Farley Abuse
Now for day 3 of lessons on how to treat young Farley the dog. In today’s For Better or For Worse, Lynn Johnston is essentially doing a variation on yesterday’s strip. Elly lectures Mike and uses an analogy. Yesterday it was to treat young Farley the dog as if he were a baby. Today, she encourages Mike to treat Farley as if he were Farley. Specifically she asks him not to love Farley too much, i.e. squeeze him until he can’t breath. Mike relates this to his experience with Aunt Doreen, an unknown aunt I do not know. Clearly she is a big hugger, and there is no room for those in this comic strip.
Although Elly is still not letting Michael know that he is capable of killing or seriously injuring young Farley the dog, her performance today is an improvement over yesterday for the following reasons:
a. She is actually carrying on a conversation with Michael and is trying to make sure that he understands what she is saying.
b. She appears to be protecting Farley as she delivers the lecture.
c. She is not delivering the lecture as she attends to something else
In contrast, in yesterday’s strip, there was a lecture, but Michael did not participate or show his understanding of what Elly was saying, and ultimately Farley was in Michael’s hands as Elly concluded the lecture by walking off with Lizzie. Although new-run Elly was not delivering her lecture over her shoulder as she left, (a commonplace habit in the modern strips) it is pretty close. Elly talks and leaves Michael alone with the dog without any kind of acknowledgment. In an unusual situation, new-run Elly actually comes off worse than her old-run self. Typically the new-runs try to make Elly come off better than she originally did in 1980.
My favourite part of today’s For Better or For Worse is Panel 3 where Farley licks Elly Patterson on the chin followed by Panel 4, where Farley’s body appears to be dead.
Although Elly is still not letting Michael know that he is capable of killing or seriously injuring young Farley the dog, her performance today is an improvement over yesterday for the following reasons:
a. She is actually carrying on a conversation with Michael and is trying to make sure that he understands what she is saying.
b. She appears to be protecting Farley as she delivers the lecture.
c. She is not delivering the lecture as she attends to something else
In contrast, in yesterday’s strip, there was a lecture, but Michael did not participate or show his understanding of what Elly was saying, and ultimately Farley was in Michael’s hands as Elly concluded the lecture by walking off with Lizzie. Although new-run Elly was not delivering her lecture over her shoulder as she left, (a commonplace habit in the modern strips) it is pretty close. Elly talks and leaves Michael alone with the dog without any kind of acknowledgment. In an unusual situation, new-run Elly actually comes off worse than her old-run self. Typically the new-runs try to make Elly come off better than she originally did in 1980.
My favourite part of today’s For Better or For Worse is Panel 3 where Farley licks Elly Patterson on the chin followed by Panel 4, where Farley’s body appears to be dead.
posted by howard at 10:43 PM
6 Comments:
He did seem to die after licking her, didn't he? Maybe that's why she's gobsmacked in Panel 4. I know we make jokes about her toxic personality but to have her actually be poisonous is a bit disturbing. On a more serious note, Lynn might end the week with John directly mentioning injury and/or death; that way, she could satisfy people who want consequences to be mentioned and make him into an ogre who frightened Mike into compliance.
DreadedCandiru2,
I know we make jokes about her toxic personality but to have her actually be poisonous is a bit disturbing.
If you listen to her lecture, you get talk-sick. If you lick her skin, she is toxic. It makes sense in a roundabout way.
On a more serious note, Lynn might end the week with John directly mentioning injury and/or death; that way, she could satisfy people who want consequences to be mentioned and make him into an ogre who frightened Mike into compliance.
John has kind of disappeared hasn’t he? I don’t have a copy of collection 2, but I seem to remember there was a sequence where John took Farley to obedience school that has been completely skipped over. Of course, that might have made John look good and defeat the purpose of the strip in showing that Elly is completely reponsible for Farley, his upkeep, and in teaching the children how to handle him. With that in mind, if John shows up again, I can’t imagine it being anything that could be interpreted as positive. If anything he would subvert something Elly tried to teach the kids.
howard,
With that in mind, if John shows up again, I can’t imagine it being anything that could be interpreted as positive. If anything he would subvert something Elly tried to teach the kids.
Ah, yes. How silly of me. I should have realized that John has to somehow undermine his wife's efforts due to his jealousy of her awesomeness. I wonder what form his veiled insult of her intelligence and good will will take.
I seem to remember there was a sequence where John took Farley to obedience school that has been completely skipped over.
Not skipped over--that occurs on page 40 in the collection, and the strips we've been seeing are much, much closer to the beginning. By the time Farley goes to obedience school, he's had a major growth spurt. Now, if we get all the way to adult-sized Farley without the obedience-school arc, then we'll know it's been skipped over, but that will take a while (if the strip survives long enough).
dreadedcandiru2,
I wonder what form his veiled insult of her intelligence and good will will take.
That, good sir, is the only mystery left in this strip since we know how all the stories end. And of course, there is a possibility that John will not appear at all, in order to give the reader the impression that he is utterly and completely uninvolved with dog and children.
aprilp_katje,
Now, if we get all the way to adult-sized Farley without the obedience-school arc, then we'll know it's been skipped over, but that will take a while (if the strip survives long enough).
There is hope for John after all. As for the strip, if The Quigmans can survive for years, then new-run For Better or For Worse will have no problem.
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