You probably didn’t miss any. It was pretty much just a quiet surrender to the obvious inevitability of it all. You can almost imagine them both thinking, “She Who Must Be Feared is going to make us do this no matter what…there’s nothing we can do to escape it…might as well give in…”
Personally what bugs me about FBOFW is that the young adults all act like middle-aged drudges. They don’t resemble real 20-somethings in any way whatsoever – they don’t talk like young people, they don’t dress like young people, they don’t react like young people. Anthony is the worst of the lot, which is probably why he is the most hated, but all of them are like that to one degree or another.
I used to enjoy the strip back when the kids were little. Back then it seemed like a really well-observed slice of family life. But ever since Michael became an adult it’s become more and more disconnected from reality. It was never really a laugh-out-loud strip. The humor was always more of the “oh, yeah, that’s sooo true” variety. Once a strip like that loses touch with the real world, it’s doomed.
I think I have entered an alternate universe where Lynn Johnston (thanks for the spelling correction) is The Evil Overlord.
Jeez. It’s a story. It’s - HER - story. I suppose she might like to know that so many fans feel this ownership and all, but goodness me.
I don’t read it much any more because I find it boring. So when it’s gone, I won’t miss it. Now if only someone would nuke Rex Morgan, MD, and shoot whoever it is that draws that Rose is Rose thing . . . .
I’m shocked, shocked I say that this many people actually read FBOFW. Seriously.
And care deeply about the gender roles portrayed therein - and can cite extensive examples culled from years of following the comic.
Hmmm…this almost sounds like a description of how my wife and I got married. After living together for a few years, initially more for reasons of convenience rather than romance (we both needed to find a new place to live and a friend’s apartment was becoming available because she was moving in with her boyfriend, and between the two of us we could afford the rent) she said that she wasn’t sure she wanted to spend Easter with my family because she felt like “an outsider”. Somehow the ensuing conversation led to us planning a wedding, which we announced to my family at Easter. I never did propose to her until we were literally at the foot of the alter (“Hey, if you’re not doing anything do you want to get married?” - I always said later that I figured there was a good chance she’d say yes then). We were together twenty years before she died, so I guess something went right.
Still, I agree that this looks more like a corporate merger than a marriage.
Would y’all please quit talking about Farley?
I’m at work over here.
It is, indeed, “her” story. I think the crux of the complaints is, her story sucks.
Actually, the crux of the complaint is that at one time, her story did NOT suck. At one time, her story was a story with heart and truth and love behind it. Up until about three or four years ago, that is. Then things started to get weird…everything the Patterson kids did was another step spiralling them back to their childhood, basically beckoning them back to Toronturbia to replace their parents (in Michael’s case, in his parents’ very house) and fulfill the fondest wishes of Elly for both of them. No more independent Liz the frontier teacher giving her best effort to educate First Nations children. She has to marry her high school sweetheart and become a suburban housewife like Elly was! Michael married one of his KINDERGARTEN classmates! April…god knows. Every time she tries to be an individual, or to understandably lament being heaved up out of first her own room, then her own house, so that other, more important family members can have them, she’s basically told to quit whining and move over. Elly and John practically ignore April…she’s been doing more “bad” stuff just to be noticed. She almost slept with Gerald, for one.
It used to be a GOOD strip. That’s why it’s utter horribleness is being bemoaned so badly now.
Heh. Now I’m imagining Ziggy or Jason Fox turning in reaction to a FBOFW character tapping on the border of the comic panel and whispering “help us, please, help us escape…”
I’m actually surprised Lio hasn’t done that yet, given his penchant for breaking all four panel walls…
The ultimate dis, I thought, was Christmas dinner, when Deanna told her, while lifting the food, that “I hope you don’t mind, but I need you to sit at the kids’ table.” In the kitchen. Away from the rest of the family. Supervising three kids, one of whom she didn’t know, two of whom are holy terrors.
Deanna (and Mike, of course) was in April’s room for six months last year, with no exit strategy for a long time, until they decided to take over the house. And as far as I know, neither of them ever said “Thank you” or “I appreciate it” or “I know this is hard for you.” The extent of the discussion was “Please please PLEASE stay and be a nanny for our kids!” And afterwards, “Oh by the way, you’ll be babysitting tonight, for my adults-only dinner party.” April should have flatly refused. And if Deanna didn’t like it, April could have gone back down the street to the new house. It was supposed to be no huge deal on account of the house was only down the street, after all.
The guy who writes the Comics Curmudgeon doesn’t like the way things are turning out, either.
And this Zits response is just funny.
Man, that reminds me of the dada Garfield strip that xkcd posted. Sigh, another one that used to be at least worth reading. I had actually forgotten that until I went back through some old comics and saw what Jim Davis used to try to do.
These days, the only laughs you’re going to get are through the Garfield randomizer.
Love this post. I keep hearing Chris de Burg singing softly, “No borderline…no borderline…”.