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'For Better or For Worse' comic strip gets a new beginning
Submitted by SHNS on Fri, 08/29/2008 - 12:27.
On Sunday, the Patterson family saga draws to a close in the comic strip "For Better or For Worse." But this isn't the end. According to creator Lynn Johnston, it's a new beginning.
"If I could do it all over again," Johnston writes in Sunday's installment, stepping into her own strip briefly, "would I do some things differently?" She would, and she will.
Starting Monday, "For Better or For Worse" will flash back to the early days of the Patterson household, when Elizabeth was a baby and Michael was in kindergarten.
The first month of this "2.0" version of the strip will be all-new material, and over time the strip will have a mix of new material and reruns -- though some of the reruns will be redrawn in part, and Johnston is adapting her current art style to blend more smoothly with her earlier style. In a YouTube interview, she describes her approach as "new-runs" rather than reruns. She will also expand on storylines and tell new stories with the characters.
The first year, the ratio of old to new material will be about 50/50, Johnston said. One of the highlights in the first year will be the family's adoption of Farley, the family dog, in a storyline running in October.
The strip started in September 1979 and is now carried in more than 2,000 newspapers around the world. In comic-page surveys conducted by the Winston-Salem Journal, it has consistently proven one of the most popular strips.
Johnston planned to retire and let the strip continue in reruns while she and her husband traveled. Those plans changed when Johnston's marriage, which formed the basis of the strip, ended. "I never thought I'd be single at this time of my life," she said in the YouTube interview. "And with that in mind, I still want to work, I still want to keep my hand in it."
But the change in format will allow her to take more vacations. "Because I don't have to work 365 days of material into the year, I can take some of the time off that I want," she said. "I can paint, and I can travel."
(Tim Clodfelter can be reached at tclodfelter(at)wsjournal.com.)
(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, www.scrippsnews.com.)
I can not imagine starting
I can not imagine starting my day without
the Patterson family. I am glad she recon-
sidered and is going to continue to brighten
our world.
This strip launched itself
This strip launched itself into unintentional self-parody years ago. Can't Scripps-Howard replace it on the subscription list with new talent? Clearly, Ms. Johnston no longer has any interest in working on the strip, but simply intends to re-hash old material to continue generating income. Y'know, I'm sorry she's divorced and all, but I'm really tired of an entertainer's personal problems being foisted off on me--I read comics to be entertained, not to have to vicarioulsy watch some elderly lady work out her late-life crisis in my daily paper.
I have been reading "The
I have been reading "The Pattersons" since I was 12 years old. I am now 32. I believe I am the same age as Michael. I remember his high school graduation the same year as mine. I remember when April was born and when the grandma and edgar died. I will keep the memories with me. I read everyday with growing excitment to see what happens next. Like all good things,they must come to an end.In a time life is so hard and things take a turn in which was unexpected,it was always good to see The Pattersons still well and moving on. To Lynn, good luck in your endeavors and the 2nd part of your life.Thank you for a great comic strip!!!
Wish it was gone forever
For Better or For Worse needed to just end. The strip has become far too serious and sad and infinitely too complex to continue reading. It became too involved in message and not the joke - if I wanted serious material in my comics, I would pick up a graphic novel at the comic book store.
For Better or Worse
This strip is timeless, and many people have, and still do, enjoy it. The sweet, funny, but mildly serious tone and complexity is a mirror of life in a family.
Why wish it dead? All comic strips have to be to your liking? I only read about 6 strips a day. I don't read what I don't like enough to spend the time reading. I suggest you do the same. You don't have to read it.
for better or worse
I have only been following the strip for about three years, so I am glad the writer is going back in time,so I can catch up! Glad the strip isn't ending,
CHANGE
I was real unhappy having my very favorite
comic changing. Real life keeps going and I
saw lots to add to keep going. Grandpa and
grandma, the new bride, parents later in life.
I understand your reason but I have lost my
first love in the comic section. Thanks for
all the good years. I know I will keep reading but the enjoyment will not be the same.
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