Mess of New-Runs
We got back from Dallas this evening and as I expected we have had a whole load of new-runs from Lynn Johnston to fill in for all those she reprinted last year. I will try and go through them all.
December 23 - The joke here is that Elly assumes that Lizzie doesn’t know what Christmas is all about since she is so young, but then Lizzie says, “Gimme” as she goes for a cookie demonstrating that she does know. So, Christmas is all about self-centered greedy children. This certainly falls in line with the anti-Christmas theme Lynn Johnston has had going for the last month, even though the sight of a child grabbing for food is hardly a demonstration of anything except hunger.
Highlight of the strip: Lynn actually shows a Christmas decoration of holly across the top of a picture frame in the background. Yes, folks, aside from the Christmas tree, this is Elly's only home decoration for Christmas for the entire month of December.
December 24 – The joke here is Michael Patterson’s amazement at Santa’s ability to apparently instantaneously produce presents even though Michael is regularly checking the Christmas tree under which there are no presents whatsoever. This strip only works if Lynn’s readers can forget the strips earlier this month where Michael already found wrapped presents in the crawl space. Even so, considering how frequently Michael is checking the tree, it is amazing that the adults in the house are all able to get the presents under the tree without attracting the attention of the obviously “not asleep” Mike. Interestingly enough, this is one of the only Christmas strips that does not feature someone complaining about Christmas.
Highlight of the strip: Michael’s enormous feet and Lynn Johnston’s extraordinary consistency in being unable to draw people walking on stairs.
December 25 – The joke here is that while Elly works her fingers to the bone getting a Christmas dinner ready, Michael mopes that Christmas is over once all the presents are opened. Lynn Johnston has done this strip with this punch line many times before.
Highlight of the strip: 5 place settings and a high chair for Lizzie. I count Phil, Elly, John, and Michael. Who is the extra place setting for? Also, I love the fact that after making such a big deal about John getting Elly jewellery for Christmas instead of a food sealer, we don't see one strip of her reaction to it.
December 26 – The joke here, if this can be called a joke, is that Lawrence realizes that Phil and Connie are more than good friends because Connie sends Lawrence over to Elly’s house whenever Phil goes to her house. There are a lot of ramifications to this one, aside from the obvious “Connie and Phil are doing it” scenario. Number one is that Lawrence recognizes this as a pattern showing that his mother is more than good friends with someone, implying that Phil is not the first. Number two is that all those times we have seen Lawrence playing over at Elly’s without Connie present could have been one of those occasions. Number three is that Elly seems to have been blissfully unaware that Connie was using her in this fashion.
Highlight of the strip: Michael refers to Lawrence’s mom as “Connie”. Lawrence refers to Michael’s mom as “Mrs. Patterson.”
December 27 – The joke here is that Phil wants a drink with some kick to it, so Elly kicks him. This is kind of like the old joke: "A bum came up to me and said he wanted some money because he hadn’t had a bite in a week, so I bit him." Considering the ready supply of alcohol in the Patterson house over the years, the implication that Phil has a drinking problem because Elly has nothing in the house is completely surprising. If I were to flatter myself, I would think that my comments on Lynn Johnston’s travelogues, where she speaks extensively on how much she drinks on her trips may have gotten back to Lynn, who has decided to take this peculiar, out-of-character stance on Elly and alcohol just so I know that she is not a lush.
Highlight of the strip: The cartoonish bump rising out of Phil’s bottom after Elly kicks it is reminiscent of the lumps which would grow of out of Fred Flinstone’s head after he took a shot to the head, and was probably where Lynn Johnston was going with that. Given that the lump is coming out of Phil’s pants, it makes him look like he crapped his pants after Elly kicked him. Lynn Johnston’s misguided art just doesn’t get any better than this.
December 28 – The joke here is that Lynn Johnston does not realize just what joke she made. Phil must have made some statement about how a trumpet player’s lips are good for kissing, which Mike passes on to Elly as the thing he learned from Uncle Phil. However, we don’t see that conversation with Uncle Phil to know exactly how or why he said it; so Elly’s gobsmacked look when Mike tells her could be that Phil is having, yet another, inappropriate conversation with Mike OR Phil has just tried to convince Mike to kiss him. Either option leaves me a little queasy.
