Insomnia with Michael
In today’s new-run of For Better or For Worse, we have an attempt by Lynn to do a heart-warming strip. In one respect I would like to enjoy a moment where a Patterson is actually doing something nice to another Patterson. On the other hand, the weird parts of the strip execution throw me off:
1. The sizes of Elly and Michael relative to each other and the furniture change at random throughout the strip.
2. Michael’s dialogue is more like that of an adult or more particularly a psychologist.
3. Elly’s final panel comment takes on an air of cruelty which gives the whole thing a bad taste. If only Lynn hadn’t gone to the “I wanted to give him away” part, the strip would have been a lot better.
I decided to go back through the Comic Strip Catalog to look at old insomnia strips over the last 30 years. The thing I notice in them, which is not evident in today’s strip, is the presence of John Patterson. In the old strips, if Elly was awake, John was awake. Even in the long series of strips of Elly suffering through menopausal hot flashes, John was an awakened participant. If the dogs were in the bed, or a child was waking Elly up for a variety of reasons, John was awake and there too.
That seems to be the key ingredient here. Elly’s comforter and companion is not John Patterson. His form is not even recognizable as anything but a hairy silhouette. Perhaps this is the reason why Elly never questions why Michael is also up at 2:45 am. Perhaps this is the reason why Elly does not question why Michael would assume she was worried about something. Michael is not playing the role of a child here. Michael is playing the role of the person who comforts Elly in the absence of John. More than anything else, I think that is what gives this strip a strange feeling.
1. The sizes of Elly and Michael relative to each other and the furniture change at random throughout the strip.
2. Michael’s dialogue is more like that of an adult or more particularly a psychologist.
3. Elly’s final panel comment takes on an air of cruelty which gives the whole thing a bad taste. If only Lynn hadn’t gone to the “I wanted to give him away” part, the strip would have been a lot better.
I decided to go back through the Comic Strip Catalog to look at old insomnia strips over the last 30 years. The thing I notice in them, which is not evident in today’s strip, is the presence of John Patterson. In the old strips, if Elly was awake, John was awake. Even in the long series of strips of Elly suffering through menopausal hot flashes, John was an awakened participant. If the dogs were in the bed, or a child was waking Elly up for a variety of reasons, John was awake and there too.
That seems to be the key ingredient here. Elly’s comforter and companion is not John Patterson. His form is not even recognizable as anything but a hairy silhouette. Perhaps this is the reason why Elly never questions why Michael is also up at 2:45 am. Perhaps this is the reason why Elly does not question why Michael would assume she was worried about something. Michael is not playing the role of a child here. Michael is playing the role of the person who comforts Elly in the absence of John. More than anything else, I think that is what gives this strip a strange feeling.
posted by howard at 10:14 PM
10 Comments:
Lynn's seeming refusal to look through her catalog to see what she's done before to see what works has once again left her in the lurch. This insomnia strip is so unlike the more successful versions, it's as if she was trying to spoil the future ones for us.
If only Lynn hadn’t gone to the “I wanted to give him away” part, the strip would have been a lot better.
Michael’s dialogue is more like that of an adult or more particularly a psychologist.
Elly never questions why Michael is also up at 2:45 am.
Yes! These three things combine to make this strip a failure, AFAIC. My first thought in this situation would have been to wonder why my six-year-old is up in the middle of the night and to get him settled back into bed. Elly, of course, focuses on herself and how she feels about her child (he has a reprieve from being given away). Gah.
DreadedCandiru2,
This insomnia strip is so unlike the more successful versions, it's as if she was trying to spoil the future ones for us.
At least she did not directly imitate one of her pre-existing strips, which has been her tendency lately.
aprilp_katje,
My first thought in this situation would have been to wonder why my six-year-old is up in the middle of the night and to get him settled back into bed. Elly, of course, focuses on herself and how she feels about her child (he has a reprieve from being given away). Gah.
There was a time in my son’s life when he realized he could wander about in the middle of the night, if he woke up and his parents were asleep. In contrast to comforting, psychologist Michael; he turned on lights, TV and generally made a lot of noise trying to get his parents up to play with him. My concern as a parent then, was getting him back to sleep, because he was very cranky during the day, if he did not get enough sleep at night. The situation with this Michael and Elly seems surreal in comparison.
The situation with this Michael and Elly seems surreal in comparison.
I guess it's one more example of how out of touch LJ is with being the parent of a young child. It's kind of crazy that she actually cited that as a reason for not continuing the modern-day strip, but she didn't recognize that this same issue would crop up in her doing new-runs where Mike and Liz are little.
aprilp_katje,
It's kind of crazy that she actually cited that as a reason for not continuing the modern-day strip, but she didn't recognize that this same issue would crop up in her doing new-runs where Mike and Liz are little.
We have seen enough 60-year-old Mike in the last year to get the idea that this reason was not really true. The real reason for not continuing the modern strip is because the hybrid strip blending reprints and modern strips failed. The readers got confused about what was going on. In comparison with the new-runs, a number of readers think the strip is already in straight reprints; so when Lynn goes to straight reprints, they will not know the difference.
The idea that her readers don't know she is still doing new material may perturb Lynn. On the other hand, it could be a blessing to her. When she goes to straight reprints there will be fewer papers dropping her strip than they would be, if they were aware she was not currently doing straight reprints.
My view on this is that she's (intentionally or otherwise) given the fan letters some nice material -- a shrink is asking her why she's out of bed and is attempting to help her address her issues and keep her under observation, and she views them as her son. In that light, "This morning, I wanted to give you away" would reveal a lot.
Mollyscribbles,
a shrink is asking her why she's out of bed and is attempting to help her address her issues and keep her under observation, and she views them as her son.
If she is seeing a shrink as you suggest the strip suggests, then as far as I am concerned, that's a good thing. I have long thought that her perspective on her life as shown through the things she has said in interviews and the things she has indirectly said via her comic strip has shown a woman in need of professional help.
I didn't say Lynn was, though I agree it would give her the help she needs; I meant more that the Elly of the retcons is in her institution, imagining that she's reliving the early years of the strip.
I understand you now. Today's strip shows the mental state of Elly, in her retcon of her early history. That would work.
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