writing in reaction to that. Otherwise, the characters’ relationship to each other in the April’s Real Blog posts will stop making sense. Of the 3 characters I have, Paul is the one most likely to get any strip time, and moreover what strip time he gets will almost assuredly have huge leaps in assumed character development, if the last strip sequence with him is any example. I have been fortunate so far that my development of Paul has closely matched the strips’ and letters’ development of Paul. My guess is that the next time we see Paul and Liz, they will be visiting Paul’s parents. I am uncertain as to how they will be portrayed. The last set of in-laws, the Sobinskis, has been cruelly treated. Paul’s parents could be portrayed as noble native mom & faithful Irish companion husband or whacky aunt Marge-like mother & drunken Irish father or (given the recent semi-sympathy given the aging and newly deranged Sobinskis) a dynamic duo of devious devilry to take the Sobinskis’ place as evil non-Pattersons. So, my Paul posts are planned to be in preparation for that meeting. The other possibility is that we won’t see Liz again with Paul until March break, since it takes about 3 months for Lynn to cycle between her distant characters. If that happens, the next meeting will be when April goes to Mtigwaki to visit Liz and also visit Paul. I would love for that to be interesting, but I fear it will another session like April had when meeting Warren. “Gosh Liz, your boyfriend is hot and romantic too. I wish I were old enough to hump him.” That is my outlook on the good constable.
Jeremy Jones. This guy is a quandary. I recently went through all the monthly letters of April where she described Jeremy Jones. April had an extremely poor opinion of him, usually accompanied by “Ew.” However, one thing struck me. In one monthly letter, Elly informs April that the reason Jeremy bothers her is that he likes her. Then I did a check through the monthly letters on Gerald and something that appeared more than a couple of times was April’s worry that Becky would steal Gerald. There was even a sequence where Gerald and Becky were described as hanging out together (much like the qnjones’ stories) because April was busy with working at the store. It was a little surprising to read all those back-to-back. It made it look like Lynn intends Gerald to run off with Becky and then April to rebound with Jeremy. That would be interesting, but it is hard to say what will happen based on the monthly letters, where they can introduce Chinese dental associates that never appear in the strip. On the other hand, there was that statement Gerald made about the special needs kids that painted him in a less than perfect light. Lynn really likes to run plots over long periods of time, like the Liz / Warren romance, where Warren disappeared for over 1 ½ years. She worked on the Becky / April breakup for more than a year also. I think, for the purpose of Jeremy Jones, he has to remain on good terms with April and not-so-good terms with Gerald, just in case.
Howard. This guy is gone from the strip and the monthly letters. He is a footnote in history of the strip never to be mentioned again. He is practically like one of the made-up April’s Real Blog characters now. The distinct advantage to the character is that he can go anywhere and snark on anything. This is valuable when it comes to John or Elly or Grandpa Jim or Mike snark. Jeremy Jones and Paul Wright cannot really go there. The disadvantage is that he is not truly involved in the strip, and sometimes it feels odd putting him in stories with real strip characters. On the other hand, I like his contrast with the gay characters presented in the strip who come off as “If you weren’t told I was gay, nobody would know” characters. Instead, Howard is flamboyantly gay, like many of the guys with whom I used to do opera. Howard’s future is not being defined by Lynn Johnston (unless she suddenly decides to do a Howard trial storyline). I am not sure what to do with him.
Constable Paul Wright. He is in the middle of one of his almost weekly visits to see Liz. I have done a number of internet searches on the working schedules of the Ontario Provincial Police and found nothing so far. My guess is that they are required to work weekends, and get time off during the week, but it may not be that way every week. So, I have been varying the days of the week where the good constable gets to visit Liz. The most recent humour has been derived almost entirely from the Shiimsa/Paul/Liz relationship that schmoosie used with the cat clothes and was continued by aprilp_katje posting for Liz, based on the bizarre monthly letters’ description of Liz’s relationship with her cat. qnjones, who has recently taken over the character, so far does not seem interested in that line of humour, and has focused on Liz’s indecision over men for Liz-based snark, and not on the visiting Paul or the meowing of Shiimsa. I am probably going to have to adjust my Paul writing in reaction to that. Otherwise, the characters’ relationship to each other in the April’s Real Blog posts will stop making sense. Of the 3 characters I have, Paul is the one most likely to get any strip time, and moreover what strip time he gets will almost assuredly have huge leaps in assumed character development, if the last strip sequence with him is any example. I have been fortunate so far that my development of Paul has closely matched the strips’ and letters’ development of Paul. My guess is that the next time we see Paul and Liz, they will be visiting Paul’s parents. I am uncertain as to how they will be portrayed. The last set of in-laws, the Sobinskis, has been cruelly treated. Paul’s parents could be portrayed as noble native mom & faithful Irish companion husband or whacky aunt Marge-like mother & drunken Irish father or (given the recent semi-sympathy given the aging and newly deranged Sobinskis) a dynamic duo of devious devilry to take the Sobinskis’ place as evil non-Pattersons. So, my Paul posts are planned to be in preparation for that meeting. The other possibility is that we won’t see Liz again with Paul until March break, since it takes about 3 months for Lynn to cycle between her distant characters. If that happens, the next meeting will be when April goes to Mtigwaki to visit Liz and also visit Paul. I would love for that to be interesting, but I fear it will another session like April had when meeting Warren. “Gosh Liz, your boyfriend is hot and romantic too. I wish I were old enough to hump him.” That is my outlook on the good constable.
