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Saturday, July 27, 2013

For Better or For Worse



Like so many have before you, meet the Pattersons.  They're your typical middle class Canadian family.  Except they're part of a comic strip that ran for thirty years.  Surely you've seen them somewhere in your newspaper over the years.

Creator Lynn Johnston chronicles the lives of Elly and John Patterson, parents to Michael, Elizabeth, and April.  Unlike most comic strips, "For Better of For Worse" has characters who age in real time--even the family's English sheepdog, Farley.



The strip also leaves the one-line gags to strips like "Garfield" and "Family Circus" in favor of more in depth story lines that can span months or even a year.  References are made to events that occur in other story lines, and the reader, once interested, begins to care about the characters.  It's been published and I've been reading it every day (it's now over, however) ever since I can remember.

Another unique aspect of the strip is that it dealt with very topical and sometimes controversial issues, trying to relate them to its readers.  The strip's title is taken from a line in the Anglican Book of Prayer regarding marriage and service.  The strip has been controversial at times, and has dealt with issues affecting many families and people.

Some major story lines are as follows:


                                                                   Farley's Death

This story line was by far the most memorable because it was so sad and unexpected.  Johnston said she noticed the strip had run for thirteen years, and since the Pattersons had Farley from when he was a puppy.  She knew something had to be done or else the strip wouldn't be true to itself.  Johnston floated the idea by "Peanuts" creator Charles Schultz.

If you kill that poor dog, he told her, Snoopy will be killed off by me first, and no one will read your silly strip.  She told him she'd rethink the issue and he was glad.  However, she had decided to go through with it, so she didn't tell Schultz about her decision.  Comics are due 6-8 weeks in advance, so she sent in the manuscripts and forgot about it.

That is, until she received an outpouring of mail and correspondences from some of the millions of Americans and Canadians who read the strip with great sadness.  April had fallen into a swollen stream, and Farley jumped in to rescue her as his last act of bravery.


Charles Schultz immediately called Johnston and asked her why she did it.  He also blamed "that stupid little girl" for getting Farley killed.  The poor dog's heart gave out, and there was nothing anyone could do, unfortunately.  However, the strip did him justice later and allowed his spirit to live on, literally, every now and again.




Elizabeth's Assault


Elizabeth was being sexually harassed at work.  It started off harmless enough, and she tried to shrug it off.  But it escalated, culminating in her getting assaulted.  However, she is saved by her brother's gay best friend (another story line Johnston did, which attracted her both hate mail and death threats).  Elizabeth presses charges and Howard is put on trial and convicted.  



The Patterson's bully even got his own story line.  Chasing after April on his bicycle, he closes in as she tries to navigate away from him...and pow!  


However, April does the right thing and calls 911, and he is taken to the hospital badly bruised and with broken bones.  Other story lines include Elly trying to go back into the workforce despite the objections of her friends, Farley and another dog producing a litter, and the biggest story line it ever did, which was the coming out story of Michael's best friend, Lawrence.  This story line earned Johnston hate mail and death threats.

This comic strip is excellent as it was very realistic and did not put on airs.  It dealt with issues normal people face every day, and it was both funny, tragic, heartwarming, and cathartic.  I strongly encourage you to check it out.  It has reset and we now are following the story line of Michael flying on an airplane by himself for the first time to see his grandparents in Vancouver.  I hope if you do check it out, you enjoy it as much as I do.  












1 comment:

  1. Actually, it was Anthony - Elizabeth's soon to be husband - who rescued her from Howard. It was not Lawrence.

    ReplyDelete