For Better or For Worse - What was old is new again
Categories: Celeb parenting, In the news
(Click the image above to see a larger version of the comic strip.)
When I was growing up, there was always a "For Better or For Worse" comic cut from the paper and stuck to our refrigerator. The Pattersons may have been an imaginary family, but Lynn Johnston, their creator, made them real by touching on issues both big and small that many families deal with. When I became a parent, I even cut out one or two and put them on my own refrigerator, relating easily to daughter-in-law Deanna's life as a busy mom of two young children.
The strip has looked a little different for the last several months. Lynn Johnston, seeing retirement on the horizon, has been running a series of flashbacks that allowed her to lighten her workload and revisit early moments in the Patterson's life. This Sunday, Lynn will give readers what every good story needs... an ending. The strip will be the endpoint of the Patterson's story, but it won't be the end of "For Better or For Worse."
Instead, Lynn's going back to the drawing board, literally. She's going to do a series of "new-runs," starting the story over again in 1979, but drawing new pictures and adding in some additional new dialogue. "My early work in the strip was freer, it was more spontaneous," she said. "But I want to combine the confidence and experience [I have now] with that freedom -- that's the best of both worlds."
Our town's paper dropped "For Better or For Worse" when Lynn started doing the flashback strips. They got a lot of complaints from loyal followers of the Patterson family, who wanted to see the story go to its end. Lynn addresses that possibility, knowing that the concept of a "new-run" is unique in the industry, but says that she'd rather write for readers than for editors.
She's created more than a comic strip over the last 29 years; she's created a family that people can really relate to, a family that feels very real (just take a look at their Wikipedia page to see what I mean), so I'm betting that "For Ever or For Worse" will continue to be popular, as long as Lynn keeps drawing it.
If you want to see the end of the Patterson's story and the beginning of Lynn's new journey, but can't follow it in the paper, you can see the daily comics at FBorFW.com.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 7)
Cathy 8-28-2008 @ 2:14PM
Or - you can be snarky about the strip at the Comics Curmudgeon
http://joshreads.com/
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cynthia 8-28-2008 @ 2:15PM
Life was never the same after my favorite "Calvin and Hobbes" decided to take a break, Bill Watterson please come back so I can read the comics again.
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gail in orlando 8-28-2008 @ 5:25PM
www.CalvinAndHobbes.com -- get all the strips and blubber your way through them as I do...especially "fuzz therapy."
sally 8-28-2008 @ 7:54PM
Same here!! I have all the books but it just isn't the same! I know it has been a controversial issue with fans; but I think Hobbes really did come to life!!
jo 8-28-2008 @ 2:16PM
Like so many of her readers, my life mirrored hers. I had a business for 18 years and sold it the same time frame as lynn sold the bookstore. Funny her selling hers, helped me to let go of mine. Although not seeing my daughter (I don't even have one) get married, I am at that stage (once again!) with a man, like Anthony, I was destined to be with for the rest of my journey. Thank you for all the moments!
Godspeed to you Lynn!
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Denise 8-28-2008 @ 2:28PM
I'm glad its' over, it used to be funny as in comics, now its' just sappy and sad.
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BoomerGer 8-28-2008 @ 2:44PM
Funny, sappy or sad, it is the ONLY comic that is a more realistic comic than any other, including those soap opera ones. Why would you be glad if it is over? Just don't read it if you do not like it. I for one, will surely miss it, and I am 62 years old and the comic page is the first page I turn to when I get the paper. Been doing that since I was 8 years old! Goodbye FBorFW. It's been an awesome trip!
Danny 8-28-2008 @ 2:32PM
I read this strip for years and had been following it since since Elizabeth was about to get married, the altering of her grandmother's wedding dress. (It was her granmother's, wasn't it?) and her grandfather ended up in the hospital about the same time?
It will be missed in the daily comics.
But it wouldn't be the same without Elizabeth living at home. Good way to end the comic strip.
