For Better or For Worse...Lynn Johnston calls it a night

Posted By: Shagz
Date:

So that's it...after 29 years, Lynn Johnston has decided to wrap up the main story line of her long running comic strip series "For Better or For Worse". (The final strip went to press on August 31st)

I've read FBorFW in and out over the course of my life, but it wasn't until 2002 or thereabouts that I started reading it on a daily basis through the website, watching and listening in on the lives of the Pattersons. The story lines were sometimes funny, sometimes sad, and always *real*. (and yea, Canadian too :)

I think that's what I enjoyed most about the series, that the characters were living real lives, getting older, wearing fashions of the day and dealing with current issues. The series, at least for me, was very easy to relate to, but it especially helped that Michael and Elizabeth were close to my age. They both dealt with emotions and people and situations that I and millions of other fans have found themselves in. If it wasn't them, then it was another character in the cast. I think this was Lynn Johnston's genius, that she had characters that represented a cross section of generations, a variety of people at different stages in their lives. No matter who you were, there was someone in this strip that could speak to you.

FBorFW was not only a great piece of work, it was a brave one as well, most famously tackling the issue of homosexuality with the character Lawrence, but also dealing with death in the family (the family dog, Farely) and more recently, sexual harassment, divorce, and more.

I'm really sad to see the strip go, because there's very little to replace it. Correct me if I'm wrong, but most of the comic strips you find in newspapers these days could never be accused of being serious or true-to-life. The characters are drawn the same way day in and day out, and would never think to attempt to tweak a reader's heart strings.

Nothing wrong with that, we need those kinds of comic strips as well. (Except for maybe Family Circle) However, newspaper's are dieing out whether we like it or not, and comic strips are the first things to fall on the pyre in lean times. I really wonder if we'll ever see the likes of FBorFW in a paper ever again.

Online, perhaps. There's a wealth of comic talent on the internet these days, but unfortunately most of it, the loudest parts of it, aren't interested in doing something like FBorFW. There are signs - PVP has had some pretty serious storylines in the last 3 years, a far cry from its more sophomoric beginnings - but I think FBorFW is a one off, never to happen again, which is probably as it should be.

Lynn plans to continue drawing the strip, but will be reverting to a much simpler art style, like what she started with. (Letter to the fans: http://www.fborfw.com/fun/blog/archives/003374.php) She'll also be going "back in time" with the style of writing as well. The strips will focus more on jokes rather than stories, and the characters will stop aging. While this is technically "new" material, for me it just won't be the same. :(

Thank you Lynn Johnston, for sharing your talents, your stories and your "family" with us. Best of luck in the future and may you enjoy your "retirement". :)

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