Idiocy Glorious Idiocy
We have had two strips in a row from For Better or For Worse, which are close to making absolutely no sense. Wednesday, we had the “Hey April” guy (sorry, aprilp_katje, but I think the black pants are the guy gender giveaway clue), insulting the special needs kids by calling them eggheads, a word typically associated with smart people. Tuesday, we had April profess she couldn’t be on the same stage with Becky and Gerald, to which Shannon nonsensically replied that there is more than one stage, when there is no reason to expect those people to perform together. It’s idiotic and gloriously so.
Most days, as I try to think up some way to snark the strip from the perspective of Jeremy Jones, Michael Patterson, or Howard Bunt; I try not to use material I have seen in any other of the venues which talk about this strip, including the material that I, myself, have contributed to those venues. I want someone to read what I have written, and if they are die hard snarkers, think that they are seeing new and original stuff worth viewing.
Most days, I am unsuccessful, and I have to resort to developing a rehashed snark idea within the personality of those characters to make it seem unique. The last two days have been great, because the strips make no sense whatsoever. The on-line commentators are usually dumbfounded by them, and no one seems to be trying to make what has been presented make sense. April’s Real Blog is perfect for this purpose. In fact, the strips have strayed so far from commonsense, I have been inspired to regularly add posts as Shannon Lake and Luis Guzmán to fill in the extra spots of logic missing from the strip.
Take Wednesday for an example of what I am talking about. The “Hey April” guy tells April she is hanging out with the eggheads. Jack and the pony-tail girl grimace in reaction. If you were a special needs kid, would you even know what the term “egghead” meant? And if you somehow were well-versed in that slang term, would you interpret it as an insult to you, since the “Hey April” guy was addressing April? Probably not.
So, why are they grimacing, if you want to insert logic into it? Well, the strip including those little dots underneath April’s sandwich in that scene. I know those dots are supposed to be some kind of visual shorthand for something, but I honestly have never seen them in any other comic strip, so I don’t know what Lynn Johnston means them to mean. They almost always show up whenever April eats, so I have enjoyed doing a running joke about how April Patterson spits food when she eats. Therefore, the special needs kids are grimacing, not because the “Hey April” guy said something, but because April’s eating habits are making them sick and they don’t want to look at her. Not only does it make more sense, but it also better fits what is in the picture.
Let’s take another example which is a little more subtle. In Tuesday’s strip, we see a line up of special needs kids including a kid in a wheelchair. In Wednesday’s strip, they are all there at the lunch table, except for the kid in the wheelchair. Why is that? If they are willing to line up for Shannon, why wouldn't all of them eat together with Shannon? My answer is that April has taken the wheelchair kid’s spot at the table. That follows with having to answer why the special needs kids would allow April to take the wheelchair kid’s spot? Could the wheelchair kid be a little whacko and violent? I think so.
Tuesday and Wednesday’s strips have been a joy to snark, April’s Real Blog-style. I can only hope the rest of this story arc will be just as crazy.
Most days, as I try to think up some way to snark the strip from the perspective of Jeremy Jones, Michael Patterson, or Howard Bunt; I try not to use material I have seen in any other of the venues which talk about this strip, including the material that I, myself, have contributed to those venues. I want someone to read what I have written, and if they are die hard snarkers, think that they are seeing new and original stuff worth viewing.
Most days, I am unsuccessful, and I have to resort to developing a rehashed snark idea within the personality of those characters to make it seem unique. The last two days have been great, because the strips make no sense whatsoever. The on-line commentators are usually dumbfounded by them, and no one seems to be trying to make what has been presented make sense. April’s Real Blog is perfect for this purpose. In fact, the strips have strayed so far from commonsense, I have been inspired to regularly add posts as Shannon Lake and Luis Guzmán to fill in the extra spots of logic missing from the strip.
Take Wednesday for an example of what I am talking about. The “Hey April” guy tells April she is hanging out with the eggheads. Jack and the pony-tail girl grimace in reaction. If you were a special needs kid, would you even know what the term “egghead” meant? And if you somehow were well-versed in that slang term, would you interpret it as an insult to you, since the “Hey April” guy was addressing April? Probably not.
So, why are they grimacing, if you want to insert logic into it? Well, the strip including those little dots underneath April’s sandwich in that scene. I know those dots are supposed to be some kind of visual shorthand for something, but I honestly have never seen them in any other comic strip, so I don’t know what Lynn Johnston means them to mean. They almost always show up whenever April eats, so I have enjoyed doing a running joke about how April Patterson spits food when she eats. Therefore, the special needs kids are grimacing, not because the “Hey April” guy said something, but because April’s eating habits are making them sick and they don’t want to look at her. Not only does it make more sense, but it also better fits what is in the picture.
Let’s take another example which is a little more subtle. In Tuesday’s strip, we see a line up of special needs kids including a kid in a wheelchair. In Wednesday’s strip, they are all there at the lunch table, except for the kid in the wheelchair. Why is that? If they are willing to line up for Shannon, why wouldn't all of them eat together with Shannon? My answer is that April has taken the wheelchair kid’s spot at the table. That follows with having to answer why the special needs kids would allow April to take the wheelchair kid’s spot? Could the wheelchair kid be a little whacko and violent? I think so.
Tuesday and Wednesday’s strips have been a joy to snark, April’s Real Blog-style. I can only hope the rest of this story arc will be just as crazy.
posted by howard at 7:17 PM
6 Comments:
It's not entirely clear that "Hey April" girl is wearing pants. Could be a black skirt. I still think this person is female.
I think the flying specks are, for some bizarre reason, Lynn's shorthand for "eating." A while back, some people at Foobiverse were discussing an article written by someone who'd lunched with Lynn. Afterwards, she was perplexed to realize that, in a drawing Lynn had made of her, she'd drawn the author with the tell-tale specks. And she read them as flies!
BTW--looks as though a wish of yours has been fulfilled. Jeremy Jones makes an appearance for the first time since fall of 2005!
Whoo hoo! Jeremy Jones appeared and it looks like he's lost some weight...and changed his nose, his eyes, and pretty much everything about him except his hair. Your writeup said a tall skinny guy was smoking, but I am pretty sure that was Jeremy Jones again.
I took a second look at Panel 5's construction and it looks like Lynn Johnston did the central characters of Shannon and April first and left the cigarette smokers and the teacher to Laura, because they are drawn in Laura's usual sparse cartoony background character style. Lynn would probably want to draw Jeremy specifically if it were he, so for that reason, I agree it's not he.
Your arguments on the FOOBiverse's Journal about the height, the hair and the shirt; I can see are different, but I can also reinterpret into one of the usual inabilities to draw a character the same from panel-to-panel. The shirt, hair, nose, jaw are enough similar to Panel 4's Jeremy and there is a precedent for reinterpretation. After all, the first two panels of Jeremy drawn by Lynn are very different from each other (rounded nose and then boot-shaped nose) and only the first one looks somewhat like his Who's Who picture.
I wrote to Stephanie asking her to help settle the identity of last-panel smoker guy. If she responds, I'll report back.
BTW, Howtheduck, I was wondering: what's your verdict on Jeremy's appearance in today's strip--teenaged or middle-aged?
Teenaged. I looked back at the old 2005 strip, and gave it a good look, and Jeremy Jones really does look like a paunchy, middle-aged man in that strip. In today's strip, he is definitely a lanky, teenager, although still not muscular, he is trim.
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