The Curious Case of Richard Nichols
Some people are meant to be mothers. Some people are meant to be dancers. Some people are meant to sell buttons. Some people are meant to be artists. Some people are meant to be hit by lightning. Some people are meant to spend 29 years creating a magnum opus of comic strip art only to go nuts and try to change it. Such is the case with Richard Nichols.
I just saw the movie, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and I was struck by the similarities of this story to the life of Richard Nichols, insomuch as the lead character in the movie and Richard Nichols do not age like regular people, and they both suffer from bad writing. This is his short history, as I know it.
On September 15, 2008 – Richard Nichols first becomes known to us. He is the son of Annie Nichols and he has a cold. Although he has a brother, the brother is not mentioned, but it is clear his mother has two children and they both have hair.
On September 16, 2008 – We see one of the Nichols boys playing with a young girl just over the age of one. Her name is Elizabeth Patterson. His older brother stands by his mother.
On September, 17, 2008 – The mother tells her older child to share his raisins. She calls this older child, Christopher, and he is close to the same size as Michael Patterson, a boy we know to be 6-years-old. This will be the last time we see the two brothers together.
On September 18, 2008 – We see the younger brother, presumably Richard Nichols on the chesterfield with a bottle.
On September 19, 2008 – We see the mother put the younger brother into the same crib as Elizabeth Patterson, whom we know to be a little older than one-year-old.
On October 17, 2008 – We see Annie with only one kid and he has hair. He appears to be younger than Lizzie Patterson. No name mentioned.
On November 9, 2008 – We see Michael Patterson in a fight with a boy identified as Richard Nichols, who appears to be Michael age.
On December 1, 2008 – Annie Nichols introduces her diet to Elly and makes her first reprint appearance.
On December 2, 2008 – Anne’s baby is bald and makes his first reprint appearance. No name is mentioned
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On December 27, 2008 – Anne’s baby is again bald. No name is mentioned.
If I did not know that Lynn Johnston had gotten confused in her new-runs and decided that Richard Nichols, born in 1981, was already born and about 1-years-old in the new-runs; then I would be really confused about which Nichols boy was which. Today’s new-run in For Better or For Worse in conjunction with the reprint at the beginning of December, marks the first consistent appearance of Anne Nichols’ children with a separation in time. Bald baby on December 2 and on December 27. The question remaining is what Lynn Johnston will have Anne call this bald baby, if she ever does. There a couple of ways Lynn could have decided to solve her problem:
1. Call the bald baby Christopher. This is who he actually was in the original story line. Then she can pretend that the older child is called Richard. That way, she can mix the new-runs and reprints with the baby Nichols boy called the right name.
2. Call the bald baby Richard. Although this means rewriting all the reprint strips with the name the other way around, it also means skipping over the “birth of Richard” story, which put Steve Nichols into a positive light, as he played attentive father.
3. Show only the younger baby, and intentionally do not mention his name. She can’t keep them straight anyway, so why bother?
4. Continue to mix up the two boys’ names. She can’t keep them straight anyway, so why bother?
I just saw the movie, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and I was struck by the similarities of this story to the life of Richard Nichols, insomuch as the lead character in the movie and Richard Nichols do not age like regular people, and they both suffer from bad writing. This is his short history, as I know it.
On September 15, 2008 – Richard Nichols first becomes known to us. He is the son of Annie Nichols and he has a cold. Although he has a brother, the brother is not mentioned, but it is clear his mother has two children and they both have hair.
On September 16, 2008 – We see one of the Nichols boys playing with a young girl just over the age of one. Her name is Elizabeth Patterson. His older brother stands by his mother.
On September, 17, 2008 – The mother tells her older child to share his raisins. She calls this older child, Christopher, and he is close to the same size as Michael Patterson, a boy we know to be 6-years-old. This will be the last time we see the two brothers together.
On September 18, 2008 – We see the younger brother, presumably Richard Nichols on the chesterfield with a bottle.
On September 19, 2008 – We see the mother put the younger brother into the same crib as Elizabeth Patterson, whom we know to be a little older than one-year-old.
On October 17, 2008 – We see Annie with only one kid and he has hair. He appears to be younger than Lizzie Patterson. No name mentioned.
On November 9, 2008 – We see Michael Patterson in a fight with a boy identified as Richard Nichols, who appears to be Michael age.
On December 1, 2008 – Annie Nichols introduces her diet to Elly and makes her first reprint appearance.
On December 2, 2008 – Anne’s baby is bald and makes his first reprint appearance. No name is mentioned
+
On December 27, 2008 – Anne’s baby is again bald. No name is mentioned.
If I did not know that Lynn Johnston had gotten confused in her new-runs and decided that Richard Nichols, born in 1981, was already born and about 1-years-old in the new-runs; then I would be really confused about which Nichols boy was which. Today’s new-run in For Better or For Worse in conjunction with the reprint at the beginning of December, marks the first consistent appearance of Anne Nichols’ children with a separation in time. Bald baby on December 2 and on December 27. The question remaining is what Lynn Johnston will have Anne call this bald baby, if she ever does. There a couple of ways Lynn could have decided to solve her problem:
1. Call the bald baby Christopher. This is who he actually was in the original story line. Then she can pretend that the older child is called Richard. That way, she can mix the new-runs and reprints with the baby Nichols boy called the right name.
2. Call the bald baby Richard. Although this means rewriting all the reprint strips with the name the other way around, it also means skipping over the “birth of Richard” story, which put Steve Nichols into a positive light, as he played attentive father.
3. Show only the younger baby, and intentionally do not mention his name. She can’t keep them straight anyway, so why bother?
4. Continue to mix up the two boys’ names. She can’t keep them straight anyway, so why bother?
posted by howard at 10:04 PM
4 Comments:
howard,
3. Show only the younger baby, and intentionally do not mention his name. She can’t keep them straight anyway, so why bother?
4. Continue to mix up the two boys’ names. She can’t keep them straight anyway, so why bother?
I'd say we'd be in for a combination of these two options; she can't stick to a consistent continuity anyway so why bother making sense.
dreadedcandiru2,
I could go for this, except for that letter from Lynn's assistant, whose name I can never remember correctly, who stated that the history had to be fixed before Lynn could go to straight reprints. Of course, on the other side of this is the Who's Who picture of Christopher Nichols at his new-run age where he is close to Michael's age.
Who's Who appears to have been updated for Christopher Nichols. It now says:
About Christopher: Christopher is Anne's son and Lizzie's occasional playmate. He likes building toys and is good with them. Sometimes his father helps him make really great castles and spaceships and things. Those are his favourite times of all.
The younger child must now be Christopher because Lizzie is listed as the playmate now, instead of Mike.
howard,
I did notice that she'd changed "Mike" to "Lizzie" in that entry. I wonder if she'll change Abbie's biography to compensate for her decision to re-accuratize the number of children that she decided was enough, though.
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