Jeremy Jones. This guy is a quandary. I recently went through all the monthly letters of April where she described Jeremy Jones. April had an extremely poor opinion of him, usually accompanied by “Ew.” However, one thing struck me. In one monthly letter, Elly informs April that the reason Jeremy bothers her is that he likes her. Then I did a check through the monthly letters on Gerald and something that appeared more than a couple of times was April’s worry that Becky would steal Gerald. There was even a sequence where Gerald and Becky were described as hanging out together (much like the qnjones’ stories) because April was busy with working at the store. It was a little surprising to read all those back-to-back. It made it look like Lynn intends Gerald to run off with Becky and then April to rebound with Jeremy. That would be interesting, but it is hard to say what will happen based on the monthly letters, where they can introduce Chinese dental associates that never appear in the strip. On the other hand, there was that statement Gerald made about the special needs kids that painted him in a less than perfect light. Lynn really likes to run plots over long periods of time, like the Liz / Warren romance, where Warren disappeared for over 1 ½ years. She worked on the Becky / April breakup for more than a year also. I think, for the purpose of Jeremy Jones, he has to remain on good terms with April and not-so-good terms with Gerald, just in case.
Howard. This guy is gone from the strip and the monthly letters. He is a footnote in history of the strip never to be mentioned again. He is practically like one of the made-up April’s Real Blog characters now. The distinct advantage to the character is that he can go anywhere and snark on anything. This is valuable when it comes to John or Elly or Grandpa Jim or Mike snark. Jeremy Jones and Paul Wright cannot really go there. The disadvantage is that he is not truly involved in the strip, and sometimes it feels odd putting him in stories with real strip characters. On the other hand, I like his contrast with the gay characters presented in the strip who come off as “If you weren’t told I was gay, nobody would know” characters. Instead, Howard is flamboyantly gay, like many of the guys with whom I used to do opera. Howard’s future is not being defined by Lynn Johnston (unless she suddenly decides to do a Howard trial storyline). I am not sure what to do with him.
posted by howard at 11:23 PM
3 Comments:
qnjones,
As you know, between us, apologies are not necessary. However, I am glad that Liz will play with Paul and Shiimsa in the future. It will be fun.
In my experience, every teenager thinks the social position of potential dates is an important thing. It is very, very rare for teens to date below their level.
I remember that all too well. I used to do musicals in high school with a very funny girl, whom I would have loved to have dated. But she was a cheerleader and actually told me that she only dated jocks. Years later, at my most recent high school reunion, I finally got to dance with her, now that she had put on 50 pounds and was married to an extremely geeky looking guy. She was still very funny and nice and pretty, the qualities I adored in high school and I got a thrill at fulfilling a dream I had had when I was a teenager.
(And April would be considered a music geek, now that she is not in a high-profile band like before.)
This may not last for long. The last April monthly letter hinted that the band would be reformed with a new lead singer and also mentioned that April had been keepin up her guitar lessons with Mr. Bergan. In my mind, the new lead singer would have to be the once-mentioned Eva. My dream storyline is:
Eva joins 4-Evah as the new lead singer. April works with Gerald to hook up the commitment-phobic Eva with Duncan. She is successful, but then (in the heart-breaking moment) while she is celebrating that success discovers Gerald kissing Becky. Then Jeremy consoles a despondent April, while confessing that he has always loved her, since the time he tried to run over her with a bike and she visited him in hospital.
My nightmare is that this story happens, but only in the monthly letters.
BTW, how do people find out what the next day's strip will be in advance?
As I understand it, in Canada the colour strips are published in the Saturday paper. the_berserker has indicated that she doesn't think of those strips as Sunday strips but as the colour strips. I hope I am not misquoting the_berserker, but that is my recollection.
I was writing Liz--until qnjones expressed an interest in playing her--take a look at the cast/character entry and comments at the Meta. My last comment as "Liz" was when she cautioned April against unintentionally leading a guy on, during the "pre-engagement" plot. And qnjones took over later that day, with Liz second-guessing herself. :)
Sometimes, I forget that I don't have Liz anymore, and I'll be on the verge of having her comment--especially after a Paul post appears. ;)
Howard, yes, you are right about Canada and the color strips on Saturday. Whenever Duncan makes one of those oblique comments on a Saturday, it's a hint about our Sunday strips. (If I were less lazy, I could even go out an get the early edition of my Sunday paper, which comes out on Saturday, but I'm usually not in the mood for that on Saturdays!)
I've been anticipating a Gerald-April break/Gerald-April hookup for a while, based on the letters. I wonder how long Lynn will wait before she gets to it. (If she's not just dropping clues to nothing.)
Lynn has been dropping clues forever. There was the one strip when April was dropping her bunny off at Becky's house and made a comment about worrying about Becky stealing her boyfriend. However, they could be clues to nothing, like the Beatrice Alfarero stuff.
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