Sunday, August 09, 2009

Patterson Camping: Let the Fear Begin

With today’s reprint in For Better or For Worse, Lynn Johnston has given us confirmation that she does not plan to reprint the original finale to the story of "John has no fashion sense and is henpecked". Once again, a comic strip which would have shown John Patterson in a positive light has been eliminated, so the storyline ends with Elly and John yelling at each other about Ted McCaulay’s advice to John. Lynn may have promised to bring the funny back, but apparently that only means more bathroom humour in her new-runs. Her selection of comic strips to reprint to lash out at her ex-husband through his avatar of John Patterson continues right along. I wonder when she will finally give this habit up.

In today’s strip Elly tells Anne about her upcoming camping strip and begins the sense of foreboding that lets us know that although Elly hopes the kids will love the trip, she thinks they will hate it. Usually these are self-fulfilling prophecies, when it comes to the Pattersons.

I remember when my kids were about Lizzie’s age, which I presume is somewhere between the age of 1 and 2. Although they could walk, they still spent a lot of time crawling about when they were doing things. We took my son on an outdoors trip when he was in that age range and soon became quite aware of everything on the ground which could stick into, attach itself to, and otherwise pierce the skin of a kid when they decided to sit or fall directly on the ground. The reaction was quite different from that of sitting on a neatly manicured lawn with grass. Ultimately, we ended up carrying him a lot. I expect any similarity of experience depends on where you are doing your camping. However, it was not until my son was in the Cub Scouts (over the age of 6) before we tried outdoorsy type trips with him again.

As for the Pattersons, the trend of outdoor camping disappeared somewhere along the way. Checking the AMU reprints, which has archives of the strip back to 1996, for camping, I found that April went to a horseback riding summer camp in 2001 and went to a music summer camp in 2002. Aside from that, no Patterson has been camping since 1996. This is despite the seasonal graphic on the For Better or For Worse website, which currently features a picture of John and a young April roasting hot dogs over a campfire. It’s always fun to see a seasonal graphic or strip collection book covers which feature scenes that never appeared in the comic strip. Almost always, those scenes make the Pattersons look like a friendly family spending time together. I often wish those scenes had appeared in the comic strip.

10 Comments:

Blogger DreadedCandiru2 said...

howard,

Her selection of comic strips to reprint to lash out at her ex-husband through his avatar of John Patterson continues right along. I wonder when she will finally give this habit up.

Judging on how vindictive she seems to be, I'd say that would stop about the same time the attending physician logged her time of death.

(Note: my verification word is "woespin"; how appropriate.(

10:12 PM  
Blogger Clio said...

I wish people who don't like camping, or have never even been, would stop writing "funny" things about it. I can think of a lot of amusing things that have happened to me and people I knew while camping. But the only camping "humor" I can recall is of the stupid tired old "waah nature is horrid especially for the wimminfolk and the kids just want TV!" variety. I have actually never known anyone who disliked camping. Where the heck does this dumbness come from?

2:11 AM  
Blogger howard said...

DreadedCandiru2,

Judging on how vindictive she seems to be, I'd say that would stop about the same time the attending physician logged her time of death.

You could be right. After all, the Thérèse Caine story was based off Lynn’s relationship with her first husband, and that was over 30 years ago.

5:41 AM  
Blogger howard said...

Clio,

I have actually never known anyone who disliked camping. Where the heck does this dumbness come from?

My wife doesn’t like camping. Whenever the Boy Scouts have a “family”outing, which means sisters are invited, (moms can come anytime as a parent), my wife steadfastly refuses to come. She went on one camping trip with the Boy Scouts and declared she would never do it again. No bathroom except a Port-a-Pottie, no air conditioning, nothing better than an air mattress to sleep on, were too much for her.

The “dumbness” comes from people who have a strong desire not ever to be uncomfortable. When I was growing up, my dad hated camping and my mom liked camping. It’s not a gender-specific thing. However, among the Boy Scout parents I know, of those who like camping, the men do outnumber the women. That is probably where the "wimminfolk" angle comes from.

I expect that Lynn Johnston, who was already complaining about the lack of shopping facilities in Lynn Lake where she lived at the time in her 1980 CBC interview, would easily fall into the "I don't like camping" category.

5:53 AM  
Blogger April Patterson said...

It’s always fun to see a seasonal graphic or strip collection book covers which feature scenes that never appeared in the comic strip. Almost always, those scenes make the Pattersons look like a friendly family spending time together. I often wish those scenes had appeared in the comic strip.

What's curious about LJ's "campfire" image is the altered the expression on John's face to create a completely different sentiment than what the original strip produced.

10:30 AM  
Blogger Clio said...

"Let the Fear Begin": it's too bad Jason, or a werewolf, or a rabid bear, or any of the other horror staples won't show up on this camping trip. The Pattersons are too boring to even be victims.

2:58 PM  
Blogger howard said...

aprilp_katje,

Yes, when I went back through the John and April fishing strips, John seems to be in a perpetual bad mood as he was in this strip. I was unable to find a fishing strip with John and April where John ended up happy. The Pattersons rarely enjoy their time together in the strip, just in seasonal graphics and collection covers.

3:24 PM  
Blogger howard said...

Clio,

it's too bad Jason, or a werewolf, or a rabid bear, or any of the other horror staples won't show up on this camping trip.

Jason or a werewolf? I would take those over spending a camping trip with Elly Patterson. That’s really scary.

3:25 PM  
Blogger April Patterson said...

Hey, howtheduck, I did some recognizance and can now tell you that instead of "Yahoo colorist," we can say "American Color colorist." :)

The other fishing strip you link is a prime example of John being gratuitously grumpy. Lighten up, trainguy!

3:47 PM  
Blogger howard said...

American Color colorist. It doesn't have as much of a ring to it as Yahoo Colourist. Thanks for the research though.

9:45 PM  

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