The Return of Uncle Phil Part I

In today’s For Better or For Worse, we re-introduce Uncle Phil to the strip, who appears only once in the entire on-line archive of strips. In April’s monthly letter, she seemed to have a little Uncle Phil worship going on, and really hope they show a little of that in the strip. Most of the strip seemed to be bent towards reminding everyone who Phil is and mentioned indirectly his last 3 strip appearances- Elizabeth’s university graduation, Mike’s fake wedding, and Grandma Marian’s death. Elly plays the role of the comforter, but there is an element of self-recrimination with the payoff being that his own father doesn’t remember him, but he does remember Elly. After all, it would have been so much better a strip sequence if Grandpa Jim remembered Phil, but didn't remember Elly.

In tomorrow’s strip, Phil still hasn’t learned about his ways of alienating himself from his family and goes off to a hotel instead of staying with Elly. I can see a theme starting with Uncle Phil and his attempts to stay from his family. If there is a lesson to be taught, Phil will realize the importance of family, before he leaves and is only seen again when Elizabeth gets married.