The strip's ending soon. I'm holding out hope that she'll listen to her readers. This just doesn't seem like the warm, wonderful match she's building it up as.
Sometimes an author really is the least reliable judge of their work.
Posted by ketchupqueen (Member # 6877) on :
I've never followed the story although I've read it occasionally. Is there a plot summary somewhere?
Posted by TomDavidson (Member # 124) on :
I've posted on that blog, too, to protest the same thing. *laugh*
Posted by Puffy Treat (Member # 7210) on :
The strip's site itself seems to lack such a summary, kq.
Then again, she's spent the past 5-6 years setting it up...it's a lot to summarize.
Posted by Puffy Treat (Member # 7210) on :
quote:Originally posted by TomDavidson: I've posted on that blog, too, to protest the same thing. *laugh*
I'm tempted to do it myself, mainly out of residual fondness for a strip that really -was- pretty good back in the 80s-90s.
Posted by mr_porteiro_head (Member # 4644) on :
Heh. When I follow that link, I'm greeted with comments like this:
quote:I am thrilled to see that ELizabeth and Anthony have gotten back together
quote:Anthony and Liz--they BELONG together!! They always have!
Posted by Puffy Treat (Member # 7210) on :
Scroll down a tad. Posted by Mucus (Member # 9735) on :
Man, I've only read the strip on and off, I followed it a lot more like 7 years or so. However, I did start reading it more constantly for about the last six months.
For me, all I saw was Anthony reappearing during the garage incident and then now them getting back together. Reading through the comments, I see I must have missed a lot in regards to Anthony's ex-wife. Many people seem to know pretty detailed stuff about what happened in their marriage beyond what happened in the last week or so.
Honestly, I barely remember Anthony as being little more than a bit player, although I *did* miss a lot.
Any idea when this elaboration happened so I can catch up? Or are people just extrapolating?
Posted by Puffy Treat (Member # 7210) on :
All the stuff they mention happened/was said about Therese...it's just been spread out over the past few years.
Posted by Ela (Member # 1365) on :
I think it's really boring that Anthony and Liz have been paired up - of all the guys she has dated, he is the boringest.
Posted by Puffy Treat (Member # 7210) on :
And the creepiest.
"Liz, I know that guy almost raped you, but WAAAAAH! I hate my wife! Marry me, pweeze?"
Posted by TomDavidson (Member # 124) on :
"My wife hates me because she thinks I'm pining after you! She's so right!"
Posted by Jon Boy (Member # 4284) on :
I haven't read For Better or For Worse in years. Didn't it used to be a comic strip? It sounds like a bad soap opera now.
Posted by Puffy Treat (Member # 7210) on :
Oh yeah...it's the sudsiest of soaps.
Posted by Ela (Member # 1365) on :
quote:Originally posted by TomDavidson: "My wife hates me because she thinks I'm pining after you! She's so right!"
Bingo!
Posted by Mucus (Member # 9735) on :
Man, I missed a lot. Looks like I made the right choice Posted by Megan (Member # 5290) on :
You know, I agree with all the criticisms expressed here, and yet I still read the comic every day. Why do I do that? >.<
Posted by steven (Member # 8099) on :
I sure don't read it anymore.
I have thought for years that Lynn Johnston has found something she hates about me personally, and decided specifically to take the strip in the direction I would most hate. Of course she doesn't actually know me....that's where my theory breaks down.
Posted by Ela (Member # 1365) on :
quote:Originally posted by Megan: You know, I agree with all the criticisms expressed here, and yet I still read the comic every day. Why do I do that? >.<
I am guessing that at least some of the rest of us do that, too, or we wouldn't be so knowledgeable about the storyline. Posted by plaid (Member # 2393) on :
quote:"This is the guy who tried to use the aftermath of an attempted rape to gain pity."
???I haven't read FBofW in a long time, what was that about???
Posted by Mucus (Member # 9735) on :
Megan: It could be worse. You should try lurking on boards that support the old Battlestar Galactica. They *really* bash the new one and yet they have intimate knowledge of everything that happens, both in front and behind the camera.
Posted by Ela (Member # 1365) on :
Liz comes back home for a visit, begins working at Lawrence's landscaping business.
One of her co-workers is a creepy stalker who keeps trying to harass her.
At point, going so far as to grab and molest her.
Anthony does the one appealing, likable thing he's done in the past decade by saving Liz.
