April Knows
Today’s For Better or For Worse shows us that April Patterson does know that her sister is engaged to be married. I had an expectation that Liz would eventually have a time with April, where they would talk about marriage and Liz would invite April to be one of her bridesmaids, if not her maid of honour, considering April is as close as Liz has to a best friend these days. However, I never expected that not only would Liz not ask April to be a bridesmaid, but that Liz would take this moment, which should be a great moment of happy bonding between sisters, and pick this instant to insult her sister without any sort of provocation. A good 5th panel response by April would be, “Oh yeah! He may be ignorant, but I bet my husband will say he loves me when he proposes to me.”
When I first started snarking this strip, there was an element of holier-than-thou to the strip, with the way certain characters were judged by members of the Patterson family; but this last year, we have seen holier-than-thou turn to out-and-out meanness. At the Shawna-Marie Verano wedding, Elizabeth and Candace and then Elizabeth and Dawn were quite mean in their comments about the wedding. There was also the Mira Sobinski prayer length strip on Christmas Day, where the Pattersons thought mean thoughts about Mira across the board, except for Grandpa Jim. There was Anthony playing the chopped off thumb trick on his daughter and also threatening her with a crying Santa, if she didn’t go along with what he wanted. There was Elly and Iris talking about Grandpa Jim acting about 5 years old right in front of him. Then there’s today’s strip.
Lynn Johnston needs to retire this strip soon. If she keeps this up, then the Pattersons are going to start making other comic strips characters look nice in comparison, like Rat from Pearls Before Swine or Bucky Katt from Get Fuzzy or Catbert from Dilbert.
When I first started snarking this strip, there was an element of holier-than-thou to the strip, with the way certain characters were judged by members of the Patterson family; but this last year, we have seen holier-than-thou turn to out-and-out meanness. At the Shawna-Marie Verano wedding, Elizabeth and Candace and then Elizabeth and Dawn were quite mean in their comments about the wedding. There was also the Mira Sobinski prayer length strip on Christmas Day, where the Pattersons thought mean thoughts about Mira across the board, except for Grandpa Jim. There was Anthony playing the chopped off thumb trick on his daughter and also threatening her with a crying Santa, if she didn’t go along with what he wanted. There was Elly and Iris talking about Grandpa Jim acting about 5 years old right in front of him. Then there’s today’s strip.
Lynn Johnston needs to retire this strip soon. If she keeps this up, then the Pattersons are going to start making other comic strips characters look nice in comparison, like Rat from Pearls Before Swine or Bucky Katt from Get Fuzzy or Catbert from Dilbert.
posted by howard at 11:29 PM
31 Comments:
Perhaps she's doing it deliberately. She may deny it publicly but she probably knows that the September reload won't be all that popular so she might want to make sure that nobody especially misses the Pattersons when they go.
dreadedcandiru2,
You could be right, but the strips with some cruelty in them, like today's, have more of a feeling to me like a bully who expects her audience to go along with her. Like an, "Aw, c'mon. Liz was just teasing. Lighten up, you stiff." kind of feeling.
Oh, I expected the rudeness. Liz has been really rude to April without provocation many times in the past. For example, remember when they went for a drive in Liz's new car, and seemed to be having a nice time, but then, out of the blue, Liz compared April's bandmates to a bunch of animals? It's typical Liz. It's the way she has always gotten one-up on April.
I am so sick of this "when the time comes" crap because we all know Liz will be married in September. The characters are therefore planning a relatively short engagement and should already be freaking out about planning a wedding, which normally takes about a year to do. I don't get why Lynn doesn't just have Liz and Anthony say, "We don't see the reason to wait anymore." It's not like anyone is going to object to their marriage based on short timeframe. They know each other really well. The objections are based on entirely different concerns.
A pox on April for acting stupid, drooling over the ring. I expected better out of her. And I am annoyed with her for assuming she definitely has to get married some day, and inflict her annoying Patterson self on some poor guy. Although Gerald really doesn't deserve my sympathy.
