When Lawrence Talks, Mutants Listen
It is an interesting phenomenon of Lynn Johnston’s artistry in For Better or For Worse, that if she is drawing a townsperson or other kids in school who are not our leads, invariably one or more them will have gaps in their teeth. Is this some of slight against Dr. John Patterson’s dentistry, or is she pointing out that most people in Milborough can’t afford good dental work? No matter how bad their teeth are, it appears that gap-toothed Milborough mutants have no problems hearing.
As for our Deanna Sobinski, she may actually have some hearing difficulty. The seldom-mentioned fact about Deanna is that she has a slight lisp. Add to that the fact that according to Michael, Deanna seems to have missed what Lawrence said about his liking her, when everyone else did not. Perhaps Deanna has a hearing problem. Oftentimes children with slight lisps or other speech defects have their origins with difficulty in hearing. Maybe Lynn Johnston is about to launch into a discussion about Deanna’s hearing and speech difficulties and we will actually learn something about Deanna we did not know before. Maybe Deanna just thought she heard her parents talking about moving for a new job when, in reality, they were talking about something which will happen in a few years. It’s time that people with speech and hearing problems have their forum in this comic strip. After all, Shannon Lake got to trumpet her cause with special needs. Grandpa Jim got to inform us about the effects of multiple strokes. Elizabeth got to inform us of the effect of her frontal lobotomy on choosing a marital partner. Let Deanna have her turn.
Another thing which jumped out at me is how Lawrence reacts to the pummeling he gets from Mike. Mike tries to excuse it by saying other people heard what Lawrence said; but I am beginning to sense a pattern of abuse between Michael and Lawrence. If you look at this strip reprinted from last year, you can see that Michael is not afraid to use physical threats against Lawrence. Either he is Lawrence’s physical superiour, or Lawrence is less inclined to use physical violence to get his way. From Lawrence’s perspective, he was just teasing Mike and Mike overreacted. Not only that, but as usual, Mike is completely unrepentant about the matter.
Let us not forget to mention the teacher. 2 boys are fighting, and then they go outside. Do you (a) ignore the fight with no repercussions to the boys over their fight or (b) watch them like hawks to make sure they don’t fight again? If you chose (a), then you are fit to teach Michael and Lawrence, and a whole lotta mutants.
As for our Deanna Sobinski, she may actually have some hearing difficulty. The seldom-mentioned fact about Deanna is that she has a slight lisp. Add to that the fact that according to Michael, Deanna seems to have missed what Lawrence said about his liking her, when everyone else did not. Perhaps Deanna has a hearing problem. Oftentimes children with slight lisps or other speech defects have their origins with difficulty in hearing. Maybe Lynn Johnston is about to launch into a discussion about Deanna’s hearing and speech difficulties and we will actually learn something about Deanna we did not know before. Maybe Deanna just thought she heard her parents talking about moving for a new job when, in reality, they were talking about something which will happen in a few years. It’s time that people with speech and hearing problems have their forum in this comic strip. After all, Shannon Lake got to trumpet her cause with special needs. Grandpa Jim got to inform us about the effects of multiple strokes. Elizabeth got to inform us of the effect of her frontal lobotomy on choosing a marital partner. Let Deanna have her turn.
Another thing which jumped out at me is how Lawrence reacts to the pummeling he gets from Mike. Mike tries to excuse it by saying other people heard what Lawrence said; but I am beginning to sense a pattern of abuse between Michael and Lawrence. If you look at this strip reprinted from last year, you can see that Michael is not afraid to use physical threats against Lawrence. Either he is Lawrence’s physical superiour, or Lawrence is less inclined to use physical violence to get his way. From Lawrence’s perspective, he was just teasing Mike and Mike overreacted. Not only that, but as usual, Mike is completely unrepentant about the matter.