He then spoils any warm reader feelings by using this moment to hit the emotionally vulnerable, in-shock Liz with an appeal to save him from his loveless marriage to the Wicked Witch of the We-errr, Therese.
Posted by Shanna (Member # 7900) on :
I liked when Elizabeth was teaching. It seemed so right for her. I hated when she went home.
Posted by JonHecht (Member # 9712) on :
It's not as good as it used to be, but I have been reading it since I was seven.
Posted by Eaquae Legit (Member # 3063) on :
The Comics Curmudgeon has been snarking about this for months. It's awesome.
Posted by plaid (Member # 2393) on :
Thanks for the update, PT.
Weird. Just went to the comic's website to read a few of the recent strips... and the characters actually blink. Very bizarre when you're not expecting it...
Posted by Puffy Treat (Member # 7210) on :
I see that Johnston's retconned Candace's background too, with this week's rabidly pro-Anthony strips.
According to previous "off panel" info in the various FBoFW collections, the reason why Candace got all her piercings, tattoos, and extreme hairstyles was because she had a sexually abusive father...she was trying to make herself as unattractive as possible to him. It added a sad, poignant undertone to those old high school strips where Liz would react with amusement and confusion to Candace's latest wild look.
Now?
Candace: "Oh, I was just being rebellious towards my Mom, LOL!"
Liz: *Patterson smirk*
Posted by rivka (Member # 4859) on :
quote:Originally posted by Jon Boy: I haven't read For Better or For Worse in years. Didn't it used to be a comic strip? It sounds like a bad soap opera now.
Yeah. Which is why I stopped reading.
quote:Originally posted by Shanna: I liked when Elizabeth was teaching. It seemed so right for her. I hated when she went home.
Agreed!
Posted by Samprimary (Member # 8561) on :
For Better Or For Worse has entered that nether-realm of comics, like Family Circus or Fred Basset. They simply do not exist when I read the comics page. I simply fail to notice their existence without a conscious attempt to find them -- my brain is discarding them automatically and my eyes pass right over them.
Posted by Tstorm (Member # 1871) on :
I still read it nearly every day. I've been reading it for so long, I'm going to hang around and see how it all ends up.
As for the soap-opera storyline...It doesn't bother me. For one thing, I have absolutely NO control over it; I can't influence what happens. It's entirely up to Lyn Johnson how the story comes out. Also, I almost think of the characters in that strip as human, they make mistakes, have strengths and weaknesses just like anyone else. I guess that's appealing to me, in some way. (I'm not a soap opera fan, for what it's worth.)
I guess I'm interested enough in the story that I want to hear the ending, for better or for worse. Posted by Noemon (Member # 1115) on :
I keep waiting for Michael to hear something scratching at the back door, go to check it out, and discover that Farley actually made it out of the stream years ago and has just been taking a very long nap.
Posted by Farmgirl (Member # 5567) on :
I only get to read it off and on (every few weeks) so I had picked up that Anthony had left Therese and was again dating Liz..
..but I know nothing of this "attempted rape to gain pity". How far back was that, and what happened? (I don't really want to read by through all of them....)
Posted by Noemon (Member # 1115) on :
It was in 2005. That strip that Ela linked to is close to the end of that storyline (or that chapter of that storyline). Puffy Treat sums up what happens in the post below Ela's link.
Posted by Puffy Treat (Member # 7210) on :
quote:Originally posted by Tstorm: Also, I almost think of the characters in that strip as human, they make mistakes, have strengths and weaknesses just like anyone else.
That used to be true. In fact, it used to be that even characters who were initially "bad" in their first appearances like Jeremy Jones or Mrs. Dingle would be revealed to have hidden vulnerable, human sides...the message was to never judge anyone too harshly. We don't know their full story. One-note characters tended to be used for only short sequences, dropped and never mentioned again.
Then came Michael's marriage to Deanna. Suddenly Deanna's mother (who had been portrayed as a pretty decent sort in her sporadic panel time before) was transformed into a loud, abrasive, pushy, thoughtless, bigoted harpy! And always directly put in comparison to quiet, loving, warm, thoughtful, saintly Elly Patterson.
Guess which of these characters is the fictional avatar of the strip's author?
From then on it became worse and worse...one-note, one-dimensional "baddie" characters began to populate the strip...always so that the a member of the Patterson clan could be lauded in contrast.
Or worse, Anthony, where it's more there's such an astonishing lack of traits to praise, so his ex-wife is made out to be the epitome of evil.