The whole Rod thing has clearly left Lynn with a lot of unresolved rage and disappointment, which is emerging via a great deal of bitterness and spite on the comics page. For someone who continually trumpets her friendship with Charles Schulz, she definitely didn't learn from "Sparky" how to channel her own negative emotions and depressive tendencies into comics that are genuinely clever and heartwarming. I have a feeling, were he still alive (and if they were as close as she claims at every opportunity), he would have called her on this crap long ago.
dlauthor: That's assuming Lynn's whole relationship with Charles Shulz wasn't fabricated.
That's it---that has been the word that has been in the back of my mind for the last year or two about FBOFW: Mean.
I started reading about the time of the "assault" (that is really reading instead of skimming) and got several of the compilations. Reading through, they Patterson did seem average and made mistakes; but they were usually called on those mistakes and not hurtful to others. Then the holiness started and the characters seemed self-centered and self-righteous. In addition to what you named, the way Anthony and Elizabeth treated Therese and Paul was HORRIBLE. And even though Warren has gone crackers, Liz certainly didn't seem like a "friend"; and then Liz groused after Rudy and Candace visited because "she had work to do".
Lynn has gone on and on about how cruel her mother was; how she used sarcasm and verbal abuse---it appears the nut didn't fall too far from the tree.
I don't condone adultery, but I still have sympathy for Rod if this is a glimpse into Lynn's personality. And how odd that I can feel sympathy for him, but not Anthony. Because Therese's only real problem (besides trying to teach Anthony manners) was not being Liz.
qnjones,
I am so sick of this "when the time comes" crap because we all know Liz will be married in September.
This assumes that Lynn sticks with her announced ending date of “no later than September”. She is notorious for changing those things around. “When the time comes” might be Lynn’s way of saying she is rethinking September.
dlauthor,
The whole Rod thing has clearly left Lynn with a lot of unresolved rage and disappointment, which is emerging via a great deal of bitterness and spite on the comics page.
I am afraid I have to agree with you. The choice of anti-John reprint strips were specifically pointed out by Lynn in one of her interviews, the “no love” romance between Anthony and Liz is taken from Rod and Lynn’s own romance, and today’s strip bear this out.
This comment has been removed by the author.
James,
That's assuming Lynn's whole relationship with Charles Shulz wasn't fabricated.
Lynn has pictures of them together. Isn’t that all you need?
debjyn,
And how odd that I can feel sympathy for him, but not Anthony. Because Therese's only real problem (besides trying to teach Anthony manners) was not being Liz.
In my opinion, the “assault” and its aftermath eliminated forever any possibility that Thérèse was unjustifiably jealous, and any possibility that Anthony could be considered a good guy.
howtheduck:
Elly's fall from the moral high ground occured earlier than Anthony's or Elizabeth's and has nothing to do with their impending marriage. She stopped being a good person when she told April, who'd been established as a dispenser of embarrassing truths, that she did not believe that Kortney threatened her. When she revealed that she'd rather be flattered than be a parent, she became a villain.
OMG. If Lynn keeps going after September, I might have to check myself into the Betty Boop Clinic for Addiction to Bad Comics in order to stop the endless cycle of abuse. I can't take anymore!
qnjones, I agree about the craptacularity of having April gush over the stupid, Anthony-selected ring. That made my heart sink when I read it this morning.
WOW. "Snarking" the strip doesn't half describe it. I realized I've been thinking of it as "Howard Blunt's Bog" but it certainly seems to fit! And this from me, someone who's resented her attachment to the strip ever since "Aypo wif de boat" helped Farley into the Great Heart-Shaped Beyond!
My bro and I love one another but we zing each other too. We don't delve deeply into personal failings, or make the other one cry, it's a rare behavior sometimes observed in siblings called "teasing."
