Meanwhile Back at the Farm
With the arrival of April on the farm, I guess last week’s strip sequence of For Better or For Worse with Liz and Candace is officially done and met the qualification of the Panels and Pixels interview when Lynn Johnston said:
And so that’s another reason why the strip has to be extended, so that Anthony’s character can be more fully explored. And his marriage discussed and his relationship as a single parent and his business sense and the things he likes to do. He’s just not a complete character and it’s hard to accept that Elizabeth, who is a well-known character should be lost to someone that nobody really knows.
Last week was “marriage discussed”. It was easy to see how Lynn Johnston addressed the majour problems with Anthony’s character as it had been presented before, and instead introduced us to a whole new set of problems. Anthony, the husband who either ignored or failed to learn how to deal with his wife's partpartum depression. Anthony, the husband who let his wife be browbeaten into having a child for her mother’s sake. Anthony, the husband who knew his wife wanted to live in the city, but accepted the house in Milborough, without making any apparent concessions to her desires other than to say that the Milborough house could be sold. Anthony, the man who changed from cultured sophisticate in university, to man who can’t dress or feed himself after university.
The Anthony we did have before last week, who mooned over Elizabeth every chance he could get, and was still in love with Elizabeth when he proposed to Thérèse is no longer. He is replaced by this new man-child Anthony, incapable of taking proper care of himself, and more importantly unable to do anything to help his wife, defend his wife, or consider her desires. We have gone from shameless reprobate to innocent impotence. Well, at least he’s innocent. I guess that's an improvement.
As for April and Laura on the farm, we start off with a back-handed compliment of April’s riding ability. I hope we get to see all the Cruikshanks and the other grandparents, before we go to hybrid next week; but there is not much time left. I had predicted a long time back, April might make the decision to stay on the farm, from all the comments during the house moving, where April seemed to be left out of the proceedings, along the lines of “April doesn’t live here anymore.” This week will be my moment of truth.
And so that’s another reason why the strip has to be extended, so that Anthony’s character can be more fully explored. And his marriage discussed and his relationship as a single parent and his business sense and the things he likes to do. He’s just not a complete character and it’s hard to accept that Elizabeth, who is a well-known character should be lost to someone that nobody really knows.
Last week was “marriage discussed”. It was easy to see how Lynn Johnston addressed the majour problems with Anthony’s character as it had been presented before, and instead introduced us to a whole new set of problems. Anthony, the husband who either ignored or failed to learn how to deal with his wife's partpartum depression. Anthony, the husband who let his wife be browbeaten into having a child for her mother’s sake. Anthony, the husband who knew his wife wanted to live in the city, but accepted the house in Milborough, without making any apparent concessions to her desires other than to say that the Milborough house could be sold. Anthony, the man who changed from cultured sophisticate in university, to man who can’t dress or feed himself after university.
The Anthony we did have before last week, who mooned over Elizabeth every chance he could get, and was still in love with Elizabeth when he proposed to Thérèse is no longer. He is replaced by this new man-child Anthony, incapable of taking proper care of himself, and more importantly unable to do anything to help his wife, defend his wife, or consider her desires. We have gone from shameless reprobate to innocent impotence. Well, at least he’s innocent. I guess that's an improvement.
As for April and Laura on the farm, we start off with a back-handed compliment of April’s riding ability. I hope we get to see all the Cruikshanks and the other grandparents, before we go to hybrid next week; but there is not much time left. I had predicted a long time back, April might make the decision to stay on the farm, from all the comments during the house moving, where April seemed to be left out of the proceedings, along the lines of “April doesn’t live here anymore.” This week will be my moment of truth.
posted by howard at 11:03 PM
8 Comments:
FYI, I seem to be having a comment glitch at ARB. If you go there and see "2 comments," don't believe it. I've added two.
aprilp_katje,
The same thing happens often enough over here at the Howard Bunt Blog, that I click on the comments to see how many there "really" are as a matter of course.
:)
I am enjoying today’s strip. I love the outdoors, the motion, the joy, and the subtle humor! I think the art is also quite good (although our resident art commentator might disagree). April is definitely gaining experience and getting pleasure from the warm relationship she is sharing with the horse - and with her cousin. ;)
April might make the decision to stay on the farm
I don’t think so. The farm is a tremendous summer internship for a youngster who is thinking of becoming a veterinarian, but like so many of my 10th graders, she will be returning home, just in time for the new school year.
Anon NYC
Howard,
On ARB Michael Patterson writes that April is not using the term "Whoa" correctly. I know nothing about horses - but it does seem to me that the galloping horses are responding properly to April’s command.
Anon NYC
Anon NYC
Michael and ARB and his “Whoa!” instruction. This was mainly in response to April of ARB talking about how she said “Whoa!” not to stop the horse, but to channel Keanu Reeves. In reality, you pull back on the reins, which pulls the horse’s head back and cause them to have a natural reflex of stopping (although it is not guaranteed to work). In my daughter’s horse-riding lessons, she is also taught to give verbal cues to the horse in addition to the physical cues, but the physical cues are the main player. In the “Whoa!” panel, April is drawn too small to see if she is pulling back on the reins.
Artwise, this wasn’t a bad strip. They botched cousin Laura’s curly hair and took a departure on the horse’s eyes by making them look like real horse’s eyes. In years past, the horses have had cartoony eyes, like the Pattersons themselves. And of course, I despise the straight-edged clouds. But these are minor points.
I don’t think so. The farm is a tremendous summer internship for a youngster who is thinking of becoming a veterinarian, but like so many of my 10th graders, she will be returning home, just in time for the new school year.
What you say makes complete sense and I hope you are right. My suspicion came from two sources:
John's Letter, June 2005
There are only the three of us at home now, and April is getting to that age where she's gone all the time. She heads into grade nine next year, and has mentioned the idea of going on some of these student exchange trips. France was one of the countries she mentioned. So, amazingly, instead of worrying about the loss of my favourite little buddy, I mentally am thinking about a smaller house with a bigger yard! Just a thought of course!
I didn’t think too much of this until I saw the first strip where the idea of the new house came into play. The joke in the strip is that John remembers that Elly would want to live in the new house too. But there is no mention of April. After that, whenever the house came up in the strip or in the letters, they never seemed to mention where it is that April would live. Ultimately they got around to it, but it happened so many times before then, it became a running joke in the commentaries. When it comes to making predictions about this strip, there is none better than John Patterson’s letters. He has not missed once.
Plus the added funny was in the recent letters when Elly talked about renovating the basement of the new house for April, the first thing mentioned was renters after April leaves. There has been no mention of France or student exchange trips, but April has gone to Winnipeg 3 summers in a row, so it seems a natural choice.
A farm can be a wonderful place in the summer (for those who adjust to the smell) but it's much less fun during those cold winter months.
Anon NYC
Anon NYC,
Now you've made want to see April on the farm in the winter.
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