Posted by TomDavidson (Member # 124) on :
As a character, Anthony kind of fascinates me because he's so completely blank. He's never even had a hobby. He's aggressively dull; that's, like, his thing. Posted by Puffy Treat (Member # 7210) on :
Tom: This week revealed he has an extreme interest in 1980s vintage shorts.
Aagh. The "Therese was -evil-" storyline is continued today. Liz divulges to Candace that she somehow knows that Therese has two manipulative, emotional blackmailing parents who pressured her into going along with a lot of Anthony's wishes and goals despite her not sharing them in the slightest.
Is this a lead-up to some possible compassion for Therese?
Nope! It's just more proof that Therese "took Anthony for all he got!"
What did she get? Anthony has the house, the money, the unconditional love of all around him... Posted by TomDavidson (Member # 124) on :
I think Lynn is dancing around not being able to say in a family paper that Anthony is just astonishingly good in bed.
Posted by Puffy Treat (Member # 7210) on :
If Candace asks Liz "I'm not SERIOUS about him, I just promised him total lifetime commitment on Sunday" Patterson about that, I will love her forevermore.
Posted by Noemon (Member # 1115) on :
quote:Originally posted by TomDavidson: I think Lynn is dancing around not being able to say in a family paper that Anthony is just astonishingly good in bed.
::very nearly spat coffee all over his computer::
Posted by rivka (Member # 4859) on :
You should try to avoid that, Noem. Most computers aren't into that sort of thing.
Posted by Noemon (Member # 1115) on :
Tom should help me with that by being a little less funny.
Posted by TomDavidson (Member # 124) on :
It occurs to me that one of the biggest thematic problems with FBOFW right now, even more than the tone-deaf writing of Elizabeth, is the fact that no one in the Patterson family has a real job anymore. They don't do anything, so their lives lack any sort of narrative urgency.
Posted by Puffy Treat (Member # 7210) on :
Yeah. Come to think of it, the last "work" seen in the strip was Elly shaving fuzzballs off of old bedsheets.
Posted by erosomniac (Member # 6834) on :
I think part of the reason why I've never seen what the big deal about this strip is I've never consistently read it.
And, given how many freaking books there are and how much they cost, that's never going to happen now.
Posted by Javert Hugo (Member # 3980) on :
They're Canadian?
Posted by Puffy Treat (Member # 7210) on :
Yes. Have been since the strip's inception. Though it normally only comes up when there's a reference to "Remembrance Day" or paying things with a "cheque".
Posted by Primal Curve (Member # 3587) on :
I stopped reading when a lot of strips seemed to focus on the dog and his hilarious animal hijinx. At least Garfield has a good artist or twenty running things.
Posted by Puffy Treat (Member # 7210) on :
I can't get over just how petty and bratty this week's strips makes both Liz and Anthony seem.
"You know what cruel things that evil Therese did, Candace? She actually told him to dress in attractive clothing! And eat his food in a civilized manner! TSK! Doesn't she know that men are eternal 11 year olds, and it's up to us lady-folk to smile and approve of everything they do?"
Come to think of it, hasn't Elly been portrayed as giving clothing and table manner advice to Liz's Perfect Model of a Father and Husband for decades?
[ August 24, 2007, 05:20 PM: Message edited by: Puffy Treat ]
Posted by scholar (Member # 9232) on :
I feel bad for Therese. She didn't want the house and Anthony made her get one, she didn't want the kid, Anthony made her have one. Also, she was the one with the job and stuff. It seems like if anyone took anyone for all they were worth, it was anthony.
Posted by porcelain girl (Member # 1080) on :
This thread is hilarious. And I mean that in the best way. As for artists having the right to turn their work into what ever they want it to be: Yes and No. Of course they can do whatever they want, but that doesn't mean their decision will ring true.
Denny O'Neil once said in a documentary about comic books that when he got all this hate mail for taking away Wonder Woman's powers back in the day he realized that they were no longer just cranking out stories and art for entertainment; they had in essence become Keepers of our Folklore.
I thought that was pretty spot on. We can't help but become invested.
Posted by Puffy Treat (Member # 7210) on :
Yeah...see, back in the 80s-90s I loved this strip. Part of me still wants it to be good.
The other part screams: "KILL IT!"
I think the moment I came to despise the modern direction of the strip truly erupted during the trial for Liz's would-be rapist. Liz has just decided to move home...she broke the heart of her boyfriend and the entire community she had taught at.
