Mucilage: Lower than Denture Jokes
There is not too much to say about today's For Better or For Worse. Miracle worker, Elly, has done what April could never do in all her visits, and that was make Jim happy again and to treat Iris with respect. It has been since September, 2006 with this storyline, and as it turns out, all Grandpa Jim needed was some time with Elly to brighten his spirits and lighten his heart.
If yesterday's strip is any indication, the way Elly solved this problem was with a show of affection and a denture joke. Just to make sure we readers got that yesterday was a denture joke, Iris drops off a series of words describing her relationship with Jim, which could just as easily been an advertisement for denture-bonding creams. Join us tomorrow for more in this interesting and completely untouched area of humour.
If yesterday's strip is any indication, the way Elly solved this problem was with a show of affection and a denture joke. Just to make sure we readers got that yesterday was a denture joke, Iris drops off a series of words describing her relationship with Jim, which could just as easily been an advertisement for denture-bonding creams. Join us tomorrow for more in this interesting and completely untouched area of humour.
posted by howard at 10:27 PM
17 Comments:
howard,
Miracle worker, Elly, has done what April could never do in all her visits, and that was make Jim happy again and to treat Iris with respect.
Ah! You've just hit on something that's bothered me. After all the times April has visited, Jim was no better off but all Elly had to do was have Elly regiment his time and he's happy again. This is probably inspired by the desire to make April look bad. If she didn't insist on meddling and playing music, Jim would be up and around say Kool-Aid Nation. They love having excuses to hate the character because she reminds them of their own mortality and loss of control.
And don't forget the weak-ass, piss-poor thought-bubble pun (musilage/mutual). Bad, bad, bad, bad, bad.
april_patterson,
The weak, weak pun which sails over most of our heads wasn't meant for our enjoyment. Lynn's target audience is made of people old enough to refer to glue as mucilage.
Lynn's target audience is made of people old enough to refer to glue as mucilage.
Good point! Though I would expect the pun to stink even to those folks. But I suppose the real target audience is the subset of those older folks who think puns = hilarity each and every time. Bleah.
My first reaction was that Jim thought that Iris's kisses feel like mucilage. Which is just wrong.
Then I realized she's not kissing him, but trying to chew his ear off.
And is it just me, or does the way the sequence of strips over the past few days make it feel like Iris was gone for all of 45 minutes?
dreadedcandiru2
After all the times April has visited, Jim was no better off but all Elly had to do was have Elly regiment his time and he's happy again. This is probably inspired by the desire to make April look bad.
I don't know if it so much April looking bad, but because Lynn Johnston got into her rut with April and Grandpa Jim, where she visits and plays music every single time she comes over, since Grandpa Jim had her stroke. As for Elly, her appearance with Grandpa Jim and the way it is clearly stated that she has been waiting for time with Jim by himself, has all the elements of concluding a final storyline. What I took from it was that either (a) Jim was not healthy enough for Elly to visit before or (b) Iris was so controlling of Jim, he could only get better once she agreed to leave to let Elly take over.
aprilp_katje,
But I suppose the real target audience is the subset of those older folks who think puns = hilarity each and every time. Bleah.
I am not so sure about this one. The real target audience who loves For Better or For Worse in the Coffee Talk never say, "Lynn keep those bad puns coming." After all, she didn't used to rely so heavily on puns in strips 10 years ago.
dlauthor
And is it just me, or does the way the sequence of strips over the past few days make it feel like Iris was gone for all of 45 minutes?
It does. Up until yesterday, Elly and Grandpa Jim were in the same clothes that they were when Iris left. Today's strip is the first day in a different set of clothes, which means that Lynn has decided show only the day Iris left and the day Iris came back. We did not get to see any strips of Elly actually taking care of Jim in between.
howard,
What I took from it was that either (a) Jim was not healthy enough for Elly to visit before....
