Step Aside Deanna. Mike Has a New Childhood Sweetheart
Coming home from his camping trip in this reprint of For Better or For Worse, the thing that Michael missed most was the house. I think this is supposed to be something like those stories where the person gets off a ship after a harrowing trip and kisses the dirt on the ground. Only, it doesn’t quite work.
For one, Michael’s mental dialogue in the final panel (“Hi, house!...Did you miss us?”) implies that Michael thinks of the house as a living being of sorts. For two, John’s comment in panel 3 even more strangely affirms Michael’s thoughts (“What’s with Michael?...We were only gone a few days!”) as if hugging the house because you miss it is acceptable behaviour if they were only gone longer. For the third, this situation does not match any in my experience. I have never seen a kid hug a house after a trip away.
For the fourth, in the final panel, Michael’s face is way too Peanuts. Lynn could have traced that face directly off of a Charles Schulz comic strip with Linus hugging his blanket after a brief separation. This is the most obvious source. Linus in Peanuts often spoke to his blanket as if it were a living thing. With a blanket, it’s cute. You can carry around a blanket as if it were a companion. With the considerably less mobile house, it’s creepy.
For one, Michael’s mental dialogue in the final panel (“Hi, house!...Did you miss us?”) implies that Michael thinks of the house as a living being of sorts. For two, John’s comment in panel 3 even more strangely affirms Michael’s thoughts (“What’s with Michael?...We were only gone a few days!”) as if hugging the house because you miss it is acceptable behaviour if they were only gone longer. For the third, this situation does not match any in my experience. I have never seen a kid hug a house after a trip away.
For the fourth, in the final panel, Michael’s face is way too Peanuts. Lynn could have traced that face directly off of a Charles Schulz comic strip with Linus hugging his blanket after a brief separation. This is the most obvious source. Linus in Peanuts often spoke to his blanket as if it were a living thing. With a blanket, it’s cute. You can carry around a blanket as if it were a companion. With the considerably less mobile house, it’s creepy.
posted by howard at 10:33 PM
16 Comments:
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It's easy to see why it is that Mike was so adamant about not looking at all the houses Deanna showed him; after all, he'd punished himself for betraying his beloved Pattermanse by living in Saltzmann's antiquated old barn and whining about the Kelpfroths.
For the fourth, in the final panel, Michael’s face is way too Peanuts.
And oddly enough, my riff on this (which you'll see in Friday's FOOBAR) has him looking way too Family Circus. I went a bit too wide on his head and he ended up with a case of Keane-itis. ;)
Agreed about the creepiness of hugging the house.
DreadedCandiru2,
It's easy to see why it is that Mike was so adamant about not looking at all the houses Deanna showed him;
I think I missed a storyline here. Deanna was showing Mike houses? The only one I remember them going to see was the Stibbs house (John’s dream home with the 3 lots) when April suggested Mike and Deanna move there.
aprilp_katje,
And oddly enough, my riff on this (which you'll see in Friday's FOOBAR) has him looking way too Family Circus.
To me the crinkly mouth and rounded head says Schulz; but in any case, it was obvious to you and to me that it doesn’t look like Lynn’s style. It looks like she was copying from someone else’s artwork.
To me the crinkly mouth and rounded head says Schulz; but in any case, it was obvious to you and to me that it doesn’t look like Lynn’s style. It looks like she was copying from someone else’s artwork.
Oh, I wasn't disagreeing with you about the Schulzlike quality of Michael in today's reprint--only admitting that when I tried to reproduce her copying, I ended up iadvertently copying someone else. :)
In Peanuts, Sally used to talk to the school building. It seems to me Lynn is copying her BFF Sparky after all.
Mike may as well love the house. As later years show us, by the time he was past high school he only saw John as a source of money. Elly he mainly used as a source of praise for his writing and fatherly skills, both of which he could just as easily get from Deanna.
But for true love? Just the house, baby. And Weed. But Weed couldn't live with him.
I remember that Mike looked at a bunch of apartments in his old neighborhood but couldn't fine one as nice (that's dilapidated in real English) as the Saltzmann deathtrap. Besides that and not wanting to have any part of the Tiny Train House, that's about it for his searching for a new home.
aprilp_katje,
Oh, I wasn't disagreeing with you about the Schulzlike quality of Michael in today's reprint--only admitting that when I tried to reproduce her copying, I ended up iadvertently copying someone else. :)
So, when you copy Lynn Johnston copying Charles Schulz, it comes out as Bill Keane.
Jennifer,
In Peanuts, Sally used to talk to the school building. It seems to me Lynn is copying her BFF Sparky after all.
Good point. I had forgotten Sally used to do that. Maybe Sally and the school building and Mike and his house could double-date.
Anonymous,
But for true love? Just the house, baby. And Weed. But Weed couldn't live with him.
They came close one time, but the ladies stopped them.
DreadedCandiru2,
I remember that Mike looked at a bunch of apartments in his old neighborhood but couldn't fine one as nice (that's dilapidated in real English) as the Saltzmann deathtrap.
Even back then Mike didn’t look for the Saltzman place. Weed found that for them.
So, when you copy Lynn Johnston copying Charles Schulz, it comes out as Bill Keane.
I'm afraid so--or at least this is what happened in this particular instance. ::hangs head in shame::
Howard:
They came close one time, but the ladies stopped them.
Gotta love how Weed describes Mike's idea as "romantic". Lynn had no idea, did she?
Of course, Mike was planning on buying the places to get petty revenge on the Kelpfrothers, but maybe that turned Weed on.
Chucique,
It might have. Mike is prettier than his girlfriend and more manly at the same time.
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