Her parents are babbling away at how Anthony was the most resplendent man of perfection at the trial, his every word an apple of gold.
Liz whimpers that she has a long-distance boyfriend, Paul the police officer.
Elly: "Where was he when you needed him?"
Liz: *shocked look of total revelation*
Um...he's where Liz -abandoned- him.
Posted by Paul Goldner (Member # 1910) on :
*sigh*
You know, I feel like that scene is about to play out in my life :-/
Posted by TomDavidson (Member # 124) on :
Avoid garden stores, then.
Posted by Sterling (Member # 8096) on :
The last time (aside from Hatrack) that anyone pointed out FBoFW to me was to note that it had gone from trying to produce actual "punch" lines to settling for sub-Hallmark "awwwww" lines.
(Curse you, April! Curse youuuuu!...)
Ah, the things I don't miss about newspapers.
Posted by Puffy Treat (Member # 7210) on :
And with today's strip, the anti-Therese tour is (hopefully) over.
Candace: "So why are you saying it's Therese's fault for having a kid and buying a house she never wanted, just because Anthony and her parents kept guilt-tripping her?"
Liz: "Huh? Oh, no! That was all HER FAULT! Because after flawless Anthony pressured Therese into having a baby she told him from the start she never wanted, she got DEPRESSED for some stupid reason! Not that Anthony could possibly comfort her, you know how much attention babies demand. Then that HEARTLESS WITCH began to spend all her time at work instead of at home, making life easier for Anthony! I think it was at the point that Anthony saved me from a rapist then poured out his poor broken heart to me about how AWFUL Therese is and how he wanted me to put my life on hold while he figured out a way to dump the CRUEL WOMAN. Of course, the SOULLESS WRETCH was having an AFFAIR! *cackles* Anthony never had to do a thing to get rid of her, she left him!"
Candace: *under her breath* "Gee, I wonder why."
Liz: "My poor sweet Anthonykins. She left him with DEBT! Cruel witch."
Candace: "And, he's still obsessed with you like he's been obsessed for the past five or six years, right? Not like that could have wrecked his marriage?"
Liz: *beaming earnestly* "He does nothing but moap and moon between dates with me. Isn't it CUTE?"
[ August 26, 2007, 09:58 AM: Message edited by: Puffy Treat ]
Posted by Noemon (Member # 1115) on :
Postpartum depression is such a character flaw! I don't know why Anthony didn't dump her on the spot!
Posted by guinevererobin (Member # 10753) on :
Good god. Because of ya'll, I just read the last week's worth of strips. I want my five minutes back....
"She went back to WORK! She threw him away!"
Whaaaat?
Posted by Shigosei (Member # 3831) on :
Okay, so I'm not a big enough fan of the strip to really care that much -- I'm vaguely aware of who Anthony is, and it doesn't matter to me who gets together with whom. However, I was pretty upset when I read today's and it looked like Therese was being blamed for being depressed after having the baby. Just what we need, more implications that mental disorders are the fault of the person suffering from them. If Anthony knew she was depressed, why didn't he encourage her to seek medical attention?
Posted by TomDavidson (Member # 124) on :
I think it's pretty obvious that Anthony was hoping she would commit suicide. He'd be a lot more attractive to Liz as a widower, after all -- if only because he'd have an excuse to be mopey.
Posted by steven (Member # 8099) on :
Tom, you're bringing the funny lately. Who's writing your jokes? Posted by Teshi (Member # 5024) on :
I'm unfamiliar with the huge saga in this comic but it's very clear to me that the author of the comic values homey, homegrown vegetable, rural, family-focused lifestyles over everything else.
Elizabeth's goals as a person are to "marry someone like Dad"- someone loyal, trustworthy and steady. I'm presuming from the earlier strips that this Anthony character wants a similar homey, familiar, steady relationship.
Therese is sophisticated, a city woman, a single child (and therefore without the family background of the other characters). She takes solace in her work, not in her family (she went back to work after her child was born). She "makes" Anthony grow a moustache not to make him 'look more grown up' but to make him more like the sophisticated man she intended to marry.
I'm not sure the author of the comic intended to judge a Therese-style lifestyle but through Elizabeth, she has.
Posted by Megan (Member # 5290) on :
I don't know; I think, given the wording she chose to describe Therese's actions, that the author very much intended to judge the type of lifestyle Therese wanted. The strip has always been a bit preachy.
