John Should Be Dead and No One Cares, Not Even John
There are a few odd things about today’s reprint in For Better or For Worse:
a. Judging from the shape of John’s body on the stairs in Panel 2, he has dislocated his right shoulder, broken his neck and snapped his spine. Of those injuries, his right arm appears to be still dislocated in Panels 3 and 4; and his spine and neck look questionable in Panel 4.
b. After having taken such a terrible fall, John Patterson seems to be more interesting in determining the person who left the *!@ screwdriver on the stairs than his own personal health. It’s almost like watching Wile E. Coyote get up after falling off a cliff, where you know he’s OK because he’s a comic strip character.
c. After having seen her husband take such a terrible fall, Elly Patterson seems to be more interesting in answering John’s question about the person who left the *!@ screwdriver on the stairs than his own personal health. Apparently Elly also thinks of John like she thinks of Wile E. Coyote.
d. Although John blames the screwdriver for his fall, a careful examination of the stairs shows that they are so uneven; the stairs could have easily been a contributing factor.
e. For some reason, in Panel 2, Elly appears to be raking up a stuffed animal of some sort, and there are no visible leaves in the yard. No doubt this is because they only had stuffed animal trees in their yard in the 1980s.
f. John uses the phrase “for Heaven’s sake.” A quick check against the AMU reprints archive shows 23 occurrences of “for Heaven’s sake” and 0 occurrences of “for God’s sake” and 1 occurrence of “for Pete’s sake” and 1 occurrence of “for goodness sake”. “for Heaven’s sake” is the clear winner. Pattersons believe in Heaven, but not so much in God, Pete or goodness.
g. The placement of the screwdriver in proximity to John’s body in Panel 4 is one of those phallic moments Lynn likes to slip into the strip from time-to-time.
a. Judging from the shape of John’s body on the stairs in Panel 2, he has dislocated his right shoulder, broken his neck and snapped his spine. Of those injuries, his right arm appears to be still dislocated in Panels 3 and 4; and his spine and neck look questionable in Panel 4.
b. After having taken such a terrible fall, John Patterson seems to be more interesting in determining the person who left the *!@ screwdriver on the stairs than his own personal health. It’s almost like watching Wile E. Coyote get up after falling off a cliff, where you know he’s OK because he’s a comic strip character.
c. After having seen her husband take such a terrible fall, Elly Patterson seems to be more interesting in answering John’s question about the person who left the *!@ screwdriver on the stairs than his own personal health. Apparently Elly also thinks of John like she thinks of Wile E. Coyote.
d. Although John blames the screwdriver for his fall, a careful examination of the stairs shows that they are so uneven; the stairs could have easily been a contributing factor.
e. For some reason, in Panel 2, Elly appears to be raking up a stuffed animal of some sort, and there are no visible leaves in the yard. No doubt this is because they only had stuffed animal trees in their yard in the 1980s.
f. John uses the phrase “for Heaven’s sake.” A quick check against the AMU reprints archive shows 23 occurrences of “for Heaven’s sake” and 0 occurrences of “for God’s sake” and 1 occurrence of “for Pete’s sake” and 1 occurrence of “for goodness sake”. “for Heaven’s sake” is the clear winner. Pattersons believe in Heaven, but not so much in God, Pete or goodness.
g. The placement of the screwdriver in proximity to John’s body in Panel 4 is one of those phallic moments Lynn likes to slip into the strip from time-to-time.
posted by howard at 9:41 PM
10 Comments:
I wish I could be shocked that Elly isn't asking if John is all right; too bad that I know better. Elly's screaming about how she couldn't live without him is best understood by her shocked realization that if he were dead, she'd have to grow up, shut her mouth, swallow her pride and do what her employer told her if she wanted to live the lifestyle she got accustomed to. A world where she couldn't slack off, bite phone books and blame others for her own failings isn't a world she wants to live io.
Of course Crazy!Elly is raking the yard; it's Springtime, remember? With all those invisible phantom leaves.... :p~~~~~~~~~~
DreadedCandiru2,
Elly's screaming about how she couldn't live without him-
Whoa! Wait a minute. When did Elly ever scream she couldn’t live without John? I don’t think she did that even during the story about the river trip where John and Phil capsized and Elly and Georgia thought Phil and John might have died.
A world where she couldn't slack off, bite phone books and blame others for her own failings isn't a world she wants to live io.-
This is true; but I would be hard pressed to think of any situation where Elly admitted to John that she appreciated his hard work taking care of her and his family. Elly is the martyr in this family, not John.
Anonymous,
Of course Crazy!Elly is raking the yard; it's Springtime, remember? With all those invisible phantom leaves.... :p~~~~~~~~~~-
The strangest part of this strip is seeing Elly with a rake in what appears to be a spring outdoors with no leaves to be seen. I made a joke about her raking up stuffed animals, but that is really what that thing in the lawn Elly is raking looks like to me.
Elly said, "I couldn't live without you!" when John was more than an hour late coming home from work, in the reprint that ran July 27, 2008.
I'm pretty sure Elly is raking Lizzy. Probably to teach her not to say "no".
That kind of fall would require a doctor, pronto, at the least. After years of "realistic" characters, going back to this Wile E. Coyote stuff is disconcerting to say the least.
Joshua,
Elly said, "I couldn't live without you!" when John was more than an hour late coming home from work, in the reprint that ran July 27, 2008.-
Thanks, Joshua for explaining the dreadedcandiru2’s reference. I had forgotten about that strip. It was nice to notice that she didn’t actually say that to John’s face. That would have been too out-of-character.
clio_1,
I'm pretty sure Elly is raking Lizzy. Probably to teach her not to say "no". -
Lizzie? Looking at it carefully, I don’t see Lizzie. I see a stuffed animal or maybe one of those floor-sitting back support pillows, with a character head on the main pillow. There are no lines for clothes or arms on it. However, I will admit that raking Lizzie makes as much sense as raking a stuffed animal.
That kind of fall would require a doctor, pronto, at the least. After years of "realistic" characters, going back to this Wile E. Coyote stuff is disconcerting to say the least.-
True enough. I remember being horrified at a reprint strip last year where baby Lizzie fell down a flight of stairs, only the joke was that she only started crying when she finally got to the top of the stairs.
clio_1;I'd say that she was raking up Lizzie too. It does make sense that she'd do something that dozy.
I thought Elly was about to rake a doll Liz had left out on the lawn. Of course, with both parents outside, I wonder where the kids are.
Post a Comment
<< Home