For Better or Worse

[dreamflower]

My favorite comic strip wrapped things up today. *sigh*

Lynn Johnston gave us a nice epilogue to Elizabeth and Anthony's wedding, so that we get to find out what happens to the characters--sort of like the Epilogue to HP that JKR did.

There will be reruns of old strips, which will be sort of framed by some new material, but basically the story comes to an end.

It will be missed.

Comments

[shirebound]

I can't keep my eyes off Gustav. Do you think you could post something about the difference between 'wards' and 'parishes' down there, and whether it seems that wind will be more dangerous than water this time? The news is confusing to me.

*hugs you tight*

[dreamflower]

We can't either. M.A. hasn't left yet, and my DH is furious with her, but there's not much we can do about it from up here.

"Wards" are political voting districts within New Orleans' city; "parishes" is the word they use in Louisiana instead of "county". So the "9th Ward" is a certain section of New Orleans, while "St. Bernard Parish" is an entire county.

I think LA is the only state to use "parish" instead of "county". But then, we also have a couple of states that are "commonwealths" instead of "states" so I guess they aren't too weird.

[shirebound]

Thanks! I didn't know any of that.

[slightlytookish]

I used to read that comic, but then my local newspaper discontinued it :(

I am happy to hear that Elizabeth and Anthony got married - finally!! I feel like I've been waiting for that forever :D

Anything else notable happen to the other characters?

[dreamflower]

Well, depending on how far back you stopped reading it, Michael married his childhood sweetheart Deanna and they have a couple of kids, a boy and a girl.
John retired and he and Ellie sold their house to Michael, and they moved into a smaller house in the same block. April's planning to become a vet.

Um, I think there's probably a lot more, but that's the highlights!

[slightlytookish]

Thanks! I guess I didn't stop reading as long ago as I thought - I knew all of that except for April wanting to be a vet. But that makes so much sense given her trips to her relatives' farm...

[claudia603.livejournal.com]

It's really fascinating that that was a comic strip that followed a consistent story and had the characters age and develop and everything! I rather admire that, although I stopped reading comics a long time ago (never read newspapers).

[dreamflower]

It was one of the first to do that, although "Funky Winkerbean" and "Crankshaft" also did that--but they're a few years behind FBOFW.

I miss having a good daily paper. We always read ours in MS. Even when I didn't have time to read the other stuff, I read the Letters to the Editor, Dear Abby/Ann Landers, and the funnies--every day.

But we've followed our favorite strips online since we moved.

[gentlehobbit.livejournal.com]

*mourns*

I'm going to miss that strip. Sadly, I haven't had a newspaper for a while, so I haven't seen the rest of the story. But just knowing that it's finished... Gosh... it's been going on for more than 20 years now, I think. However, Lynn Johnston always said that she wouldn't write past the point she and her children felt comfortable about it all.

Did you know that it is a Canadian strip?

[dreamflower]

29 years.

She had originally planned to retire the strip altogether, so it's good that she's at least going to "recycle" the earlier material.

Yes, I did know it was Canadian--I enjoyed many of the cultural references that gave it a kind of unique flavor to us Americans.

[grey-wonderer.livejournal.com]

I always like that comic. Sorry to hear it's closing up shop. I don't get a paper anymore for reasons that are very apparent to anyone who has ever read my local paper, THE LOGAN BANNER! But I do miss the Sunday comics.

[dreamflower]

Well, she'll be recycling the earlier strips, but nothing really new anymore.

We miss getting a daily paper since we moved. (There's only a wee little weekly here.) We've been following our favorite things online. But the DH usually picks up either a Tulsa or an OK City paper on Sundays.

Berkely Breathed is apparently retiring too. You'd probably get a kick out of *his* strip today:

http://www.salon.com/comics/opus/2008/08/31/opus/

I splorked out loud at that one!

[grey-wonderer.livejournal.com]

Oh, you are right! I loved that comic! That was very clever and Opus's anger was so amusing. For some odd reason I thought of Merry. hehehe Thanks for the link!

As to a small town paper,or lack of one, I know exactly what you mean. We have a daily one here that is delivered six days a week (No Saturday edition) but it is so full of local crap that it isn't worth the paper it's printed on. You get pictures of folks holding up the head of a dead deer during hunting season, pages and pages of pictures of people performing in the local outdoor theater group in summer, local politics, car lot sales adverts, who died, and very little national news. On top of that, the ink that this paper is printed on comes off on your hands and clothing as you read it! A total waste of time. If I want a newspaper, I get one in Charleston where I work and read that. Those folks seem to know that there is more to the news than reporting who killed the biggest buck or shot a turkey!