Posted by Teshi (Member # 5024) on :
Oh well in that case... she has. Thereses are out, Elizabeths are in.
Posted by TomDavidson (Member # 124) on :
Unless the lesson is: if you give up your heroic boyfriends and move away from your rewarding job helping underprivileged youth to live with your parents and dish with your childhood friends, you might just be able to catch the schlub you dumped in high school on the rebound from his first disastrous marriage.
Posted by Puffy Treat (Member # 7210) on :
As a Mormon, I'm the very last person to be against marriage, children, and wholesome values.
Nevertheless: Not everyone has a childhood sweetheart. And even if they do, more often than not such a person is not their destined one-true-love.
Anthony is written as a whiny, selfish, passive-aggressive load who was never devoted to Therese or his marriage the way Therese obviously wanted.
Therese is written as bending over backwards to make him happy, only for him to STILL obsess over his childhood squeeze.
Liz gave up a rewarding job and alienated a real catch of a potential husband because she felt homesick. Uh-huh. Pull the other one.
Lynn, you've tied your carefully created world into a big, hideous knot in order to bring this match about. Was it really worth it?
No, never mind...I know you're too busy planning how many MORE layers of makeup you'll draw on Liz for the wedding...and how you'll TRY to make Anthony not look like a droopy-faced Howdy Doody doll. Posted by Synesthesia (Member # 4774) on :
Dang, I haven't read this in centuries, but all of this makes me groan so much. Especially if she's marrying a wuss...
I think I'll stick with good ole C and H. C and H doesn't have this sort of angst. Just dinosaurs, tigers, snowmen and Calvinball. I wonder what that says about my maturity level.
Posted by TomDavidson (Member # 124) on :
It says you were canceled about ten years ago. Posted by Puffy Treat (Member # 7210) on :
Twelve long, Watterson-less years. Posted by Joldo (Member # 6991) on :
Yes, lamezoidal out the wazoo.
Posted by Synesthesia (Member # 4774) on :
Eeeee. I just read the latest one... Why would you want a guy with such emotional baggage?
I wouldn't...
It's not that I'm expecting a guy not to have problems. It's just nice if a guy deals with the problems with clarity and very little blame
that doesn't make me want to read more, I hate too much drama.
Posted by rivka (Member # 4859) on :
quote:Originally posted by Puffy Treat: And with today's strip, the anti-Therese tour is (hopefully) over.
Candace: "So why are you saying it's Therese's fault for having a kid and buying a house she never wanted, just because Anthony and her parents kept guilt-tripping her?"
Liz: "Huh? Oh, no! That was all HER FAULT! Because after flawless Anthony pressured Therese into having a baby she told him from the start she never wanted, she got DEPRESSED for some stupid reason! Not that Anthony could possibly comfort her, you know how much attention babies demand. Then that HEARTLESS WITCH began to spend all her time at work instead of at home, making life easier for Anthony! I think it was at the point that Anthony saved me from a rapist then poured out his pour broken heart to me about how AWFUL Therese is and how he wanted me to put my life on hold while he figured out a way to dump the CRUEL WOMAN. Of course, the SOULLESS WRETCH was having an AFFAIR! *cackles* Anthony never had to do a thing to get rid of her, she left him!"
Candace: *under her breath* "Gee, I wonder why."
Liz: "My poor sweet Anthonykins. She left him with DEBT! Cruel witch."
Candace: "And, he's still obsessed with you like he's been obsessed for the past five or six years, right? Not like that could have wrecked his marriage?"
Liz: *beaming earnestly* "He does nothing but moap and moon between dates with me. Isn't it CUTE?"
I am enjoying your translations way more than the strips. Posted by Puffy Treat (Member # 7210) on :
Others online have pointed out that every single statement by Liz this week directly contradicts the previous appearances of Therese.
1. Anthony was first portrayed having the mustache before he had even met Therese.
2. Anthony also took sole credit for pressuring Therese into having a baby, plus admitted he'd promised he'd be the sole caregiver for it.
3. Therese and Anthony bought the house some months after Francoise was born, not the other way around.
4. The "Dance Contests" thing doesn't fit. The one time we've seen Anthony and Therese dance before this, a point was made how awkward and terrible they are compared to the dazzling Saint Liz.