And I admit an interest in looking at shiny things like diamonds. I've liked looking at them since I was a child. I know this is a strange, perverse, shallow part of myself that you folks would condemn, a preoccupation totally unsuitable for a teenage girl. What young girl has ever wanted to look at her older sister's engagement ring? I mean, really. How absurd.
Lynn should wrap up her bitter, rage-filled rantings, put them in her old kit bag and smile, smile, smile. Because once you're friends with Sparky, (unless that too is a sham, there are ways of photoshopping these things!)you have to approach your comic just the way he would.
She even wants to retire and doesn't know exactly how to do it yet---what a horrid, self-centered, self-righteous woman. Let's send sympathy notes to her ex! We hate self-righteous people.
DreadedCandiru2,
She stopped being a good person when she told April, who'd been established as a dispenser of embarrassing truths, that she did not believe that Kortney threatened her.
Elly’s handling of Kortney definitely did not make her look good as a parent, not only because she didn’t believe April, but especially after Grandpa Jim did and reported it to Elly also. Then John and Moira Kinney both supported firing Kortney. There are a lot of persons whose opinions Elly should have trusted that she ignored. Moreover, she never made right by it. Moira Kinney had to do the firing while Elly was on vacation, and Elly never apologized to April for mistrusting her.
qnjones,
If Lynn keeps going after September, I might have to check myself into the Betty Boop Clinic for Addiction to Bad Comics in order to stop the endless cycle of abuse.
I should have known Betty Boop would have a clinic. Good old Betty.
Mrs. Polly,
Welcome to the Howard Bunt’s Blog!
"Snarking" the strip doesn't half describe it.
Thanks!
My bro and I love one another but we zing each other too. We don't delve deeply into personal failings, or make the other one cry, it's a rare behavior sometimes observed in siblings called "teasing."
I believe you are trying to say that you interpret today’s strip as good-natured teasing between siblings. You say, “zing each other” which I think is the key difference between what you describe between you and your brother and what we see here. The teasing is one-sided, and has been historically one-sided in the strip between Liz and April, probably because Liz an adult. This strip is another example of a time when April is speaking openly to Liz about her hopes and dreams only to have Liz drop in an insult completely from nowhere. Imagine yourself opening up to your brother about your deepest feelings and him taking that moment to insult you. Here’s another one which actually does leave April in tears. As for today’s strip, if we see April sending a zinger Liz’s way tomorrow, then I will be inclined to support your point of view. But based on the way the strip has presented the relationship between the two sisters in the past, I do not expect that to be the case.
And I admit an interest in looking at shiny things like diamonds. I've liked looking at them since I was a child. I know this is a strange, perverse, shallow part of myself that you folks would condemn, a preoccupation totally unsuitable for a teenage girl. What young girl has ever wanted to look at her older sister's engagement ring? I mean, really. How absurd.
I like looking at diamonds too. However, according to Anthony’s description in the strip, what Liz has is “It has a nice wedding band and a man’s ring to match.” Admittedly we have not seen a close-up of the ring, so there may be a diamond hidden there somewhere; but I interpreted this as a plain band without any stone, and that is certainly the way it is drawn. I think there would be talk of diamonds or how beautiful the ring is otherwise. Instead, we have been told “They fit perfectly” is the highest compliment given to this set of jewelry. I think Lynn Johnston is trying to present this ring as the opposite of the ring Anthony gave Thérèse, about which Anthony commented about having to make payments on it.
Lynn should wrap up her bitter, rage-filled rantings, put them in her old kit bag and smile, smile, smile. Because once you're friends with Sparky, (unless that too is a sham, there are ways of photoshopping these things!) you have to approach your comic just the way he would.
Sparky has been an issue of late with Lynn Johnston for a variety of reasons:
1. I don’t think she has done an interview in the last year where she has not mentioned him.
2. The Schulz biography came out and the comments from the Schulz children with respect to Lynn Johnston’s contribution were not favourable to her.