Highlight of the strip: The mysterious page of music in panel 2, which appears in no other panel.
December 29 – The joke here is that Phil’s trumpet playing is like a mating call for Connie Poirier, who walks right off the street and into the Patterson’s house. This marks the 3rd strip in a row with Elly doing dishes and it is interesting she goes right to that in order to leave Phil and Connie alone with each other. That's an odd thing to do considering what Elly is going to say to Phil tomorrow.
Highlight of the strip: The reappearance of Farley who has only been in 2 strips in December. I think Lynn may have forgotten that dogs often howl when instruments are played.
December 30 – The joke is that Phil is taking Connie for a ride. Or let me translate: He is spending time with Connie and does not plan to marry her, so Elly is not happy with Phil. Having Elly take this stance in the strip is a weak point of it. After the December 26 strip, where it is was pretty clear that Connie is doing things with Phil where she does not want Lawrence around, it would be difficult for me to consider Connie to be innocent and vulnerable. When you think about Connie's history with men, I would be more worried for Phil.
Highlight of the strip: Elly seems to be unable to appear in her house without doing some domestic chore. Hint to Lynn Johnston: Have Elly playing with her kids. This may be incredible to believe but some moms actually do that.
December 31 – The joke is that Connie knows the famous soliloquy from Hamlet and applies it to her situation with Phil in reaction to Elly’s judgment now applied to Connie. The funny part here is that even though Connie just said, “I’m staying at the hotel where he’s performing”, Elly fails to react to that statement. Is Phil going to come straight back home after performing? Toronto is not that far away from Milborough, so it is a reasonable assumption, especially when you consider that Phil failed to mention any plans of staying overnight in yesterday's strip. Is Lynn Johnston going to go with Connie weeping to Elly that Phil wouldn’t stay with her in her hotel room? That seems like an odd direction to go with this. Again, it’s very difficult to play Connie as innocent, when the hotel setup seems to be clearly for the purpose of seducing Phil. Elly’s fear seems to be only that even if Connie is successful in getting Phil to go to bed with her, she will not be successful in getting a marriage proposal out of him. Elly’s “It’s OK if you’re a slut, as long as you go for a marriage-minded man” is refreshingly immoral for her.
Highlight of the strip: Look! It’s not snowing outside. I didn’t know that was possible for Milborough in the winter time.
December 23 - The joke here is that Elly assumes that Lizzie doesn’t know what Christmas is all about since she is so young, but then Lizzie says, “Gimme” as she goes for a cookie demonstrating that she does know. So, Christmas is all about self-centered greedy children. This certainly falls in line with the anti-Christmas theme Lynn Johnston has had going for the last month, even though the sight of a child grabbing for food is hardly a demonstration of anything except hunger.
Highlight of the strip: Lynn actually shows a Christmas decoration of holly across the top of a picture frame in the background. Yes, folks, aside from the Christmas tree, this is Elly's only home decoration for Christmas for the entire month of December.
December 24 – The joke here is Michael Patterson’s amazement at Santa’s ability to apparently instantaneously produce presents even though Michael is regularly checking the Christmas tree under which there are no presents whatsoever. This strip only works if Lynn’s readers can forget the strips earlier this month where Michael already found wrapped presents in the crawl space. Even so, considering how frequently Michael is checking the tree, it is amazing that the adults in the house are all able to get the presents under the tree without attracting the attention of the obviously “not asleep” Mike. Interestingly enough, this is one of the only Christmas strips that does not feature someone complaining about Christmas.
Highlight of the strip: Michael’s enormous feet and Lynn Johnston’s extraordinary consistency in being unable to draw people walking on stairs.
December 25 – The joke here is that while Elly works her fingers to the bone getting a Christmas dinner ready, Michael mopes that Christmas is over once all the presents are opened. Lynn Johnston has done this strip with this punch line many times before.
