Look, Lynn! Happy people!!
A Sunday strip which actually seems to follow the storyline of the daily strip immediately preceding it has just occurred in today’s For Better or For Worse. It can be done. Now Lynn Johnston can explain to me why she couldn’t do that with the wedding in August. Maybe the new-runs are the rejuvenating experience Lynn has described. Maybe now she has the energy to actually sit down and figure out which daily will be published when and which Sunday strip will be published when and make them work together. Maybe she has turned the corner on this slide into sloppiness and start producing strips of the quality we were used to back in the…um…last millennium. OR maybe this was a freak accident, like a stopped clock having the right time 2 times a day. I don’t know.
However, I do think that today’s choice of a reprint is the first genuine reprint that depicts John Patterson in a positive way, while having fun with his kids, since Lynn started using reprints over a year ago. I wonder if she used up all the negative ones and now there are only positive ones left from the first year. I wonder if Lynn Johnston has finally gotten over her long-standing hatred of her ex-husband. I wonder if someone at Lynn’s syndicate or someone she respects has pointed out to her that her strip has been one long continuous downer for the last year. I wonder if Lynn was looking for a Sunday reprint involving leaf-raking, and this was the only one which applied.
Now, the most interesting part about today’s strip, is that the positive image of the final panel seems so out-of-place with the For Better or For Worse in recent times, that I am actually noting it as anomaly, a freak accident, or an occurrence that requires an explanation. What used to be commonplace for this strip, is now evident only in a reprint.
Look, Lynn! Happy people!!
However, I do think that today’s choice of a reprint is the first genuine reprint that depicts John Patterson in a positive way, while having fun with his kids, since Lynn started using reprints over a year ago. I wonder if she used up all the negative ones and now there are only positive ones left from the first year. I wonder if Lynn Johnston has finally gotten over her long-standing hatred of her ex-husband. I wonder if someone at Lynn’s syndicate or someone she respects has pointed out to her that her strip has been one long continuous downer for the last year. I wonder if Lynn was looking for a Sunday reprint involving leaf-raking, and this was the only one which applied.
Now, the most interesting part about today’s strip, is that the positive image of the final panel seems so out-of-place with the For Better or For Worse in recent times, that I am actually noting it as anomaly, a freak accident, or an occurrence that requires an explanation. What used to be commonplace for this strip, is now evident only in a reprint.
Look, Lynn! Happy people!!
posted by howard at 9:58 PM
10 Comments:
Yay! I was so psyched when I saw this reprint. This is one of the few really old strips that I specifically remember. And it's a great strip.
Here's the reason why: Lynn puts the sometimes unpleasant, flawed human reality of families next to loving, fun, happy family behavior. This is heartwarming. This makes us identify with the Pattersons and also like them.
Somewhere along the way, Lynn forgot about the loving fun happy part, and began drawing only the ugly flawed stuff. It's hard to identify with or like people when you feel they have no redeeming traits. But I dare not hope that Lynn took any useful lessons from this strip.
qnjones,
Somewhere along the way, Lynn forgot about the loving fun happy part, and began drawing only the ugly flawed stuff. It's hard to identify with or like people when you feel they have no redeeming traits. But I dare not hope that Lynn took any useful lessons from this strip.
Nor do I. This strip, sadly, can be, as howard said, likened to a stopped clock being right twice a day. Lynn seems hell-bent on sucking out the joy of the early years to match her current bleakness. If she cannot rewrite the strips, she can surround them with new-runs that kill any and all humor that's left.
qnjones
Here's the reason why: Lynn puts the sometimes unpleasant, flawed human reality of families next to loving, fun, happy family behavior.
We see a dad down in the leaves rolling around with his son. I remember reading an article describing the few things that men bring to parenting which they do better than women, and one of the big ones was roughhousing with the kids. John can do that with Michael, and be relatively assured of not getting hurt. In this fashion, Lynn Johnston strayed from the mold left her by Hank Ketchum and Charles Schulz, who portrayed kids that never played with their fathers. This is the great major change for fathers from the days of “Leave it to Beaver” TV dads, who were great founts of fatherly wisdom, but never played with their kids. And it works.
Somewhere along the way, Lynn forgot about the loving fun happy part, and began drawing only the ugly flawed stuff.