3. She started doing the reprints of For Better or For Worse from 1979-80, where every other drawing was a very obvious takeoff of the Charles Schulz style of humour drawing.
With all these comparisons to Schulz done by Lynn herself, it is natural to wonder how the master cartoonist would view modern Johnston, especially since he had made comments about it before. Like you, he did not like the "Aypo wif de boat helped Farley into the Great Heart-Shaped Beyond!” sequence, and he voiced his objection to Lynn.
She even wants to retire and doesn't know exactly how to do it yet---what a horrid, self-centered, self-righteous woman. Let's send sympathy notes to her ex! We hate self-righteous people.
Lynn Johnston has announced her retirement how many times now? It will happen September, 2006; September 2007; December, 2007; Spring, 2008; and now September, 2008. There’s probably a few I missed. I am beginning to think of her retirement more like a Cher farewell tour. And yes, I would make fun of Cher if she had another farewell tour. It has a lot less to do with self-righteousness, than confusing messages.
Gimme a break, Mrs. Polly. I have three younger sisters. I know the difference between "teasing" and "nastiness." Deliberate slams on your sister that come out of nowhere during what was otherwise a bonding moment? That's just plain nastiness. I would never treat a younger sister the way Liz treats April, with the constant put-downs and physical abuse.
And the problem most of us have with April drooling over the ring is that we have traditionally looked to April to be the one voice of sanity in the Patterson family (though she fails on this score more and more often lately). We would like to see April mention how horribly depressing the Liz/Anthony relationship is due to lowered expectation and lack of genuine emotion. Instead, she just fawns over the ring. It's disappointing to us due to our history with the characters, not because it is inherently evil to admire someone's engagement ring. (Though I personally do dislike all of the nonsense surrounding marriage and weddings in our culture.)
qnjones,
And the problem most of us have with April drooling over the ring is that we have traditionally looked to April to be the one voice of sanity in the Patterson family (though she fails on this score more and more often lately).
Good point. In the past Liz has had either April or Candace Halloran to balance out her sometimes unusual perspective on things, and both of those characters have failed to provide that balance this time around. There was a point where April was the lone supporter of Warren Blackwood together with Liz, while the rest of her family was pushing Anthony Caine.
One wonders if Mrs. Polly's last name might be "Anna." Who comes to a snark blog and bitches that people aren't being nice enough? Was the Yahoo group down today or something?
Anyway, nice point-by-point dismantling, Howard. Maybe if we're lucky, Polly will become a regular around here, and we can all get a chance to "tease" her!
And I would like to complement you, Howard. You always strike such a clever, cognitive and wry way of dissecting the strip and the PR Ms. Johnston does. But you never descend to rude or condescending comments.
It is such a great balance to the emotional, over-the-top and usually unsupported claims made by so many of the die-hard fans.
pisses molly,
Anyway, nice point-by-point dismantling, Howard.
Thanks.
Maybe if we're lucky, Polly will become a regular around here, and we can all get a chance to "tease" her!
Well, I hope Mrs. Polly will feel welcome to join us again. It’s good to get a diversity of opinion on these things.
debjyn,
You always strike such a clever, cognitive and wry way of dissecting the strip and the PR Ms. Johnston does. But you never descend to rude or condescending comments.
Thanks, debjyn. I try not to descend, but I have had my moments over the years.
Hi Howard, thanks for the nice welcome. Your blog is so much fun, I bookmarked it a while back. I've sometimes resented my own fascination with FBOFW. The tendancy toward icky-sticky sentimentality grates on me, particularly the strips where one character emits a platitude in panel #4 while the other's glassy stare indicates "pause for soul search followed by mini-epiphany." So I'm not exactly the Yahoo groupie some of your readers take me for.
Anyway, although I've read the strip on and off since before April was born, I'm not as versed in the everyday of it as you are, but I did look at the two examples of Liz's "cruelty" and I don't think they are good examples:
In the first, where Liz says,"speaking of animals, how's the band?", what would I have done in the same situation if I were April? Laughed. It's not a comment on any actual flaw or feature of theirs, it isn't a pointed insult, it's wordplay.
