Monday, September 07, 2009

Christopher Nichols Grows Fast

In today’s new-run of For Better or For Worse, Lynn Johnston returns to one of her running themes: Christopher Nichols is a violent little boy. The thing I find most interesting about Christopher Nichols is how much he has progressed in the last 2 months. Note that Christopher and Lizzie are both wearing a shirt and pants. In other words, both children are wearing diaper-changing unfriendly outfits, implying that they are both potty-trained. Not only that, but their fight over the bear occurs while both are standing up. These are significant achievements, especially when you look back 2 months, as I am about to do.

Thursday July 9, 2009 is a reprint showing Christopher crawling and drooling.

Friday July 10, 2009 is a reprint showing Christopher crawling to Lizzie and grabbing her doll for a fight, they have sitting down.

Sunday July 12, 2009 is a reprint showing Christopher pulling up on his mother’s chair and sitting in her lap.

Monday August 10, 2009 is a reprint showing Christopher and Lizzie playing nicely by the blowup pool. Christopher is set into the pool by his mother, but later appears outside the pool, pulled up on the side.

Monday August 24, 2009 is a new-run showing Christopher and Lizzie sitting quietly with their mother watching a commercial for Hinkley’s Handy Haven. Christopher is sitting on Anne’s lap.

Tuesday August 25, 2009 is a new-run showing Christopher and Lizzie, not walking but being strollered through the store.

And then we have today’s strip with Christopher walking, standing, wearing big boy pants; and able to fight over a stuffed bear without falling down. That is a lot of progress in 2 months.

The reason for this sudden progress is obvious. Lynn Johnston must have looked at the “Anne Nichols baby-sitting Lizzie” strips and seen Christopher is standing in those strips. This is not quite as obvious a fix as Deanna Sobinski suddenly reappearing in school; but it’s nice to know that Lynn Johnston does actually, from time-to-time, look at the strips she plans to reprint.

Before you get the idea that children don't progress that quickly, I will remind you that just last October, Lizzie went from her first steps to standing with full rain gear on to being able to go outside and play standing up in the rain. So you see, Christopher's rapid progress, is perfectly in keeping with the standard of child development established by Lynn Johnston.

9 Comments:

Blogger Holly said...

So you see, Christopher's rapid progress, is perfectly in keeping with the standard of child development established by Lynn Johnston.

If the new-ruins go on long enough, in the coming months we'll see Liz, Christopher and (eventually) Richard uttering puns and describing complex adult emotions and relationships with Françoise-like precocity.

10:48 PM  
Blogger DreadedCandiru2 said...

The reason for the soap-opera aging, of course, is that Lynn is not only ripping off all the other creators who present children as tiny adults, she's also sufficiently out of it that she has no idea how children actually develop.

2:45 AM  
Blogger April Patterson said...

In other words, both children are wearing diaper-changing unfriendly outfits, implying that they are both potty-trained.

Not necessarily--the pants could have elastic waistbands. Diapers don't necessarily consign kids to onesies!

The reason for this sudden progress is obvious. Lynn Johnston must have looked at the “Anne Nichols baby-sitting Lizzie” strips and seen Christopher is standing in those strips.

I don't think so. The closest Elly comes to actually getting a job is when she covers for Jean Baker during Jean's vacation. The strips just before that sequence show Anne carrying a non-ambulatory Christopher. Just after, when John and Elly retrieve their kids from Anne's house, Anne is holding Christopher. Then Elly drops the whole idea of a job in favor for going back to school (at night).

4:18 AM  
Blogger howard said...

forworse

If the new-ruins go on long enough, in the coming months we'll see Liz, Christopher and (eventually) Richard uttering puns and describing complex adult emotions and relationships with Françoise-like precocity.

It’s possible. However, the Lynn Johnston style of story-telling usually assigns certain kinds of stories to certain characters. Back in the days of Merrie and Robin, Merrie got all the “kids say the darnedest things” moments; while Robin got all the “stinky diaper, eating dirt” moments. When Richard appears again for the first time, I could see Christopher changing roles to a punster.

5:20 AM  
Blogger howard said...

DreadedCandiru2,

The reason for the soap-opera aging, of course, is that Lynn is not only ripping off all the other creators who present children as tiny adults, she's also sufficiently out of it that she has no idea how children actually develop.

I have no trouble believing this. Children change so rapidly, to do a daily strip which kept up with a child’s development in real time, between the ages of 0-5 years, would require a lot of research, if you did not have a child in your house to observe. I can’t see Lynn putting in that kind of effort at this point in her strip.

5:20 AM  
Blogger howard said...

aprilp_katje,

Not necessarily--the pants could have elastic waistbands. Diapers don't necessarily consign kids to onesies!

We used to put my son in pants that had snaps all the way up the legs, for easy removal. When my boy was in the diaper stage, I hated pants with elastic waistbands, if there was any leakage (and with my boy there often was). Nevertheless, my point is that Lizzie and Christopher appear to have graduated into different apparel than they have been wearing prior to this point. I think Lynn is either using a different set of strips as reference, or she decided to dress Lizzie and Christopher like she is dressing Elly and Anne.

The strips just before that sequence show Anne carrying a non-ambulatory Christopher. Just after, when John and Elly retrieve their kids from Anne's house, Anne is holding Christopher.

All righty then. I should have known Lynn was jumping the gun artistically again, since she button-nosed Lizzie. When does Lynn first show Christopher walking? And where does that fall relative to the first appearance of button noses?

5:24 AM  
Blogger April Patterson said...

When does Lynn first show Christopher walking? And where does that fall relative to the first appearance of button noses?

Ah, something to check when I get home. :)

6:00 AM  
Blogger Holly said...

April
Ah, something to check when I get home. :)


You aren't (gasp) looking at this from work, are you?! Well, if necessary initiate emergency "boss coming" procedure.

7:09 AM  
Blogger April Patterson said...

LOL--love the "panic" link, forworse. :)

7:38 AM  

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