Let us not forget to mention the teacher. 2 boys are fighting, and then they go outside. Do you (a) ignore the fight with no repercussions to the boys over their fight or (b) watch them like hawks to make sure they don’t fight again? If you chose (a), then you are fit to teach Michael and Lawrence, and a whole lotta mutants.
posted by howard at 9:38 PM
9 Comments:
howard,
Maybe Deanna just thought she heard her parents talking about moving for a new job when, in reality, they were talking about something which will happen in a few years. It’s time that people with speech and hearing problems have their forum in this comic strip. After all, Shannon Lake got to trumpet her cause with special needs. Grandpa Jim got to inform us about the effects of multiple strokes. Elizabeth got to inform us of the effect of her frontal lobotomy on choosing a marital partner. Let Deanna have her turn.
Not only would that provide Lynn an Author-Saving Throw, she'd also be able to get a nifty plaque for her officer. It's win-win all the way so that's probably how it'll roll. Maybe she will stand on a table and demand that people speak up so she can hear them.
That's "office",nor "officer"
Maybe she will stand on a table and demand that people speak up so she can hear them.
It would be difficult to match the humour of when Shannon Lake did that, because Deanna Sobinski doesn't have the background of being the spokesperson for her topic every time she appears. However, it might be more effective. I always thought that Shannon Lake would have been a much better character if Lynn Johnston ever showed her doing something aside from showing off her special needs status. With Deanna, she has that.
howard,
I always thought that Shannon Lake would have been a much better character if Lynn Johnston ever showed her doing something aside from showing off her special needs status. With Deanna, she has that.
That's for sure; it would also help explain why Robin acts so off most of the time. If his hearing problem were genetic, Lynn could have had something interesting to write about instead of subjecting us to Liz's channeling Howard Dean last March.
Deanna's lisp: The second collection contains a strip LJ may have to drop now that she's had Dee announce her family's move to Burlington. Deanna complains to "Mith Campbell" that Michael Patterson is bothering her. That, as far as I can remember, is the one and only reference the actual strip has made to her having a lisp.
Maybe instead of a hearing problem, the Authour Save will be Deep Thoughts about the economy when Dee's dad's new job offer falls through.
*sigh* You can bet that when people point the timeline break out, the fandom base will respond with "Maybe they came back! And then got another job offer later! Read between the lines! It's Lynn's story, and she can have BOTH happen - all that matters is that Mikey's True Love moved, not when! Why it's just like..."
DreadedCandiru2,
That's for sure; it would also help explain why Robin acts so off most of the time.
That could be an interesting story. I know from my own personal experience, my parents waited far too long to get my eyesight checked when I descended from the ranks of kids whose eyesight was good. Thanks to that, I had my kids checked and rechecked regularly. Deanna could tell a story about how she get Robin checked because Mira refused to get her checked when she had an obvious problem during her youth.
aprilp_katje,
Deanna's lisp: The second collection contains a strip LJ may have to drop now that she's had Dee announce her family's move to Burlington.
If Lynn fixes the problem the way she fixed the Nichols boys being turned back into the Nichols boy; she will just ignore this week’s strips and pretend they never happened. That seems to be her way. She is so terrible at retconning, it may be better that way. On the other hand, Lynn may have a tearful farewell planned between Michael and Deanna that she is so anxious to tell she will not be able stop herself.
InsertMonikerHere,
Maybe instead of a hearing problem, the Authour Save will be Deep Thoughts about the economy when Dee's dad's new job offer falls through.
Lynn Johnston and the economy. I wonder if she is even aware of the current economic crisis. Even if she were, hardware stores in my area are doing pretty well. Less money means more people want to do their own repairs.
You can bet that when people point the timeline break out, the fandom base will respond with "Maybe they came back! And then got another job offer later! Read between the lines!
There are reasonable ways for Lynn to write her way out of this error. However, she doesn’t seem the type to do that. I know when the Liz and Anthony romance was going on, many people felt Anthony should have addressed his abominable behaviour following the Howard Bunt rape attempt and it would make them feel better about him. But Anthony never apologized to Liz and what’s more, he never told her he loved her, even on their wedding day.
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