Highlight of the strip: 5 place settings and a high chair for Lizzie. I count Phil, Elly, John, and Michael. Who is the extra place setting for? Also, I love the fact that after making such a big deal about John getting Elly jewellery for Christmas instead of a food sealer, we don't see one strip of her reaction to it.
December 26 – The joke here, if this can be called a joke, is that Lawrence realizes that Phil and Connie are more than good friends because Connie sends Lawrence over to Elly’s house whenever Phil goes to her house. There are a lot of ramifications to this one, aside from the obvious “Connie and Phil are doing it” scenario. Number one is that Lawrence recognizes this as a pattern showing that his mother is more than good friends with someone, implying that Phil is not the first. Number two is that all those times we have seen Lawrence playing over at Elly’s without Connie present could have been one of those occasions. Number three is that Elly seems to have been blissfully unaware that Connie was using her in this fashion.
Highlight of the strip: Michael refers to Lawrence’s mom as “Connie”. Lawrence refers to Michael’s mom as “Mrs. Patterson.”
December 27 – The joke here is that Phil wants a drink with some kick to it, so Elly kicks him. This is kind of like the old joke: "A bum came up to me and said he wanted some money because he hadn’t had a bite in a week, so I bit him." Considering the ready supply of alcohol in the Patterson house over the years, the implication that Phil has a drinking problem because Elly has nothing in the house is completely surprising. If I were to flatter myself, I would think that my comments on Lynn Johnston’s travelogues, where she speaks extensively on how much she drinks on her trips may have gotten back to Lynn, who has decided to take this peculiar, out-of-character stance on Elly and alcohol just so I know that she is not a lush.
Highlight of the strip: The cartoonish bump rising out of Phil’s bottom after Elly kicks it is reminiscent of the lumps which would grow of out of Fred Flinstone’s head after he took a shot to the head, and was probably where Lynn Johnston was going with that. Given that the lump is coming out of Phil’s pants, it makes him look like he crapped his pants after Elly kicked him. Lynn Johnston’s misguided art just doesn’t get any better than this.
December 28 – The joke here is that Lynn Johnston does not realize just what joke she made. Phil must have made some statement about how a trumpet player’s lips are good for kissing, which Mike passes on to Elly as the thing he learned from Uncle Phil. However, we don’t see that conversation with Uncle Phil to know exactly how or why he said it; so Elly’s gobsmacked look when Mike tells her could be that Phil is having, yet another, inappropriate conversation with Mike OR Phil has just tried to convince Mike to kiss him. Either option leaves me a little queasy.
Highlight of the strip: The mysterious page of music in panel 2, which appears in no other panel.
December 29 – The joke here is that Phil’s trumpet playing is like a mating call for Connie Poirier, who walks right off the street and into the Patterson’s house. This marks the 3rd strip in a row with Elly doing dishes and it is interesting she goes right to that in order to leave Phil and Connie alone with each other. That's an odd thing to do considering what Elly is going to say to Phil tomorrow.
Highlight of the strip: The reappearance of Farley who has only been in 2 strips in December. I think Lynn may have forgotten that dogs often howl when instruments are played.
December 30 – The joke is that Phil is taking Connie for a ride. Or let me translate: He is spending time with Connie and does not plan to marry her, so Elly is not happy with Phil. Having Elly take this stance in the strip is a weak point of it. After the December 26 strip, where it is was pretty clear that Connie is doing things with Phil where she does not want Lawrence around, it would be difficult for me to consider Connie to be innocent and vulnerable. When you think about Connie's history with men, I would be more worried for Phil.
Highlight of the strip: Elly seems to be unable to appear in her house without doing some domestic chore. Hint to Lynn Johnston: Have Elly playing with her kids. This may be incredible to believe but some moms actually do that.