I've enjoyed it,Lynn. I missed the start in 1979, I was in high school and had a lot homework. Maybe I can enjoy the re-runs.
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claude 8-28-2008 @ 5:21PM
I will miss For Better Or Worse! It was one of three I actually looked forward to reading. I hope the rememberances of the past will be as interesting. I loved the characters. They became like friends.
angie 8-28-2008 @ 2:34PM
I'm crushed! I love this comic strip!
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edandson 8-28-2008 @ 2:38PM
Yeah mornings won't be quite as boring!
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Chris 8-28-2008 @ 2:39PM
Thank god that lame comic strip won't be taking up space on the funny pages anymore. It was so boring. Who gives a crap about that stupid woman's gilded view of her own stupid life and children. It must be nice to be way overpaid for doing something so easy and lame.
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One Who Knows 8-28-2008 @ 2:46PM
Who sez ya have to read it? If ya don't like it, ignore it, like I do with others I do not like. Butthead!!
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John Marshall 8-28-2008 @ 2:48PM
I am incredibly saddened at the loss of "full coverage" of the ongoing lives of the Patterson family Lynn Johnson created. It's like having life-long favorite neighbors and their children move away. The characters grew and matured in every respect and the warmth and affection between them was palpable and transcended the "cartoon" medium.
I don't feel like there has bene any loss of the wit, warmth and humor - only that the lives of the characters, having matured "as people", have naturally grown more complicated - and naturally involved more serious matters and been perhaps less "cartoonish".
I've loved this strip and enjoyed occasionally purchasing signed prints from the web site and presenting as gifts - some are just so on target. Who among us with a decent caring family has not passed (or failed) "the breathalizer kiss" from mom on a later arrival home. I will miss it more than anyone should a "cartoon." Thank you Lynn Johnson - for all the years work - through all your personal pains, for easing ours.
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Kay 8-28-2008 @ 2:49PM
I'm sadden to see the "end" of the Pattersons as they were. I was looking forward to seeing Elizabeth and Anthony on their new life together. Also, anticipating what April will be doing with her life. Thanks for the Wedding in the Sunday paper b/c it was in color :)
Thanks for the 29 yrs. ! :)
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karron40 8-28-2008 @ 3:00PM
I will be sorry to see this go; one of my favorites. I feel like the Pattersons are real people and I am part of their life.
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Rosemary 8-28-2008 @ 3:02PM
I love this strip and the Pattersons. It's one of my favorites. I'll miss it when/if it's gone.
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K.L. 8-28-2008 @ 3:12PM
This has been a strip that I read with my parents and now read with my daughter. The one where their first dog died helped our family when we lost our beloved Bud and also when my daughter's cat died. The strip has dealt with both life and death. It has shown how a family reacts to both a sudden death as well as a prolonged twilight. We love the way the strip mirrors real life up and downs as well as the world we live in today.
I look forward to her new approach. Hope our paper keeps it!
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Sandy Rollins 8-28-2008 @ 3:17PM
This is my favorite comic strip of all time, and I am so sad it's going to be gone. I loved that the Pattersons grew, got older, went on with life. It was so realistic and touched upon all facets of everyday life. The death of the beloved dog after saving April's life. Grampa getting sick, Elizabeth going off to start a new life, and then coming back home to find Anthony once again. I so wanted to see how their life progressed, and what April would do with her life. I feel as if I know these people. I hated it when they started running the strips with the "flashbacks", and was dying to get back to the present. I will miss these people as if they were dear friends of mine. Most other strips now are either dumb, talking animals, or just plain not funny or interesting. I could hardly wait to read the paper every morning to revist my friends, the Pattersons. I will miss them a lot.
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Linda 8-28-2008 @ 3:46PM
I loved the comic strip. I had a son at the same time April was born. I have watched her grow up just like my son in real time. They went through the same growing pains. I am sorry it is done. I will miss it. It moved along and as they aged so have I. Nice to be able to relate to something that does not stay perpetually young and beautiful but is more realistic.