New-run vs. Old run
Today’s new-run in For Better or For Worse provides a grand opportunity to compare old-style Lynn Johnston with new-run Lynn Johnston. Back in November 23, 2007, Lynn reprinted a strip almost identical in spirit to today’s strip.
In the November reprint, young Michael Patterson taunted little Lizzie with a cookie, eating it in front of her and finally leading her to scream in desperation, “GOOKIE!” complete with wiggly letters to show her frustration as Mike ate the last bite. Then in the last panel, a manic Mike grabbed his sister in his arms and yelled, “Ma! I taught Lizzie a new word!!”
The new-run strip, in contrast, has Mike intentionally trying to teach Lizzie the word “Ma-ma” Lizzie raspberries Mike in response, until Mike raspberries back at her causing Lizzie to scream “Ma-Maa!” in retaliation.
This is a pretty clear indication of the difference in understanding kids by Lynn Johnston from today vs. 29 years ago, when she had small kids. Today’s strip depends on little Lizzie being able to:
a. Recognize a raspberry sound as an insult, instead of a sound babies can make with their tongue.
b. Recognize that “Ma-ma” is her mother, and that she can call that word to get aid from her mother.
The only way this makes sense is that Lizzie already knows how to say the word “Ma-ma” to call Elly, so Michael is trying to teach Lizzie a word she already knows. Lizzie is raspberrying at him to mock him (we know from her reaction to being raspberried by Mike), but can’t take being raspberried herself and calls for aid, using that word she already knows. That implies a level of subterfuge I would think is beyond that of a 1 or 2-year-old. The humour of the strip relies on the reader being surprised by it. In other words, you have to think that Lizzie cannot say the word “Ma-ma” until she does, with our expression matching that of Michael’s surprise.
In the reprint strip, Michael is working with a word we can tell that Lizzie does not know, because she ultimately mispronounces it when she says it. The humour of the strip actually relies on the manic appearance of Michael in his excitement over having taught his sister a word through playful torture and the shocked expression on Lizzie’s face when the brother who had been taunting her with the cookie is suddenly hugging her with great vigor.
In my opinion, the reprint strip is superiour to the new strip for the following reasons:
1. It more accurately represents the way children would play together.
2. It more accurately represents the skills of the children in the story for their ages.
3. The brother ends up excited for his sister’s accomplishments instead of shocked and betrayed by them.
4. The physical humour is much more evident in the reprint. Larger parts of the characters bodies are drawn to fill up the space and emotion is carried not just in the face but in the whole body. The new-run has a lot of space filled by floor and wall.
I am sorry to say, but it looks like Lynn Johnston, with 29 years of comic strip-writing experience is being outdone by herself when she just got started.
In the November reprint, young Michael Patterson taunted little Lizzie with a cookie, eating it in front of her and finally leading her to scream in desperation, “GOOKIE!” complete with wiggly letters to show her frustration as Mike ate the last bite. Then in the last panel, a manic Mike grabbed his sister in his arms and yelled, “Ma! I taught Lizzie a new word!!”
The new-run strip, in contrast, has Mike intentionally trying to teach Lizzie the word “Ma-ma” Lizzie raspberries Mike in response, until Mike raspberries back at her causing Lizzie to scream “Ma-Maa!” in retaliation.
This is a pretty clear indication of the difference in understanding kids by Lynn Johnston from today vs. 29 years ago, when she had small kids. Today’s strip depends on little Lizzie being able to:
a. Recognize a raspberry sound as an insult, instead of a sound babies can make with their tongue.
b. Recognize that “Ma-ma” is her mother, and that she can call that word to get aid from her mother.
The only way this makes sense is that Lizzie already knows how to say the word “Ma-ma” to call Elly, so Michael is trying to teach Lizzie a word she already knows. Lizzie is raspberrying at him to mock him (we know from her reaction to being raspberried by Mike), but can’t take being raspberried herself and calls for aid, using that word she already knows. That implies a level of subterfuge I would think is beyond that of a 1 or 2-year-old. The humour of the strip relies on the reader being surprised by it. In other words, you have to think that Lizzie cannot say the word “Ma-ma” until she does, with our expression matching that of Michael’s surprise.
In the reprint strip, Michael is working with a word we can tell that Lizzie does not know, because she ultimately mispronounces it when she says it. The humour of the strip actually relies on the manic appearance of Michael in his excitement over having taught his sister a word through playful torture and the shocked expression on Lizzie’s face when the brother who had been taunting her with the cookie is suddenly hugging her with great vigor.
In my opinion, the reprint strip is superiour to the new strip for the following reasons:
1. It more accurately represents the way children would play together.
2. It more accurately represents the skills of the children in the story for their ages.
3. The brother ends up excited for his sister’s accomplishments instead of shocked and betrayed by them.
4. The physical humour is much more evident in the reprint. Larger parts of the characters bodies are drawn to fill up the space and emotion is carried not just in the face but in the whole body. The new-run has a lot of space filled by floor and wall.
