Rejoicing in the Well
With their coloured-in noses of illness, Michael and Elizabeth Patterson reminded me of the Grinch and Cindy-Lou Who from The Grinch that Stole Christmas. They somehow looked a little cuter than they usually do. I liked that panel.
My second-favourite panel is Panel 4, where Elly is about to step over the panel boundary into our world, until little Lizzie’s coughing fit stops here. We came so close to getting a “Elly in a real-world dimension” story-line. Imagine Elly interacting with Lynn Johnston.
Strip #1
Elly: Who are you?
Lynn: I’m Lynn Johnston.
Elly: Where am I?
Lynn: My art studio
Elly: Is there anyone else here?
Lynn: No. I fired them because they didn’t tell me that my husband was having an affair with one of them.
Elly: Hum. Can you send me back to where I came from?
Strip #2
Elly: So, you work as a comic strip artist. Do you have any children?
Lynn: I have two children.
Elly: Are they married?
Lynn: No.
Elly: And you said your husband had affair and left you?
Lynn: That’s right.
Elly: {Thought-bubbling} Loser!
Lynn: You better not be thought-bubbling about me!
Strip #3
Elly: Look at these comic strips. They look just like me and my family.
Lynn: That’s right. I am your creator.
Elly: Except I am not that fat.
Lynn: You are this time.
Elly: What?
Lynn: I decided to redo my old stories.
Elly: And make me fat?
Lynn: It’s OK. I also made you stupid.
I notice the theme for illness with the new-runs is not so much taking care of the person who is ill, but taking pride in the persons who are not ill. Germaphobe Elly from January 29 makes her reappearance here as she is on the verge of rejoicing that she has managed to keep Lizzie from getting sick. And congratulations to Lynn Johnston for once, not resorting to the triangle mouth of terror as new-run Elly realizes that Lizzie is sick.
As always, when Elly mentions soup I am reminded of her sploit soup strip. On the other hand, as Elly tells Michael he is out of school for another 2 days according to the doctor, it makes me wonder what Michael has. When my kids were Michael’s age and had to stay home from school from a cold or the flu, the general rule-of-thumb for staying home had more to do with their body temperature and how sick they felt than some arbitrary “2 days”.
On the other hand, it made my day to see Elly say, “You can watch a movie.” I know VCRs existed back in 1980, but I never thought the Pattersons had one. After all, stingy John wouldn’t even put up the money for a dishwasher.
My second-favourite panel is Panel 4, where Elly is about to step over the panel boundary into our world, until little Lizzie’s coughing fit stops here. We came so close to getting a “Elly in a real-world dimension” story-line. Imagine Elly interacting with Lynn Johnston.
Strip #1
Elly: Who are you?
Lynn: I’m Lynn Johnston.
Elly: Where am I?
Lynn: My art studio
Elly: Is there anyone else here?
Lynn: No. I fired them because they didn’t tell me that my husband was having an affair with one of them.
Elly: Hum. Can you send me back to where I came from?
Strip #2
Elly: So, you work as a comic strip artist. Do you have any children?
Lynn: I have two children.
Elly: Are they married?
Lynn: No.
Elly: And you said your husband had affair and left you?
Lynn: That’s right.
Elly: {Thought-bubbling} Loser!
Lynn: You better not be thought-bubbling about me!
Strip #3
Elly: Look at these comic strips. They look just like me and my family.
Lynn: That’s right. I am your creator.
Elly: Except I am not that fat.
Lynn: You are this time.
Elly: What?
Lynn: I decided to redo my old stories.
Elly: And make me fat?
Lynn: It’s OK. I also made you stupid.
I notice the theme for illness with the new-runs is not so much taking care of the person who is ill, but taking pride in the persons who are not ill. Germaphobe Elly from January 29 makes her reappearance here as she is on the verge of rejoicing that she has managed to keep Lizzie from getting sick. And congratulations to Lynn Johnston for once, not resorting to the triangle mouth of terror as new-run Elly realizes that Lizzie is sick.
As always, when Elly mentions soup I am reminded of her sploit soup strip. On the other hand, as Elly tells Michael he is out of school for another 2 days according to the doctor, it makes me wonder what Michael has. When my kids were Michael’s age and had to stay home from school from a cold or the flu, the general rule-of-thumb for staying home had more to do with their body temperature and how sick they felt than some arbitrary “2 days”.
On the other hand, it made my day to see Elly say, “You can watch a movie.” I know VCRs existed back in 1980, but I never thought the Pattersons had one. After all, stingy John wouldn’t even put up the money for a dishwasher.
posted by howard at 12:42 AM
10 Comments:
They somehow looked a little cuter than they usually do.
I notice LJ has brought back button noses.
You better not be thought-bubbling about me!
Heh. Awesome. :)
I notice the theme for illness with the new-runs is not so much taking care of the person who is ill, but taking pride in the persons who are not ill.
At FOOBAR, I have Elly resigned to getting ill herself....
howard, April_Patterson,
I notice the theme for illness with the new-runs is not so much taking care of the person who is ill, but taking pride in the persons who are not ill.
That is weird. She must think that people are going to praise her for containing the outbreak instead of comforting the afflicted. It's an awful thing to say but I could have predicted that she'd do this; it's all about appearances with her. Lynn made her stupider and meaner than she used to be so she super-doesn't know what people value.
It need not be a pre-recorded movie. In those bad old days, one of the off-brand channels would often run an old Ritz Brothers or Laurel & Hardy movie in the daytime (while the major network affiliates were running soaps), and then there was usually a "Dialing For Dollars" matinee. Not very good movies, of course.
jospehusrex,
In those bad old days, one of the off-brand channels would often run an old Ritz Brothers or Laurel & Hardy movie in the daytime (while the major network affiliates were running soaps), and then there was usually a "Dialing For Dollars" matinee. Not very good movies, of course.
That's for sure; I remember one especially rainy summer vacation where I had to sit through old movies on a CBC affiliate before Mom's stories came on. It wouldn't have been so bad if the program director had booked comedies, westerns or romances; unfortunately for me, the man had an taste for war movies. The worst part is that most of the ads were for Volkswagens, Toyotas and Datsuns. Helloooooooo, cognitive dissonance.
april_katje,
I notice LJ has brought back button noses.
I had wondered why, if she was imitating her old style, that these things did not come back earlier.
DreadedCandiru2,
It's an awful thing to say but I could have predicted that she'd do this; it's all about appearances with her.
That certainly seems to be a theme with new-run Elly.
It wouldn't have been so bad if the program director had booked comedies, westerns or romances; unfortunately for me, the man had an taste for war movies.
Back in my day, it was “Shock Theatre”, where they showed great old horror pictures and a number of really bad horror pictures.
josephusrex,
In those bad old days, one of the off-brand channels would often run an old Ritz Brothers or Laurel & Hardy movie in the daytime (while the major network affiliates were running soaps), and then there was usually a "Dialing For Dollars" matinee.
I wonder what TV coverage was like in Lynn Lake back in 1980.
howtheduck, I believe the button-nose style is more early 90s/Aypo--looking through the first two collections, I noticed that Lynn didn't use them on Michael and Liz.
I do recall Liz having a button nose when she was in her teens, though; when I have time, I'll try to figure out when they first appeared.
aprilp_katje,
So the button nose is actually another sign that Lynn is giving up trying to maintain her old style of art. I remember Aypo had her button nose, and little Robin sported a button nose on more than a few occasions.
So the button nose is actually another sign that Lynn is giving up trying to maintain her old style of art.
Exactly. :)
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