I remember a strip some years back when Gordon and Tracy’s kids Paul and Rosemary were little, and there was a strip with Elly Patterson on her hands and knees playing with them. Mike looked worried, and Elly explained she was just practicing for when she had grandkids of her own. But then, in the 5 years she had grandkids, we never saw Elly Patterson play with her grandkids that way. She developed some kind of weird, “it’s better for grandparents not to spend time with grandchildren” policy, which led to the very, odd idea that somehow Mira Sobinski was a worse grandparent because she spoiled and doted on her grandchildren. The modern era ended and this never changed. Elly never played with her grandkids, the way John is playing with Michael today.
It's hard to identify with or like people when you feel they have no redeeming traits. But I dare not hope that Lynn took any useful lessons from this strip.
I am sure she took lessons like, “Look! I didn’t used to have leaves constantly floating around in the air in those days. What a sap I was.”
DreadedCandiru2,
Lynn seems hell-bent on sucking out the joy of the early years to match her current bleakness. If she cannot rewrite the strips, she can surround them with new-runs that kill any and all humor that's left.
Not all, as today’s strip defeated the new-runs from this past week.
howard,
But then, in the 5 years she had grandkids, we never saw Elly Patterson play with her grandkids that way. She developed some kind of weird, “it’s better for grandparents not to spend time with grandchildren” policy, which led to the very, odd idea that somehow Mira Sobinski was a worse grandparent because she spoiled and doted on her grandchildren
That is a weird thing to think. The late Erma Bombeck, a better writer and human being, would never have thought that despite herself not having grandkids either. But then she was able to imagine how she would have reacted to things she herself didn't experience. Not Lynn. Since she never played with a grandkid, Elly didn't either.
dreadedcandiru2,
Not Lynn. Since she never played with a grandkid, Elly didn't either.
The fact that Elly didn't wasn't too much of a problem. My kids have grandparents who have never really played with them. It's not that uncommon, and when you consider how Elly Patterson has enjoyed playing the martyr to get attention over the years, it would not be out-of-character for her.
What bothered me more is that we would see Mira Sobinski involved with her grandchildren, while the Pattersons would mock and criticize her for doing that. I remember one strip in particular, where Mira is taking Deanna and the kids to the beach and Deanna is thought-bubbling how horrible it is to spend time with her mother. And horrible Mira bought Meredith a new beach outfit. And yet, we never saw Elly take her grandkids to do anything like that.
If Elly Patterson were observing the events in today's strip, would she be jumping in the leaves too; or would she be denouncing John for messing up his clothes and encouraging Michael to do the same? Would she also force John to admit she was right? I can certainly imagine it, with the way Elly has been portrayed.
I think it is perfectly appropriate that the happiest moment I have seen published in this strip in years is one where Elly Patterson is nowhere around.
The most disturbing part of the Mira/Elly comparison was how Deanna seemed to hate her mother for trying to be an involved and giving grandparent, and unfavorably compared her to Elly, who rarely visited and never gave anything. Yet Dee worshipped Elly from the start.
I've known people who preferred their MIL to their overbearing mother. But never when the MIL was someone who basically ignored them and their kids.
Not really about today's strip, but I just read something that reminded me of a recurring problem that many of us have noted in foob.
I'm reading a book on making webcomics, and one of the suggestions is something Lynn should have done:
Line Up Your Usual Suspects
Remember all those movies in which the cops bring in the usual suspects for a police line-up? They all stand in front of the wall with lines denoting height in feet so the suspects' heights can be compared. Do this with your cast, and post it above your computer or drawing board. Use it as a reference as you're drawing. Does Bill's nose line up with Carrie's shoulder? Use that to get your characters' heights correct in every panel.
qnjones,
The most disturbing part of the Mira/Elly comparison was how Deanna seemed to hate her mother for trying to be an involved and giving grandparent, and unfavorably compared her to Elly, who rarely visited and never gave anything.
Well, the old Deanna story was that Mira was so controlling, she rebelled against her mother telling her how to do anything in her life. And yet there was instance after instance where Deanna embraced that control. For example, she allowed her mother to spend an enormous sum of money on her 2nd fake wedding, supposedly to satisfy her mother, but then she gets into huge battles with her mother over the things being picked for the wedding. If the 2nd fake wedding was to make her mother happy, then why would she care?
My favourite spots were moments where Deanna would accept money from her mother to handle expenses when Mike lost his job and when they needed extra money for a downpayment on their house. In the same circumstances, Elly gave money which had to be returned with interest, and the in the case of the home purchase contributed nothing except their old furniture.
aprilp_katje,
Do this with your cast, and post it above your computer or drawing board. Use it as a reference as you're drawing.
Although this would be an excellent idea for Lynn Johnston, the woman can't be bothered to correct mistakes like where eyes are supposed to be on the head. First you would have to convince her to use an eraser.
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