5. Likewise the "artistic and sophisticated" thing doesn't fit. In previous Therese arcs, a point was made at how low class and crude she was compared to Liz. She even raffled off holding her baby at her baby shower!
6. The mysterious "debt" mentioned here has never been referred to before. In fact, Therese and Anthony were portrayed as being rather affluent.
7. Perhaps the biggest retcon of all: In every previous Therese appearance over the past 5-6 years the main reason her marriage to Anthony was shown to be in trouble was his obvious, blatant continued feelings for Liz. He did not try to hide them, and Therese was justifiably threatened and scared of them.
8. Someone else just reminded me that ANTHONY was the one who Lynn originally portrayed as requesting a divorce. Not Therese. But, that, like Anthony's emotional cheating ("I have no HOOOOOOOME!") has apparently been retconed away.
9. Francoise is only two years old, but recent strips portray her looking like she's 4-5.
Would it be so painful to have a sequence of strips where Anthony realizes he's a selfish screw-up? Where Liz realizes she botched the Paul situation?
Where they both realize they're flawed individuals who've found solace in each other, not paragons of virtue who've been wronged?
Edit: Added another inconsistency.
[ August 26, 2007, 07:52 PM: Message edited by: Puffy Treat ]
Posted by Teshi (Member # 5024) on :
quote:5. Likewise the "artistic and sophisticated" thing doesn't fit. In previous Therese arcs, a point was made at how low class and crude she was compared to Liz. She even raffled off holding her baby at her baby shower!
Hm. Well, like I said, I'm unfamiliar with the strip, I was just going from what I read. You sound much better read!
Posted by Puffy Treat (Member # 7210) on :
I only know this because other online FBoFW commentators have cracked open the post-2000 strip collections and actually looked up to see if Liz's version of history fit Johnston's past arcs. Posted by rivka (Member # 4859) on :
quote:Originally posted by Puffy Treat: 1. Anthony was first portrayed having the mustache before he had even met Therese.
I thought I remembered that! But I haven't been consistently following the strip for a while, and figured I was misremembering. Hah!
Posted by plaid (Member # 2393) on :
The bit about the strip's characters getting frozen as they are after this fall is kinda creepy. I'm imagining Liz getting married to Anthony, then having feelings of unease and then horror as she realizes what Lynn Johnston has been doing to her... and then her memory gets wiped, and she has this empty smile stuck on her face for all the years to come.
(Yeah, I've been reading a lot of Neil Gaiman lately.)
Posted by Olivet (Member # 1104) on :
HA! Me, too, plaid (reading Neil Gaiman, that is). I've been trying to think of it rather charitably, though. Like, maybe Lynn had a stroke and just doesn't want to publicize her new brain injury...
Posted by Shanna (Member # 7900) on :
quote:Would it be so painful to have a sequence of strips where Anthony realizes he's a selfish screw-up? Where Liz realizes she botched the Paul situation?
Where they both realize they're flawed individuals who've found solace in each other, not paragons of virtue who've been wronged?
I really wish that the something like this would happen. I grew up with Liz and its hard to see her making all these bad choices but at the very least it would be good to see her recognize her own mistakes and flaws.
And the "no more aging" thing is incredibly creepy. And boring. (I'm also in the currently-reading-Gaiman Club. "Smoke and Mirrors" yay!)
Posted by Synesthesia (Member # 4774) on :
I just finished Ananzi's Boys so I know where that comes from.
Posted by plaid (Member # 2393) on :
Also just read "Smoke and Mirrors" Posted by Puffy Treat (Member # 7210) on :
The more I think about it, the image of Therese sobbing her heart out while the particularly googly-eyed, clueless-looking Anthony walks away, holding the only thing he ever wanted from Therese...is the most heart-breaking, cruel thing I've ever seen in a FBoFW strip.
Liz (and her author) both come off as the truly heartless ones.
Lynn, it's obvious you've been planning this story for almost a decade. But it didn't work. And all the retconning in the world isn't going to change the fact that your "good" characters have been portrayed doing and saying some incredibly bad, lousy, despicable things.
Posted by Noemon (Member # 1115) on :
quote:Originally posted by Puffy Treat: The more I think about it, the image of Therese sobbing her heart out while the particularly googly-eyed, clueless-looking Anthony walks away, holding the only thing he ever wanted from Therese...is the most heart-breaking, cruel thing I've ever seen in a FBoFW strip.
