Even the Deer Don’t Get Any
New material already? I only managed to stay retired for a week. I wasn’t sure if Lynn would do new material on Sundays, and now I see she is. She has the potential to be doing new stuff on Sundays for awhile, so this could be a Sunday-only blog. The real question is whether or not we are in straight reprints for the dailies.
With today’s new-run of For Better or For Worse, I was struck by a few odd things:
1. Anne Nichols is shopping for garden supplies.
2. Elly and Anne are in The Garden Center.
3. There are deer in Milborough.
4. Of the plants Anne mentions: Hostas, Hollyhocks and Irises, only the Iris is native to Canada.
5. Not Tonight Deer deer repellent is a real product and the drawing on the product is actually quite a bit funnier than the drawing Lynn did today of that demented, mutated creature (supposedly a deer) on the box Elly is holding.
6. When Anne says she doesn’t have a fence, that actually matches what we have seen in recent strips.
We know from this strip that Mrs. Baird has a garden. We know from this strip that Connie Poirier has a garden. We know from this strip that Elly was gardening at the time in 1981. As near as I can tell, there are no Anne gardening strips. Anne was into cooking. That’s way she starting working as a caterer. I am not sure why Lynn chose to do this strip featuring Anne and not Connie.
The one really known for gardening is Lawrence Poirier. In this strip, he makes it seem like there is only one landscaping business in Milborough and he plans to open another. With this strip, however, Lawrence appears to be working for Lakeshore Landscaping, the business he will eventually own. The implication is that Lakeshore Landscaping is the landscaping business in town. However, that is in the late 1990s. In 1981, the place may have been The Garden Center. North Bay, near where Lynn lives in Corbeil, has 3 garden centres and notice in the link it is spelled "centre" in every single case.
Finally a search for a “deer” using AMU reprints and the Comic Strip Catalog have netted me nothing – not one strip talking a deer outside of reindeer at Christmas. In other words, Lynn Johnston went throught the entire strip talking about Anne having a deer problem, just so she could do a sex joke with name of the deer repellent. Naturally, the idea that another species is not having sex would appeal to Lynn Johnston. Watch for an upcoming strip about beavers and fill in your favourite “not getting any beaver” joke.
With today’s new-run of For Better or For Worse, I was struck by a few odd things:
1. Anne Nichols is shopping for garden supplies.
2. Elly and Anne are in The Garden Center.
3. There are deer in Milborough.
4. Of the plants Anne mentions: Hostas, Hollyhocks and Irises, only the Iris is native to Canada.
5. Not Tonight Deer deer repellent is a real product and the drawing on the product is actually quite a bit funnier than the drawing Lynn did today of that demented, mutated creature (supposedly a deer) on the box Elly is holding.
6. When Anne says she doesn’t have a fence, that actually matches what we have seen in recent strips.
We know from this strip that Mrs. Baird has a garden. We know from this strip that Connie Poirier has a garden. We know from this strip that Elly was gardening at the time in 1981. As near as I can tell, there are no Anne gardening strips. Anne was into cooking. That’s way she starting working as a caterer. I am not sure why Lynn chose to do this strip featuring Anne and not Connie.
The one really known for gardening is Lawrence Poirier. In this strip, he makes it seem like there is only one landscaping business in Milborough and he plans to open another. With this strip, however, Lawrence appears to be working for Lakeshore Landscaping, the business he will eventually own. The implication is that Lakeshore Landscaping is the landscaping business in town. However, that is in the late 1990s. In 1981, the place may have been The Garden Center. North Bay, near where Lynn lives in Corbeil, has 3 garden centres and notice in the link it is spelled "centre" in every single case.
Finally a search for a “deer” using AMU reprints and the Comic Strip Catalog have netted me nothing – not one strip talking a deer outside of reindeer at Christmas. In other words, Lynn Johnston went throught the entire strip talking about Anne having a deer problem, just so she could do a sex joke with name of the deer repellent. Naturally, the idea that another species is not having sex would appeal to Lynn Johnston. Watch for an upcoming strip about beavers and fill in your favourite “not getting any beaver” joke.
posted by howard at 10:54 PM
11 Comments:
In other words, Lynn Johnston went throught the entire strip talking about Anne having a deer problem, just so she could do a sex joke with name of the deer repellent. Naturally, the idea that another species is not having sex would appeal to Lynn Johnston.
This does not surprise me; Lynn does seem to be the sort of person who likes being a kill-joy. Another example of that is the fact that even when she does finally go to all reprints, all the time, we'll never be told.
I wonder if Lynn realized that she was using a real brand name. I thought she usually avoided that in order to not get sued.
Memo to Anne: fences don't happen via "luck." You buy fencing, you put it up (or hire someone to do so), and then you have a fence. (This seems like a decidedly Pattersonian perspective on luck--only the Patterson word of choice is "fate.")
dreadedcandiru2,
Another example of that is the fact that even when she does finally go to all reprints, all the time, we'll never be told.
Possibly. Or she may have 3 months of intermittent new-runs planned for the Sundays and she won't announce until after they are all done. Or she may have changed her mind about going to straight reprints. It wouldn't be the first time that's happened.
aprilp_katje,
I wonder if Lynn realized that she was using a real brand name.
I doubt it, especially since the whole joke of the strip is based on the brand name.
Memo to Anne: fences don't happen via "luck."
It sounds like the thinking of someone who buys a house and thinks of the house as unchangeable, so what you get is what you have forever. That's kind of a strange thought for someone who used to be married to someone who used to build model train setups around the house.
Another good reason for making this an Elly-and-Connie strip would be the oddity of Organic Anne a) raising all these ornamentals rather than vegetables, and b) having ANY interest in chemical repellents. It would seem more in character for Connie.
But then, we've just been reminded that Connie DIDN'T "get any tonight" and wanted some rather badly, while Anne is married to a cookie-giving cretin.
So, naturally, Lynn makes nonsense of the world she created for some dumb pun. It's like watching Michaelangelo use the ceiling of the Sistine for a slapstick joke involving falling bricks...if the notion of Lynn and a great artist can be combined without hilarity.
FDChief,
So, naturally, Lynn makes nonsense of the world she created for some dumb pun.
It is certainly not the first time Lynn had her characters step out-of-character to service a pun, especially in the pun-laden strips of the last few years. However, she used to be better about picking which characters to use for jokes. Aside from Organic Anne vs. chemical repellents, Elly didn’t do sex jokes with Anne. Again, that was Connie
I used to always read that comic since it was one of my favorites in the Sunday paper. Have you tried any of Havahart's deer off repellent? My neighbor swears by it. The label says it lasts for 3 months, so he barely has to apply it.
I have not tried Havahart's deer off repellent. Living in Arizona, deer are not really a problem. Now, if you were talking about javelina getting in the trash, then that would be a different story.
This Sunday's strip is a new-run. I'm hoping you'll write a blog entry about it. :)
howtheduck, today's new-run is in serious need of a proper howtheduck dissection!
I agree! I'm looking forward to it!
Post a Comment
<< Home