I am sorry to say, but it looks like Lynn Johnston, with 29 years of comic strip-writing experience is being outdone by herself when she just got started.
posted by howard at 9:33 PM
19 Comments:
It is quite clear that Lynn does not remember AT ALL what the age-appropriate developmental milestones are for children. Her "no research" vow will ensure that this kind of mistake happens again and again as we watch Mike and Lizzie go through their "second childhood."
Well, until the newspapers all dump her, anyway.
I was five years apart from my youngest sister. For awhile when she was a baby, I delighted in doing semi-torturous things to her. Like, one day when she was about Lizzie's age, I jammed Mr. Potato Head's glasses on her face, and replaced her pacifier with a set of his big red plastic lips.
She just sat there, sucking on her new "pacifier", unperturbed. And I guarantee those glasses weren't comfortable, because they were way too small for her fat little head. But she was too young to know she should be upset, and WAY too young to know the "MO-OOOOOM!" trick.
The pictures resulting from this event are quite adorable, BTW. And this story is way better than anything Lynn will cook up.
I am sorry to say, but it looks like Lynn Johnston, with 29 years of comic strip-writing experience is being outdone by herself when she just got started.
She just can't admit that she's an out of touch "has-been" when it comes to writing young children. The only way she'd be able to get "back in touch" is to hand out around small children a lot - but "oh noes"; this would be "("time-wasting!") research".
hand --> hang
howard,
The only way this makes sense is that Lizzie already knows how to say the word “Ma-ma” to call Elly, so Michael is trying to teach Lizzie a word she already knows. Lizzie is raspberrying at him to mock him (we know from her reaction to being raspberried by Mike), but can’t take being raspberried herself and calls for aid, using that word she already knows. That implies a level of subterfuge I would think is beyond that of a 1 or 2-year-old.
The only way it does make sense is if you assume that the "Baby Lizzie" we see today is really NeoLizabeth: the short-tempered, humorless jerk who blows raspberries at telephones when someone's schedule conflicts with her imbecilic whims stuck in a one-year-old's body. She's yet another character whose worst tendencies have been magnified.
Also, the reprint strip had the benefit of no "gobsmacked" expression.
When Lynn ran the strip with Dee and the kids in the supermarket, where Robin raspberries Merrie to taunt her, I e-mailed my SIL, because her kids are a girl who is seven months older than Merrie and a boy who is slightly over seven months older than Robin. I figured she had not only the recent memory to go on, but also some insight into the interaction between children those ages.
She agreed that raspberrying to taunt would be way early coming from someone Robin's age in that strip. (Also, she pointed out that my nephew would have been reprimanded if he'd done that to his sister. :) )
It's a shame that the "no research" stance qnjones refers to apparently keeps Lynn from interacting with parents of young children and observing actual children's behavior.
qnjones,
The pictures resulting from this event are quite adorable, BTW. And this story is way better than anything Lynn will cook up.
Exactly. Lynn has gone back to a time when she was taking stories from her kids’ lives or other kids’ lives and putting them in comic strip form. That’s what made them work. Now she’s making up stuff out of her own imagination, the world where infants are malevolent little raspberriers.
Anonymous,
The only way she'd be able to get "back in touch" is to hang out around small children a lot - but "oh noes"; this would be "("time-wasting!") research".
In that respect, I agree. As a woman in her 60s and a semi-retiree, the focus of For Better or For Worse should be recently-divorced Elly and what she has to do in retirement, and Lynn can take anecdotes from her real life, just like she used to.
DreadedCandiru2,
The only way it does make sense is if you assume that the "Baby Lizzie" we see today is really NeoLizabeth: the short-tempered, humorless jerk who blows raspberries at telephones when someone's schedule conflicts with her imbecilic whims stuck in a one-year-old's body.
I think you are on to something. Now that I think about Elizabeth’s year before getting back together with Anthony, there was screaming, spitting, shrieking, weeping in jealousy of her brother, and lying in the fetal position in her bed. She also had the wedding that everyone did for her. In many respects, Elizabeth went to the new-run stage shortly after she left Mtigwaki.
She just can't admit that she's an out of touch "has-been" when it comes to writing young children.
Perhaps I imagined it, but I seem to remember that in one of her more recent interviews, she admitted she was having trouble writing the young kids because she didn't have any of her own anymore. Obviously, writing for Little Mike and Lizzie is not the solution to that.
aprilp_katje,
Also, the reprint strip had the benefit of no "gobsmacked" expression.
“Gobsmacked” and looking at the reader to show you are “gobsmacked”. If these were actors, you would call it “mugging for the camera.”
