The First Reprint of the New-runs is Here
Today's For Better or Worse is very different. Zip-a-tone and not Screentone. A consistent jaw shape for Elly. A background with decorations on the sheets and on the wall. The perspective does not change in every single panel. No silhouettes. Elly is wearing a low cut night gown. John has his sideburns back. Elly is no longer self-centred and self-assured, but is actually concerned about a criticism of her leveled by Connie Poirier. And best of all, no final panel pun.
Ladies and gentlemen, just as Lynn Johnston promised, September was all new. In fact, she even gave us October 1, too. We are in reprint territory, and aprilp_katje can probably tell us what collection this strip came from and whether or not it is chronologially earlier than the Farley adoption strips. She can also tell me if I am wrong that this is a rerint.
The joke is one similar to one between Jim and Iris on October 20, 2003. We know this is good enough material to steal from in later strips. More interesting than that is the way Lynn Johnston worked it in. She set up strips with Elly and Connie to introduce today's For Better or For Worse. It would have been a fairly seemless transition, except for the art and plotting differences.
I thought Lynn’s plan was to reintroduce Farley in October, but I suppose she has the whole month to get to it. Instead she has picked a strip which is an interesting choice considering her real-life situation, where supposedly she didn’t know that her marriage was suffering (or she did but planned to work on it after she retired, depending on which interview with Lynn Johnston you read). Now the question is how many of these real-life-appropriate strips will show up before Lynn gets around to showing us the Farley?
Ladies and gentlemen, just as Lynn Johnston promised, September was all new. In fact, she even gave us October 1, too. We are in reprint territory, and aprilp_katje can probably tell us what collection this strip came from and whether or not it is chronologially earlier than the Farley adoption strips. She can also tell me if I am wrong that this is a rerint.
The joke is one similar to one between Jim and Iris on October 20, 2003. We know this is good enough material to steal from in later strips. More interesting than that is the way Lynn Johnston worked it in. She set up strips with Elly and Connie to introduce today's For Better or For Worse. It would have been a fairly seemless transition, except for the art and plotting differences.
I thought Lynn’s plan was to reintroduce Farley in October, but I suppose she has the whole month to get to it. Instead she has picked a strip which is an interesting choice considering her real-life situation, where supposedly she didn’t know that her marriage was suffering (or she did but planned to work on it after she retired, depending on which interview with Lynn Johnston you read). Now the question is how many of these real-life-appropriate strips will show up before Lynn gets around to showing us the Farley?
posted by howard at 10:27 PM
15 Comments:
I honestly don't understand this last panel. What is the message? Is John supposed to be hugging her? Hitting her? Trying to smother her to shut her up? Is John really asleep, or just pretending? Is the last line supposed to be a joke or not?
I hadn't realized/remembered that Lynn promised an all-new September. The strips she gave us certainly have the feel of someone who is grudgingly fulfilling a promise without regard to quality.
And, speaking of quality, I hadn't realized how uniformly lame early FOOB really was. Even if this strip were comprehensible, it would still be awful. What kind of ridiculous person yaps such drivel at their spouse, totally ignoring the fact that he's either gone to sleep, or is pretending to have done so in order to ignore you? Who says "the really working partnership"?
The only reason I even read this damned thing anymore is because of how much I loves youse guyse here at HBB. For reals. I think we have a really working partnership...in snark.
howard,
And, speaking of quality, I hadn't realized how uniformly lame early FOOB really was. Even if this strip were comprehensible, it would still be awful. What kind of ridiculous person yaps such drivel at their spouse, totally ignoring the fact that he's either gone to sleep, or is pretending to have done so in order to ignore you?
Someone who has a really hard time dealing with their emotions. Elly never did like to face her real problems head on. Rather than admit that she deliberately married an insensitive, narcissistic dullard who hated change so she could give her patents the middle finger, she screamed and sweated at inconsequential things. Michael and Liz wound up having the deformed personalities they have as a result.
This strip comes from the first collection (p. 29)--therefore, pre-Farley. This also flies in the face of the hypothesis that "first two books [Lynn has] in print" = collections two and four. Hrmmmm.
qnjones,
I honestly don't understand this last panel. What is the message? Is John supposed to be hugging her? Hitting her? Trying to smother her to shut her up? Is John really asleep, or just pretending? Is the last line supposed to be a joke or not?
John is snuggling Elly in his sleep. Ergo, his relationship with her is good, at least from Elly’s viewpoint.
I hadn't realized/remembered that Lynn promised an all-new September. The strips she gave us certainly have the feel of someone who is grudgingly fulfilling a promise without regard to quality.
Particularly when we got to the strips in the last 2 weeks, where she was lifting the joke from other strips she had done. That’s the sign of a desperate cartoonist.
Who says "the really working partnership"?
Actually, “working partnership” was a theme used in a number of the Elizabeth monthly letters from way back. My guess is it is a phrase Lynn liked to use WRT a good marriage.
The only reason I even read this damned thing anymore is because of how much I loves youse guyse here at HBB. For reals. I think we have a really working partnership...in snark.