[meneleth.livejournal.com]

I was so shocked at her goodbye; I had no idea it was coming. "For Better or Worse" has been one of our favorite strips since it started, right up there with "Peanuts". I have been especially fond of 'April' because she's just a month younger than my daughter. I should find an address for Lynn and write to tell her how much her strip meant to us.

[dreamflower]

She announnced that 2008 would be her last year about 2 or 3 years ago. She's been trying to wrap up the storylines since then.

Our own son Michael was the same age as the Michael in the strip, so they sort of grew up together too!

[ramblin_rosie]

For everyone who's been asking: The official website is http://www.fbofw.com. It has a complete strip archive, character bios, a news blog, and a feedback blog where you can submit (and they might publish) comments.
I doubt I'll read the reruns, but I'm very glad for the closure. :)

[dreamflower]

I'm hoping there will be a couple more collections published for the last few storylines.

My husband follows her website, reading the character bios and such, but I usually just read the strips.

[aspenjules.livejournal.com]

Thanks, Rosie - I'll have to go check that out.

[aspenjules.livejournal.com]

OH NO! That was one of my favorites, though I'm in the crowd of those who don't read it anymore because I don't get the paper anymore. I wonder if she'll do another book? I have her book called "Remembering Farley - A tribute to the life of our Favorite Cartoon Dog."

A giant FBOFW book would be so cool... her own graphic novel! LOL

[dreamflower]

We have several of the collections; I'd love to have all of them.

It's easy to read your favorite strips and features online. I keep up with FBOFW and Funky Winkerbean mostly, and I like to catch up with Miss Manners' column. Sometimes Dear Abby as well.

[mumstheword54.livejournal.com]

I thought of you last week when the story was winding down! We'll miss the comic strip, but we're delighted that it had such a happy ending. I loved Iris's "For better or for worse" explanation in the last installment.

Rosie stole my thunder about the bios -- although really it's her thunder, as she told me about it only last night, so go, Rosie!

I sat up much too late last night reading Anthony's back-story, and I'll slowly make my way through the other bios.

We may check out the reruns, but we haven't enjoyed them as much as the "current" ones we've read since the mid-90s. I'm glad, though, that Lyn Johnston is enjoying her return to her original style.


A note about newspapers:
The "Daily Oklahoman" used to be the daily paper my grandparents took when they lived in Roger Mills County (or parish, for those of you in La.). They still took the "Cheyenne Star" weekly paper until Grandmother passed away this year.

Lots of people in small Texas towns take the daily paper from the nearest big town; here people take the Austin, San Antonio, or San Angelo daily paper. I'm not sure if the OKC paper is still good, but it used to be an excellent paper that covered news from most of the state.

A true but odd-sounding bit of "Sunday Oklahoman" history:
For many years, there was a crop-duster who would use his airplane to deliver the "Sunday Oklahoman" to rural subscribers every week (I assume there were exceptions for bad weather). He'd circle over a homestead and drop the rolled-and-tied paper out of the cockpit, to land as close to the house as was safe, then move on to the next place.

My grandparents' ranch dog, Bozo, would race out to wherever their paper had landed and fetch it to the back door of the house. He was allowed into the house only on Sundays, to deliver the paper to the kitchen and be rewarded with a few slices of stale bread.

I can remember the excitement of listening for the plane, then standing near the house, waving to the pilot, while Bozo fetched the paper. Occasionally the rubber band or string holding the paper would break when the paper would hit the ground and bounce, and paper and ads would go flying everywhere. Poor Bozo would be so confused and frustrated, trying to grab up all the loose papers! He often just shredded what we couldn't retrieve ourselves! (Ah, the excitement and humor we found in simple living!)

Sad to say, the plane crashed some years ago, killing the pilot. I don't know if his son or anybody carries on the tradition, but even into the early 1970s, delivering the Sunday paper by plane was the fastest, most accurate way to get it to the readers in rural western Oklahoma.


Anyhow, you might check out the "Daily Oklahoman" online or on a trial subscription, to see whether it's still as good as it used to be.

[elandulin.livejournal.com]

I always liked that strip. But I haven't kept up for a few years now, ever since I started reading the news online, rather than in the paper.

Wasn't Anthony married to somebody else a few years back? A sort of unpleasant girl, as I recall... I'm so glad he married Elizabeth in the end!

[dreamflower]

Yes, he was married, but she found married life too boring and left him with their little girl. Of course, Elizabeth was there to help pick up the pieces. Elizabeth also had a couple of other serious romances in the interim--a bush pilot and a Canadian mountie, if I remember right.