She agreed that raspberrying to taunt would be way early coming from someone Robin's age in that strip. (Also, she pointed out that my nephew would have been reprimanded if he'd done that to his sister. :) )
My kids are a lot older now, and remember raspberrying as just being a sound a baby would make to make sounds, as babies often like to do. I can see in my head, Lynn Johnston around Jackie Levesque’s baby after she took maternity leave, and observing such a raspberry, and coming to the conclusion, “What a rude baby! From now on, every baby in For Better or For Worse will shoot raspberries, starting with Liz.”
Ellie,
Perhaps I imagined it, but I seem to remember that in one of her more recent interviews, she admitted she was having trouble writing the young kids because she didn't have any of her own anymore. Obviously, writing for Little Mike and Lizzie is not the solution to that.
That was not your imagination. I remember that part in the interview too, and I agree. We are in a strange month for Lynn Johnston, because she promised her syndicate and her readers one month of new material before she started introducing reprints again. This was for the purpose of trying to keep newspapers from dropping the strip as she went to the new-run, but it does have the side-effect that Lynn has to write more than she probably will once the reprints are included. For example, once Farley is reintroduced, I expect Lynn will spend quite a bit of her time writing new material involving Farley, so she has her audience prepped for when her new Farley children’s book comes out.
Judging from the most recent comic strips she has written with respect to the dogs, I think we can expect a number of “Farley and his bodily excretions” stories. She seems to like those.
I can see in my head, Lynn Johnston around Jackie Levesque’s baby after she took maternity leave, and observing such a raspberry, and coming to the conclusion, “What a rude baby! From now on, every baby in For Better or For Worse will shoot raspberries, starting with Liz.”
Heh. Too true. To clarify, I don't think my SIL would have reprimanded her kids for doing mouth raspberries if they were clearly still in the stage of doing that to make a funny sound and make one another giggle (a stage Lynn has seemingly forgotten completely). That's another piece of fail for today. With two children the ages Mike and Nizzie are meant to be for today's new-run, I'd expect that Michael's imitating her sound would have sent her into peals of laughter.
You misspelled "superior."
So I'm curious who exactly is truly, unironically enjoying this retconned (please emphasize the "con" part) strip. There's plenty of love on the official site. Is it just people around Lynne's age who also have imperfect, denial-ridden memories?
The only person who I ever knew with this kind of memory whitewash is my mother "You children never, ever argued." Turned out she had vascular dementia.
howard,
For example, once Farley is reintroduced, I expect Lynn will spend quite a bit of her time writing new material involving Farley, so she has her audience prepped for when her new Farley children’s book comes out. Judging from the most recent comic strips she has written with respect to the dogs, I think we can expect a number of “Farley and his bodily excretions” stories. She seems to like those.
Oh, super! Farley, the Incontinent Wonder Dog. This is exactly what the world does NOT need. Sadly, she'll probably get away with it. Thinking about the bellywhopping heroes who will be only too glad to post on Coffee Talk so they can share their stories of pets who voided where prohibited is pushing my gag relfex to the limits.
aprilp_katje
With two children the ages Mike and Nizzie are meant to be for today's new-run, I'd expect that Michael's imitating her sound would have sent her into peals of laughter.
That could very well be the case. When my daughter was about Nizzie’s age, she thought her older brother was the funniest thing around.
Anonymous,
You misspelled "superior."
So I did. Thanks for pointing that out.
Thursday Next
So I'm curious who exactly is truly, unironically enjoying this retconned (please emphasize the "con" part) strip. There's plenty of love on the official site. Is it just people around Lynne's age who also have imperfect, denial-ridden memories?
There’s Joan from Peoria who seems to exemplify an imperfect, denial-ridden memory.
The dude who's rude eats the food! Haha thats so funny and cute. Kids are little dickinses just like that. I am glad that Lynne is running some funny re-runs but I cant wait for her to get back to the big wedding story. She said in the pre-view comic that Anthony and Elizabeth are going to have a baby! A baby boy. That is going to be so wonderfull to see I can't wait Lynn please hurry up and get back to the story as soon as you can!
Actually looking over the Coffee Talk comments from Friday, I have a hard time finding many positive ones. Most of the comments congratulate Lynn for the work she did prior to the new-runs, and ask her to reconsider going back to the modern characters. I couldn’t find any positive comments from anyone who appears to have read the new strips.
Jo of South Bend, Indiana for example seems to be simply happy that For Better or For Worse is not ending, regardless of what is published”
Thank you for touching the hearts and lives of many. I can easily relate to, laughing and crying, the livees of the Patterson's. In our local newspaper's editorial section, someone wrote in today stating, "Did anyone else shed tears after reading "For Better and For Worse" last week? Outloud I said, "Yes, I did", and I am so thankful to read that it wasn't an ending, but a new beginning. THANK YOU!!!
DreadedCandiru2
Thinking about the bellywhopping heroes who will be only too glad to post on Coffee Talk so they can share their stories of pets who voided where prohibited is pushing my gag relfex to the limits.
Strange. Now that you mention it, I am suddenly looking forward to Coffee Talk.
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