Absolutely. I loves youse guyse too.
DreadedCandiru2,
Someone who has a really hard time dealing with their emotions. Elly never did like to face her real problems head on.
Maybe this is just another indication that old-run John was insensitive to Elly by falling asleep during their pillow talk.
aprilp_katje<
This strip comes from the first collection (p. 29)--therefore, pre-Farley. This also flies in the face of the hypothesis that "first two books [Lynn has] in print" = collections two and four. Hrmmmm.
That completely blows my theory about why she did what she did with Richard Nichols. And it worked so well too, with Richard being born in collection #3, which is out-of-print on her website. If she really meant collections #1 and #2, they are pre-Richard, why would she specifically say “in-print” to me? She lied to me. I am feeling less special. Or should I feel more special?
Clearly, she has intentionally removed all traces of Anne Nichols, super-mom, and moved her forward in time so her kids are about the same age as Elly’s. That makes Anne more of a companion to Elly than before; but it eliminates for reprint, virtually everything with Anne Nichols in it until collection #4, and even then, Christopher and Richard aren’t the same ages as Lizzie and Mike. Now, it makes me wonder if Elly’s comment about how Connie Poirier should just wait for a man to happen, means we are skipping all the Phil and Ted stuff with Connie, and just turning Connie into a person, whose only purpose is to talk to Elly about her relationship with John.
Aw, I don't think you should feel less special howtheduck. But I've got some serious doubts about Lynn's ability to give anyone a straight answer about anything!
Yeah, I don't know what Lynn will do about all of those continuity-related questions. Methinks she didn't think them through. Shocking idea, eh?
If John is snuggling, why the violent "WHUMPH"? That is confusing to me. It seems to convey the message "shut up." And his arm is over her mouth and neck in the last panel. Looks less like a snuggle than a strangle.
qnjones, YMMV, but I see the "whumph" as more indicating a heavy arm, heavy with sleep, too. John is not cuddling up daintily, he's (at least) half asleep, hears some worry from his wife, and clumsily reaches out to cuddle her. And to me his arm in the last panel looks like it's in a pretty natural place for someone snuggling up to his wife's head.
I think if it was going for anything "jokey", it was some "Mars/Venus" idea, something like 'women like to talk out problems, men don't', or that men think a physical sign of affection ends a worry.
I don't think it was much of a joke, but IMHO the early years weren't always gags, more like slices of life that sometimes made it to being funny.
aprilp_katje,
Yeah, I don't know what Lynn will do about all of those continuity-related questions. Methinks she didn't think them through. Shocking idea, eh?
Actually, it would be shocking. When it comes to long-term planning, Lynn usually doesn’t do too badly, as long as it's not long-term planning with an ending date in sight. She’s really big on setting up plots which don’t get executed for years. Back in the old days, the plot would be laid out in John’s monthly letter and we could see it coming way in advance. I would be surprised, if Lynn has not already laid out what she wants to reprint.
Usually Lynn’s problem with continuity is that she wants to write a story, but doesn’t take the time to check the earlier strips to see what happened relative to her story. In this case though, if she is going through old strips to pick which ones to reprint, then she has to know that there are strips where Richard Nichols is born and where Anne had Christopher only. She clearly has chosen not to reprint them.
qnjones,
If John is snuggling, why the violent "WHUMPH"? That is confusing to me. It seems to convey the message "shut up."
It does seems violent, but unlike the situation when Grandpa Jim did it to Iris, Elly does not appear to be in any pain from the gesture.
CanuckDownSouth
YMMV, but I see the "whumph" as more indicating a heavy arm, heavy with sleep, too. John is not cuddling up daintily, he's (at least) half asleep, hears some worry from his wife, and clumsily reaches out to cuddle her
I don't think it was much of a joke, but IMHO the early years weren't always gags, more like slices of life that sometimes made it to being funny.
This seems like a reasonable expectation. I could easily see young Lynn Johnston yammering off to a sleeping Rod, from whom she gets some kind of comfort, when he rolls over on her in his sleep.
Something else worth noting--in the collection, the strip is a one-off. Connie is never seen telling Elly that she doesn't appreciate John enough. Nor is there any follow-up afterwards. So I guess, in that sense, Lynn is fulfilling her stated intention to flesh out old storylines. (Not that she did so in a particularly interesting way.)
aprilp_katje,
Connie is never seen telling Elly that she doesn't appreciate John enough. Nor is there any follow-up afterwards. So I guess, in that sense, Lynn is fulfilling her stated intention to flesh out old storylines.
In the old-run then, Elly says these things and we don't know for sure if Connie actually said them to Elly, or Elly is just bringing them up as a means of indirect self-criticism. In the new-run, we see the Connie criticism, and it is somewhat related to what Elly is saying to John. Fleshing out, in this respect, takes a little of the mystery out of the storyline.
Fleshing out, in this respect, takes a little of the mystery out of the storyline.
True. So far her additions have been detrimental.
Post a Comment
<< Home