Christmas Games of Hide and Seek
Today’s new-run of For Better or For Worse is a variation on 2 older strips. First is the new-run from last year at Christmas, also showing Elly in a wrapping frenzy. The first one of these that I can find comes from an earlier time in 2001. In both cases we see “WRAP WRAP WRAP WRAP” as Elly wraps and then similar things with other activities. In the one from 2001, we also see “BUY BUY BUY” and “SEND SEND SEND”. The one from last year had as its addition “CLEAN CLEAN CLEAN.” So to continue on this theme, today’s strip adds “HIDE HIDE HIDE” and “SEEK SEEK SEEK”. Oddly enough, I was unable to find any strips with kids looking for hidden presents in any of the strips. As near as I can tell, Lynn has managed to find a subject which is different from the ones she has done before. It's interesting that even though she did find a unique, but commonplace, subject for her strip; she still manages to reuse an old joke.
While I was looking through these I stumbled across an old strip remarkably similar to new-run. Here’s the old strip. Here’s the new-run from this year. Kind of similar aren’t they? Look how different the Farley from 1990 and the Farley from 2009 are.
While I was looking through these I stumbled across an old strip remarkably similar to new-run. Here’s the old strip. Here’s the new-run from this year. Kind of similar aren’t they? Look how different the Farley from 1990 and the Farley from 2009 are.
posted by howard at 9:47 PM
4 Comments:
As near as I can tell, Lynn has managed to find a subject which is different from the ones she has done before. It's interesting that even though she did find a unique, but commonplace, subject for her strip; she still manages to reuse an old joke.
That is odd; you'd think she'd have covered that ground a long time ago because children cannot help but wonder what they're getting and try very hard to see what it is. My feeling is that we're about to see a bunch of whining about how her naughty children ruined everything by not being genuinely surprised; that's because a strip from a few years later depicts Elly lecturing Lizzie about her blurting out what John was getting.
You could be right. The next strip could be:
Panel 1: RUIN RUIN RUIN RUIN
Panel 2: GOBSMACK GOBSMACK GOBSMACK GOBSMACK
Panel 3: YELL YELL YELL YELL
Panel 4: @#$% @#$% @#$% @#$%
The odd thing is that this is pretty much four panels of wasted paper and ink. Mom wraps and hides presents, kids look for them? This is a wonder of Nature? We'd never seen this before?
My only real thoughts reading this were:
1. When I was a kid I never really thought about "how" my presents got there on Xmas morning. They just "happened". Plus, frankly, I didn't have enough foresight to think to look for them before the big day. My time was spent playing with the toys I already had or begging for toys I didn't. The notion that the hiding-the-presents action is followed immediately by the seek-the-presents reaction seems like a peculiar association.
2. The execution is pretty pedestrian. There's no funny (other than Elly's scrunch-face-of-I-hate-this-job); the sound effects are blah, the kids "seek seek seek" is pretty pathetic - you'd expect the little hellions to tear up her closet at the very least.
Honestly; these new-ruins are getting "Apartment 3-G-ish" in their blandness.
FDChief,
Mom wraps and hides presents, kids look for them? This is a wonder of Nature? We'd never seen this before?
I looked for other strips with the Patterson kids seeking for hidden gifts and I did not find any. There were plenty of strips with younger Pattersons walking in on or trying to invade a gift-wrapping area from which they had been excluded.
The notion that the hiding-the-presents action is followed immediately by the seek-the-presents reaction seems like a peculiar association.
I agree. When I was a kid I also did not actively seek presents. I remember more accidentally stumbling upon them when I was looking for other things.
There's no funny (other than Elly's scrunch-face-of-I-hate-this-job); the sound effects are blah, the kids "seek seek seek" is pretty pathetic.
It is an unusual strip insomuch as the repetition of the sound effects is the joke. The overall theme of the strip with respect to the holidays is the dull repetition of events, and this strip fits well into that theme. As with most of the new-runs, there is less humour and more “I did that too”.
Honestly; these new-ruins are getting "Apartment 3-G-ish" in their blandness.
That is definitely the case, especially when it is Lynn trying to do “gag-a-day.” When she does storyline stuff it becomes more interesting, but mainly because the new-run storylines have gone into strange territory like Lawrence’s inability to use the bathroom except at home.
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