Well, in fairness, that wasn't what the image looked like to me. My interpretation of that panel (found in this strip for those interested in having a look) was that he was standing, holding the baby, looking concerned and scared as Therese wept in the background.
Posted by Puffy Treat (Member # 7210) on :
Possibly. But looking at the timing of events in the strip, this panel occurs shortly before Anthony's infamous 'save Liz from an attacker then give her the 'I have no HOME, WAIT FOR ME!" speech'. So, I'm judging it with biased eyes. Posted by rivka (Member # 4859) on :
quote:Originally posted by Noemon: My interpretation of that panel was that he was standing, holding the baby, looking concerned and scared as Therese wept in the background.
I agree.
I still think that it doesn't paint a great picture of Anthony, who instead of being an adult and trying to get his wife help, sought solace in the arms of another woman. Oh, and one who had just been almost raped, to boot.
Posted by Puffy Treat (Member # 7210) on :
Plus, lest we forget, Therese had the baby (in the original story) because Anthony begged and begged her to...promising to take total care of it.
Then he whines to Liz about how Therese isn't helping out, thus the marriage is OVER.
Maybe that's another reason why Therese spent so much time at work.
Posted by Ela (Member # 1365) on :
quote:Originally posted by rivka:
quote:Originally posted by Noemon: My interpretation of that panel was that he was standing, holding the baby, looking concerned and scared as Therese wept in the background.
I agree.
I still think that it doesn't paint a great picture of Anthony, who instead of being an adult and trying to get his wife help, sought solace in the arms of another woman. Oh, and one who had just been almost raped, to boot.
I don't know, he looks kind of clueless to me.
Posted by rivka (Member # 4859) on :
I would expect just about any man to look clueless when faced with a crying wife. I worry less about what he looked like, and more about what he did. And didn't do.
Posted by Ela (Member # 1365) on :
Agreed.
****
I just read the descriptions of all the characters on the website. I'm not sure why, and I'm kind of sorry I did. They are sound too perfect in their descriptions - and it just ain't true.
Posted by Omega M. (Member # 7924) on :
quote:Originally posted by Samprimary:
For Better Or For Worse has entered that nether-realm of comics, like Family Circus or Fred Basset. They simply do not exist when I read the comics page. I simply fail to notice their existence without a conscious attempt to find them -- my brain is discarding them automatically and my eyes pass right over them.
I read Fred Basset, even though it's never that funny. Someone I work with has a basset hound, and I wonder if it acts like Fred.
There was one strip recently that amused me, though probably unintentionally. The wife says to the husband and Fred, "How was your walk over the heath?" The husband replies, "Splendid! Fred nearly caught a rabbit!" and the strip goes from there. But are you really proud of your dog for almost catching (which I assume means killing) a rabbit? And can bassets run anywhere nearly as fast as rabbits? Maybe the rabbit really easily outran Fred and the husband is trying to make Fred feel better?
Posted by Sterling (Member # 8096) on :
Anyone else think this topic is funnier than FBoFW itself has been in some time?... Posted by Puffy Treat (Member # 7210) on :
This Sunday's strip was actually sort of cute. If I didn't feel the Patterson family has evolved into a bunch of sanctimonious, controlling, selfish, gossiping hypocrites, I'd have chuckled.
Hoo boy, paraphrased comment from today's blog: "It doesn't matter if Anthony still had feelings for Elizabeth and pressured Therese into having a child she did not want. It was her decision to marry him, her decision to have the baby. So it's still her fault, stop bashing St. Anthony the Innocent and Pure!"
Posted by mr_porteiro_head (Member # 4644) on :
I know four people named Fred Bassett.
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Posted by rivka (Member # 4859) on :
Somehow, I'm not surprised.
Posted by Omega M. (Member # 7924) on :
In the strip linked to above, Anthony looks much older than Elizabeth. Is that so?
Posted by Noemon (Member # 1115) on :
No. They were in school together.
Posted by breyerchic04 (Member # 6423) on :
He didn't look older until Therese wanted him to grow a mustache so he didn't look twelve.
Posted by Puffy Treat (Member # 7210) on :
That's Lynn's retcon, anyway. Originally, he grew the mustache a couple of years before he even met Therese.
(I suspect the incredibly negative reader reaction to the 'stache may have motivated her into making it "Therese's fault", a character she's wanted readers to see as "bad" from the very start.)
Posted by Dobbie (Member # 3881) on :
quote:Originally posted by mr_porteiro_head: I know four people named Fred Bassett.
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