That does make a certain amount of sense. Elly might have come to the conclusion that her near-constant presence in the last days of her mother's life helped hasten her death. That might make her reluctant to be there for Jim.
howard,
Today's strip is the first day in a different set of clothes, which means that Lynn has decided show only the day Iris left and the day Iris came back. We did not get to see any strips of Elly actually taking care of Jim in between.
This is another instance where Lynn's dedication to telling us things instead of showing us what happened has backfired. We're left to assume that Jim had to spend the week listening to "Blah Blah Blah Elizabeth Blah Blah Blah Anthony Blah Blah Blah Michael" all week long.
Wow. Where did Iris go again? Because I thought it was a long trip. That was one short visit! I guess Elly couldn't stand to spell Iris for too long. Poor Iris. Elly brags like crazy about giving her a break, and it turns out it's not even for a whole week.
Alternatively, Lynn just compressed the trip because she couldn't stand to have to draw too many Elly & Jim strips. I wonder why she thinks we want to see Elly blather for weeks on end with Connie, patting herself on the back for being fabulous, but not see a couple of weeks of Jim and Elly together?
Sure, you're all going to say that the strip is coming to an end, and Lynn has to get on with things. I don't buy it. Lynn has never shortened up a story she wanted to tell in the interests of moving the storyline along. In fact, we have seen she is incapable of doing so. Furthermore, I'm still not sure I really believe we're going to be done in a few weeks. Seems like we've heard that one before.
qnjones,
Lynn has never shortened up a story she wanted to tell in the interests of moving the storyline along. In fact, we have seen she is incapable of doing so. Furthermore, I'm still not sure I really believe we're going to be done in a few weeks. Seems like we've heard that one before.
Yes, we have. It seems to me that Lynn's adding all that extra server capacity so she can post reader mail asking to see the first few years of Liz and Anthony's marriage. This is a request she can't refuse.
qnjones,
Sure, you're all going to say that the strip is coming to an end, and Lynn has to get on with things. I don't buy it. Lynn has never shortened up a story she wanted to tell in the interests of moving the storyline along. In fact, we have seen she is incapable of doing so.
Lynn has set a date for the wedding and given that she has to have already done those strips by this point, then I feel pretty confident that will go off as planned. As for the Jim and Elly story, Lynn accomplished what she wanted to accomplish:
1. Iris praises Elly
2. Elly praises Elly.
3. Jim praises Elly.
4. Iris comes back and finds that sullen Jim is now happy Jim, thanks to his time with Elly.
While we may have found some Elly and Jim interaction to make for an interesting story, Lynn apparently did not. Since she has avoided any Elly and Jim stories for the last 20 months, it's obvious this is not a story in which she is interested.
dreadedcandiru2,
It seems to me that Lynn's adding all that extra server capacity so she can post reader mail asking to see the first few years of Liz and Anthony's marriage. This is a request she can't refuse.
Considering the plays to Lynn's ego we have seen over the last year from reader mail on the Coffee Talk, I would not be surprised at all if Lynn suddenly decides that she needs to keep the story going to appease her fans. On the hand, there has been some preparation with the Who's Who biographies of first year characters popping up, which would indicate that she will stick to her old plan of retelling the old story with additional stories. She did not stop the hybrid this year after considerable negative response, and that new plan embraces the idea of regular reprints even more fully than before.
The real target audience who loves For Better or For Worse in the Coffee Talk never say, "Lynn keep those bad puns coming."
Well, actually. . . .
In this entry, Christine K. wrote, "I love your puns and punch lines, too."
Marian R., in this one, wrote, "I appreciate your humor, your wordplay, and your creativity."
And then we had Caroline P., in this one, who contradicted your premise thusly: "I love the terrible puns, by the way."
But I suspect most of KAN considers the puns just wonderful. ;)
(I love Google advanced search! :) )
aprilp_katje,
Well, I stand corrected. There are few warped individuals out there who enjoy Lynn Johnston's puns.
Well, I stand corrected. There are few warped individuals out there who enjoy Lynn Johnston's puns.
......And then there are those of us (LOADS of us I'm sure) who are ANNOYED AS HELL by, and SICK TO DEATH of, them.....
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