When I was in grammar school, we put on "Alice in Wonderland." I fell in love with the Red Queen's line "Off with his head!" and marched around the house making myself thoroughly obnoxious condemning anything that offended me, mostly my brother, who finally said, "Off with her mouth!"
It was so good, I had to laugh. It was his first bon mot!
Example of Liz's cruelty #2, turns out to be part of a sequence where April is upset about a number of things that are building up. The previous panel shows her literally getting "steamed" and glaring daggers at Liz, who sensibly and uncruelly backs off.
Then April is complaining about cereal, Liz says, "Don't be such a picky-face!" Not exactly acid-tongued abuse. In fact, April's explosion at her sister is an example of overreaction.
The whole series is a set up for April to learn a lesson at school from her little friend (whose name escapes me right now) about what REAL name calling and bullying is. April is drawn out of her fairly typical adolescent funk and comes through for her friend.
I disagree with you about the wedding set too, since "It has a nice wedding band and a man's ring to match" implies there are two other objects besides the one being looked at, and it's not usual to pop on your wedding band and wear it around "I'm taken!"-style.
The lack of love-speak, or sparkly-diamond admiring, makes for a weird courtship, I'll grant you that. I suspect there's a little stone in there somewhere, though. I knew when I got engaged that if I'd let my fiancee give me too large a stone, his friends would have risen up and slaughtered me, (and they'd have been right to!)so I picked out a ring that perfectly reflects us both: small, charming, and slightly antique.
As to the Sparky-flogging, I haven't read the bio or the interviews, but Johnston's drawing style 28 years ago might be legitimately Shultz-influenced, don't you think?
What bothers me is when in one breath people complain of meanness in a comic strip, and the next, they use their two microns of knowledge of the actual facts to apply judgmental psycho-babble to the real problems of the artist as if she's just another character. I think this is genuine meanness, and I think they need to be called on it.
Thanks, Howard. Sorry for the novella.
And Pisses Molly, love and kisses, Dolly!
mrs. polly,
I extend a warm welcome to my fellow New Yorker. BTW, I love your snarking and your artwork! (I hope you don't mind the link.)
Anon NYC
What I hate are random interlopers who wander in and, first post, start bitching about what long-time posters have to say, using -- as they say -- their "two microns of knowledge."
Seriously, go find a sewing circle or something.
No fighting no biting…
Let's play nicely; we can all learn from each other.
Is there some sort of seniority system for being allowed to comment on posts, kisses collie? If so, I may just have to interlope some more---not only do I not feel dismantled, I feel more mantled then ever.
Thanks to Howard for his hospitality, and anonymous fellow new yorker for the welcome.
I think this blog is going to see a lot of new people in the next few months (like me, Anon in Rochester). I found it the week of March 3rd, when I went to fborfw.com's strip fix and was ecstatic to see Warren. Then, as the week progressed, and the realization that Lynn was "killing him off" sank in, I knew I had grown apart from my fellow Coffee Talk bloggers whose posts I read during my lunch break (which is only 25 minutes long at the school where I teach!:) Yes, I was a Coffee Talker. In fact, if you want to know just how bad it was, read this: http://www.fborfw.com/fun/blog/archives/002890.php (Gosh, I wish I could make that a link!) I’m responsible for the fourth post in which I call Lynn a genius after begging her to consider having her readers choose Liz’s husband. Sad, I admit... So, because I trusted Lynn and respected her talents, you can imagine my confusion over the turn of plot events these past four weeks. I accepted the slaying of Paul in the naïve belief that Warren would be the victor in the end. Then I sought refuge by googling FBORFW and found you people, who’ve helped me understand that what I’d hoped for was never meant to be... So now I skim Coffee Talk and analyze Howard’s Blog, taking solace in the fact that I’m not alone. For to be able to snark, one must first love...and clearly, we all loved the Patterson family, at least once upon a time.
