Taking the 25th
Today’s reprint of For Better or For Worse was originally published on December 23, 1980; so the punch line about the 25th makes a little more sense than it does on December 8, 2009. However, the curious thing is why Lynn Johnston chose to use “the 25th” instead of “Christmas.” She certainly is not shy about using the “Christmas” word in her comic strip. Frankly, little Michael would be more likely to say, “Christmas” than “the 25th.” Kids at that age are not so good with calendar days, but they are pretty good with naming holidays.
I like the art in the strip pretty well. In the first few years of the strip, Lynn Johnston used to use the entire strip filled with drawing detail. This is a practice that never occurred in the later years of the strip. Lynn almost always used silhouettes to indicate the unseen crowd. I think it’s a shame she got away from that. The visual image in this strip conveys the story so much better than a giant blob of blank ink would.
I can remember when Santas used to be on elevated stages like that, with girls in elf costumes. It has been years since I have seen one like that. Most of the Santas I have seen in recent years have been at ground level with a normally-dressed photographer. I have also had the experience of waiting in line to see Santa both as an adult with kids and as a kid. This is an easy-to-relate-to strip. Elly is with all her kids. Elly isn't screaming. Elly isn't lamenting about how she wishes weren't a parent. Elly isn't insulting or putting anyone down. It even works within the context of the characters. Connie Poirier is the working mom, so it makes complete sense that Elly would take Lawrence to see Santa with her family during hours where Connie may be at work. This strip works for me.
I like the art in the strip pretty well. In the first few years of the strip, Lynn Johnston used to use the entire strip filled with drawing detail. This is a practice that never occurred in the later years of the strip. Lynn almost always used silhouettes to indicate the unseen crowd. I think it’s a shame she got away from that. The visual image in this strip conveys the story so much better than a giant blob of blank ink would.
I can remember when Santas used to be on elevated stages like that, with girls in elf costumes. It has been years since I have seen one like that. Most of the Santas I have seen in recent years have been at ground level with a normally-dressed photographer. I have also had the experience of waiting in line to see Santa both as an adult with kids and as a kid. This is an easy-to-relate-to strip. Elly is with all her kids. Elly isn't screaming. Elly isn't lamenting about how she wishes weren't a parent. Elly isn't insulting or putting anyone down. It even works within the context of the characters. Connie Poirier is the working mom, so it makes complete sense that Elly would take Lawrence to see Santa with her family during hours where Connie may be at work. This strip works for me.
posted by howard at 10:31 PM
2 Comments:
The only thing that doesn't work is that Lynn forgot to make the dialogue bubble large enough to accommodate the word 'Christmas'; other than that, it's a strip that serves its purpose fairly well.
I suppose that could be the reason for "the 25th" instead of "Christmas". It certainly would make sense, considering Lynn's phobia of using erasers. The dialogue changes she has made, like "grey" to "gray", fit in the allotted space.
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