December 31 – The joke is that Connie knows the famous soliloquy from Hamlet and applies it to her situation with Phil in reaction to Elly’s judgment now applied to Connie. The funny part here is that even though Connie just said, “I’m staying at the hotel where he’s performing”, Elly fails to react to that statement. Is Phil going to come straight back home after performing? Toronto is not that far away from Milborough, so it is a reasonable assumption, especially when you consider that Phil failed to mention any plans of staying overnight in yesterday's strip. Is Lynn Johnston going to go with Connie weeping to Elly that Phil wouldn’t stay with her in her hotel room? That seems like an odd direction to go with this. Again, it’s very difficult to play Connie as innocent, when the hotel setup seems to be clearly for the purpose of seducing Phil. Elly’s fear seems to be only that even if Connie is successful in getting Phil to go to bed with her, she will not be successful in getting a marriage proposal out of him. Elly’s “It’s OK if you’re a slut, as long as you go for a marriage-minded man” is refreshingly immoral for her.
Highlight of the strip: Look! It’s not snowing outside. I didn’t know that was possible for Milborough in the winter time.
posted by howard at 10:25 PM
7 Comments:
Elly’s “It’s OK if you’re a slut, as long as you go for a marriage-minded man” is refreshingly immoral for her.
That's what she told Liz when more or less gave her carte blanche to wreck Anthony's marriage and pick up the pieces so I wouldn't exactly call Elly the most moral person.
As for the rest of it, it was sort of a nasty trick of Lynn to play to wait for you to go on holiday to publish all that prime snarking material. I hope you had a good Christmas at any rate.
Yay, you're back! I've missed you. :)
The current Connie-Phil arc is odd. I can't imagine LJ can pull it off without doing even more damage to her reprint continuity. OTOH--she obviously doesn't care (witness the ostensible settling of this not-relationship back in February).
DreadedCandiru2,
That's what she told Liz when more or less gave her carte blanche to wreck Anthony's marriage and pick up the pieces so I wouldn't exactly call Elly the most moral person.
True. I can just imagine Elly saying to Liz, “You should do what Connie Poirier used to do to pick up a man. Lots of sex. Anthony will have a hard time resisting that. It didn’t work on my brother Phil because he was single; but it worked great on her husband Greg, when he was married to his ex-wife. He got a divorce and transferred his job from Thunder Bay to Milborough. Men will do anything for it.”
aprilp_katje,
Yay, you're back! I've missed you. :)
Thanks.
The current Connie-Phil arc is odd. I can't imagine LJ can pull it off without doing even more damage to her reprint continuity. OTOH--she obviously doesn't care (witness the ostensible settling of this not-relationship back in February).
It reminds me a lot of the April / Becky feud, which resolved itself and then hit automatic reset, whenever Becky reappeared. Lynn wants to write a story with resolution, but she is hampered by the knowledge that she has this “Connie going to Montreal” storyline.
In many respects I think Becky / April was the same. Lynn writes stories from the ending and goes back, just as she does many of her punch lines. She knew Becky was going have a failure because she didn’t have real friends (i.e. Jeremy Jones bailing on her) and would seek solace from her old friend April. Ultimately anything she did with April and Becky had to return back to a point where she could lead into that ending.
I think it was the same with Elizabeth and Constable Paul Wright / Mtigwaki. Lynn had the idea that Elizabeth was going to be homesick, but she wanted to write so many stories about the Mtigwaki utopia and the perfect Mtigwaki boyfriend, she just did those, without once thinking it would make no sense when she finally decided to lead into her ending for the story.
The difference here is that we know about the “Connie goes to Montreal” ending already. As the story appears, we can look at to see how it will not mesh with the story already presented or the story yet to come.
The fact that the pearls go unremarked upon in any way seem to lend credence to the fan hypothesis that -these- are the pearls April will find in the closet, Mother's Day of 2005.
In fact, I'm starting to suspect that really WAS a time-traveling Warren in a trenchcoat, sent back on a special mission to help preserve some small integrity for the much-damaged timeline.
howtheduck, like you, I can't help thinking of the Becky/April reiterations when I consider what LJ is doing with her Phil/Connie arcs. I do wonder if LJ is being forgetful or whether she expects her readers to be.
If I were Phil, I would not have wanted to drive from Toronto to Milborough after 1 a.m. on New Year's Eve, particularly in the early 1980s before the rise of anti-drunk driving campaigns. Presumably as a musician performing at a hotel, he could have gotten a hotel room as part of his compensation for the evening. Whether that was going to be the same room as Connie was in is a separate matter.
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