My interpretation of, “It has a nice wedding band and a man’s ring to match...” Many engagement rings can be purchased with a matching wedding band and a man’s ring to match. Three rings all together. Gramatically, that’s what Anthony’s sentence means; “to match” modifies both the wedding band and man’s ring. “It” refers to the diamond ring.
And finally, my one saving grace... Lynn is susceptible to peer pressure. She needs approval. If any of you skim Coffee Talk, the sentiment has changed in the past few weeks. I haven’t done an official study, but it appears that Anthony’s approval rating has dropped from what seemed to be about 65% to about 45% in the past three weeks. I’ve given up completely on Warren, but am grasping to that last hope that the strip ends with Liz as a single woman. (I know, I know... Lynn says it ends with a wedding... She can change her mind. Laura hasn’t drawn it yet.)
hisses folly
Mrs. Polly, I presume. Anon NYC pointed out there had been some late posting on this thread and so it was good to see you responded to my long discourse. I will attempt to return the favour.
Anyway, although I've read the strip on and off since before April was born, I'm not as versed in the everyday of it as you are, but I did look at the two examples of Liz's "cruelty" and I don't think they are good examples:
In the first, where Liz says,"speaking of animals, how's the band?", what would I have done in the same situation if I were April? Laughed. It's not a comment on any actual flaw or feature of theirs, it isn't a pointed insult, it's wordplay.
I agree it’s wordplay; however the timing of it is a little insulting. April has just opened up to Elizabeth telling her what it is she wants to do with her life, and this was Elizabeth’s response. Like the situation of the strip of the day, we don’t get to see April laugh. We don’t see April respond with anything but the dumbstruck look that she opened up her feelings to someone who used something she said for wordplay.
The whole series is a set up for April to learn a lesson at school from her little friend (whose name escapes me right now) about what REAL name calling and bullying is.
This is true. However, you never see reconciliation between April and Liz. April’s upset with Liz is not resolved with Liz, but with Shannon Lake. My point was with respect to your talks about the give and take in your relationship with your brother. With Liz and April, Liz gives and April takes, and it is rarely any different.
I suspect there's a little stone in there somewhere, though.
I am not so sure on this point. Until someone says the words “shiny” or “diamond” or “sparkly”, I am going with the no stone ring.
I knew when I got engaged that if I'd let my fiancee give me too large a stone, his friends would have risen up and slaughtered me, (and they'd have been right to!)so I picked out a ring that perfectly reflects us both: small, charming, and slightly antique.
You run in a different crowd from my wife, whose friends’ oftentimes used size and ring quality to outdo each other.
As to the Sparky-flogging, I haven't read the bio or the interviews, but Johnston's drawing style 28 years ago might be legitimately Shultz-influenced, don't you think?
Legitimately Schulz-influenced? I had not really thought about it until this last year, but looking over those reprint strips carefully, I see many instances where the physical stances are close to deliberate copies of Schulz characters. Young Michael bears an uncanny resemblance to young Linus van Pelt, and young Lizzie bears an uncanny resemblance to young Sally Brown.
What bothers me is when in one breath people complain of meanness in a comic strip, and the next, they use their two microns of knowledge of the actual facts to apply judgmental psycho-babble to the real problems of the artist as if she's just another character.
This is one is very difficult to get away from with For Better or For Worse. Lynn Johnston has done a number of interviews over the years, and in them she has pointed out specific moments where a strip or strips was taken directly from her actual experience. One of the recent ones was the Sunday reprint strip last year, where Elly dreamed John was cheating on her. Right before that one came out, Lynn Johnston had an interview with the Chicago Tribune, where she pointed out that she had chosen to run that strip because of her marriage problems. In my opinion, if the creator is going to link her personal life to the strip, and point it out in national publications, then comparing the strip to the artist is a fair comparison invited by the artist.
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