Back to Fred (and Farley)
With today’s For Better or For Worse, it appears Lynn is not going to knock off Fred the fish in order to get Farley the wonder puppy. There is the possibility that we are going to knock off John with basketball-playing to get Farley. What’s worse is I can definitely see Lynn Johnston writing this way.
“Oh, John. We had a breakthrough with him before he died. He changed Lizzie’s diaper and he fed Lizzie. He even played with his son. John is so much better a man in 1980 than the man he was back in 2008, or the cheater he was in 2007.”
What’s really happening is that we have gone full circle from the first new-run strip of Mike asking for a puppy to this new-run strip of Mike asking for a puppy. From this I infer that Lynn Johnston is not going to wait until October 1 to do reprints, but will probably start next week with the Farley reprints. That would make it:
Week 1: The introduction of Fred the Fish and Lawrence as best friend of Mike
Week 2: The introduction of Connie Poirier and we retcon her married life.
Week 3: The introduction of Anne Nichols and we retcon her children’s ages and her character traits.
Week 4: A series of strips blatantly and shamelessly copied from For Better or For Worse’s history and then “improved” in order to fill time until the idea that Fred the Fish is not cutting it with Michael Patterson and needs to be replaced by Farley can be introduced.
Week 5: Farley reprints begin and there is general rejoicing.
“Oh, John. We had a breakthrough with him before he died. He changed Lizzie’s diaper and he fed Lizzie. He even played with his son. John is so much better a man in 1980 than the man he was back in 2008, or the cheater he was in 2007.”
What’s really happening is that we have gone full circle from the first new-run strip of Mike asking for a puppy to this new-run strip of Mike asking for a puppy. From this I infer that Lynn Johnston is not going to wait until October 1 to do reprints, but will probably start next week with the Farley reprints. That would make it:
Week 1: The introduction of Fred the Fish and Lawrence as best friend of Mike
Week 2: The introduction of Connie Poirier and we retcon her married life.
Week 3: The introduction of Anne Nichols and we retcon her children’s ages and her character traits.
Week 4: A series of strips blatantly and shamelessly copied from For Better or For Worse’s history and then “improved” in order to fill time until the idea that Fred the Fish is not cutting it with Michael Patterson and needs to be replaced by Farley can be introduced.
Week 5: Farley reprints begin and there is general rejoicing.
posted by howard at 12:21 AM
8 Comments:
This rejoicing will be even louder when they see what a lousy pet owner Elly is. Of course, they won't state their delight in terms that identify just how dumb the woman is but instead say how mischievous the poor, ill-used dog is. The one consistent thing about Flapandhonk was that she never managed to realize that animals are animals; she always interpreted their refusal to so what she wanted as defiance. We can look forward to RevElly also thinking that if she tries hard enough, she can make a puppy go against its instincts so she doesn't have to "bow down" and "be defeated" by an animal.
Since October 1 is Wednesday of next week, it's still possible that Farley won't appear until October. I guess, though, you are speculating that she'll renege on her "September will be all new" claim by doing reprints beginning September 29. I could definitely see Lynn "rounding up" to October and doing that. Or she could still transition mid-week. Either way, I'll be bored. ;)
DreadedCandiru2,
We can look forward to RevElly also thinking that if she tries hard enough, she can make a puppy go against its instincts so she doesn't have to "bow down" and "be defeated" by an animal.
That is the way that Elly traditionally goes with animals. However, this is Farley, the wonder dog; so I cannot help but think that the new-run version of Farley will take on some aspects of Farley in his final moments. The other possibility is that he will take on aspects of Farley as he appears in the upcoming children’s book, i.e. wanders around sniffing different smells, only to return home to the fried, greasy Patterson food he loves so well.
aprilp_katje,
I guess, though, you are speculating that she'll renege on her "September will be all new" claim by doing reprints beginning September 29.
That is my prediction. Lynn usually likes to do her stories in 6-day segments, and I expect the reprints will fit better that way. Also, it would explain why we have had 4 days of filler strips, and then we see the issue of the pet puppy reintroduced on Friday. One more day of “I want a puppy” probably reinforced by John Patterson, so the players are in place for the reprints on Monday should do it.
I could definitely see Lynn "rounding up" to October and doing that. Or she could still transition mid-week. Either way, I'll be bored. ;)
Bored? Oh, aprilp_katje. At least this month has answered the question of what Lynn Johnston meant when she said, “I can do spot gags and silly stuff. I can fix what I don't like about my early work as I add and subtract...redraw and just improve everything.” And also when she said, “I practised, using the first two books, copying as if I was trying to draw someone else's work, not my own!”
Now we know which first two books she is talking about. Collections #2 and #4.
We know what she added and subtracted. Connie’s first husband. Richard Nichols’ birth story and the existence of Anne Nichols, supermom.
We know what she redrew and just improved. The first 4 strips from this week were all taken from old strips and redone.
When I first read those sentences from Lynn Johnston, I never would have guessed those would be the answers. In fact, I was quite surprised. Her warped perspective on things, is what makes the strip interesting.
Not only that, but we had a magazine article where Lynn, once again, made outrageous claims about how Rod Johnston mistreated her. It has been a pretty interesting month, in many respects.
What would interest me more is a closer examination of why it is that RevElly doesn't want a dog. The original version, of course, realized that she'd be the one cleaning up after it and wished to draw the line. Now that everyone's motivations have changed, Lynn could either do something sentimental and have RevElly tell us about how her beloved dog died and she doesn't want her children going through that experience OR explain to MikeClone that she's worried about how the puppy will treat the baby.
John = Dog
Sounds like Lynn's kind of math.
DreadedCandiru2,
What would interest me more is a closer examination of why it is that RevElly doesn't want a dog.
That would be an interesting examination, and considering that Lynn is now a dog owner, it might be something she could get into doing, unlike Farley, where she had gotten rid of the original dog years before the strip started.
qnjones,
John = Dog Sounds like Lynn's kind of math.
It’s not like Elly is going to play with the kids.
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