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is anyone else sad about For Better or For Worse ending?  

post #1 of 20
8/30/08 at 5:18am
Thread Starter 
I've been following this cartoon since I was a child. It's unique because the characters age and grow and change in realtime. It's just such a nice cartoon, thoughtful and sometimes thought-provoking, and maybe even just a little bit like a soap but without the melodrama. Just people living. But it's over, and I'm so sad. Anyone else?

www.fbofw.com
post #2 of 20
8/30/08 at 5:31am
Awww, I just read the last strip. I didn't know it was ending. Wow.
post #3 of 20
8/30/08 at 5:52am
Thread Starter 
Well, she's starting again from the beginning, sort of enhancing some of the old strips etc. But the Elizabeth/Anthony, Mike/Deanna, Iris/Grandpa storylines are all done, and the old ones ARE really dated, I don't think they'll play well now.
post #4 of 20
8/30/08 at 9:09am
I'm sad. My mother said that strip was about her life. I was born about the time Micheal was, and my brother was born about the time Elizabeth was. And Micheal/Deanna got married about the time DH and I did and my brother is getting married in the next few months. I'll have to call and console her this morning.

ETA. and what's wrong with me? The first thing I did after seeing that the last strip ran was to come here and see if anyone else was posting about it. MDC has taken over my mind.
post #5 of 20
8/30/08 at 9:12am
I think it's stupid to go back and "redo" the strips from her early days. Either continue the story or quit. but the readers who are interested in the lives of the kids now (as grown ups) aren't necessarily going to want to start reading about babies. I know I don't.


And I wonder if today's strip was a little (or not so little) dig at her husband who left her recently for another woman.
post #6 of 20
8/30/08 at 10:11am
I wonder about the husband dig too. Sure seems like it to me!
post #7 of 20
8/30/08 at 4:36pm
Good riddance.

It jumped the shark when the dog died.

Watching the whole thing turn into complete and sentimental glurge made me happy about its impending demise. I was a bigger fan of the earlier strips, which had some edge. John kept spanking Michael for being a kid, Elly would threaten him with spending all day in his bedroom without eating for talking back (and then feed him anyway, while John pointed out that would send the wrong message)... and there were some genuinely touching moments like John sitting around waiting for them to come back, in a bomb site of a house saying he could do anything right now, but what he'd really like is to have them back.

John swore at Elly and called her stupid for messing up dental assisting --- we got a real peek into why Lynn quietly went into her little fantasy world.

The Great Wedding started with a proposal that sounded like a business merger "you know, we've been friends a long time, and I think we'd be great partners. Feel like getting married?" OH YOU SILVER TONGUED CHARMER - and threw away several awesome potential storylines of Liz finding a new life in that First Nations area she was in. The about-face in having her return home to marry the boring guy next door turned the First Nations into that whole cardboard Dances With Wolves shaman trip. For the record, this boring pornstached boy next door actually built a holding pen in his basement for his child, so she could sit in a three by four foot area with a couple of toys while he worked, undistracted. I'm resonably sure CPS would raise an eyebrow.

The strip had a distuuuuuurbing subtext that female sexuality was something shameful, unless in the confines of a boring suburban marriage. And Michael completely ignoring his children, who are a hassle and a disruption to him churning out Great Canadian Glurge Novel after Great Canadian Glurge Novel was thoroughly depressing.

And of course, the last day's strip of Iris the Punching Bag sludging through 24 hour care of a stroke-ridden man even though she herself is in her 80s, dutifully saying that it's an obligation and that's just what women do.... Gods.
Women as Happy Worker Bee Drones.

She's going to revamp the entire story - go back and "mulligan" the earlier stuff into the sentimental, rose-coloured glurge she later became famous for. God help us all.
post #8 of 20
8/30/08 at 4:48pm
I'm sad about it ending.
post #9 of 20
8/30/08 at 5:30pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by fallriverfox View Post
ETA. and what's wrong with me? The first thing I did after seeing that the last strip ran was to come here and see if anyone else was posting about it. MDC has taken over my mind.
That's why I logged onto MDC today, as well. We've had some long, in-depth (and heated!) discussions about FBOFW here!

I'm not sad, but it's sort of momentous. I stopped reading regularly a few years go. My news paper won't be carrying the new version.

EvilOne, how nice to meet you! Many people make their first post over at the Pleased to Meet You forum. Usually they share about their kids or their parenting philosophies. Most users don't make a diatribe against a comic strip their first post.
post #10 of 20
8/30/08 at 7:42pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by journeymom View Post
My news paper won't be carrying the new version.
Well, it's hard to get them to blink in print.
post #11 of 20
8/30/08 at 7:52pm
I teared up a bit. Love the strip- I grew up w/michael and elizabeth.
post #12 of 20
8/30/08 at 8:10pm
I loved that strip when I was in high school and college. I loved watching them all grow up. Unlike my other favorite-Brenda Starr.
post #13 of 20
8/30/08 at 8:46pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by EvilOne View Post
And of course, the last day's strip of Iris the Punching Bag sludging through 24 hour care of a stroke-ridden man even though she herself is in her 80s, dutifully saying that it's an obligation and that's just what women do.... Gods.
Women as Happy Worker Bee Drones.
I don't find that storyline sexist at all. DH did that for me and our children after my last c-section and the death of our son (he was stillborn). If I end up in the kind of shape that "Grandpa Jim" is in, he'd take every bit as good care of me as Iris is in the comic. It's not about sexism - it's about commitment and partnership, and that's what I'd expect from a strip titled "For Better or For Worse".

I also don't get the hostility about Liz's choice to marry Anthony. People who go off and do exciting things in their youth aren't obligated to continue doing those things, to suit the gender-political agenda of other people...be they cartoon characters or not. However, I find the discussions about Liz and Anthony that I've read online absolutely depressing, anyway.

I've been married twice, and neither of my marriages started out with proposals from a "silver tongued charmer", and I really don't see what that has to do with choosing a life partner, anyway. My ex might have appealed to the pro-Warren contingent, but I personally enjoy having someone I can count on in my corner.
post #14 of 20
8/30/08 at 11:59pm
i loved it and I'll miss it....
post #15 of 20
8/31/08 at 4:01pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by flminivanmama View Post
i loved it and I'll miss it....
Me too.
post #16 of 20
8/31/08 at 4:23pm
I grew up with For Better or Worse ... so this was me when I read the last strip today: And then I called my mother.
post #17 of 20
9/1/08 at 3:04am
I'm very sad. I have followed it since I was a child.



I think Lynn should've made it last at least 1 more year, so we could have seen Elizabeth have a baby.

Quote:
I think it's stupid to go back and "redo" the strips from her early days. Either continue the story or quit. but the readers who are interested in the lives of the kids now (as grown ups) aren't necessarily going to want to start reading about babies. I know I don't.
I agree. It is confusing and I don't really "get" what is going to happen or how it is going to play out. I'm a little annoyed by the whole idea of redrawing.
post #18 of 20
9/3/08 at 11:03pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by MilkTrance View Post



I agree. It is confusing and I don't really "get" what is going to happen or how it is going to play out. I'm a little annoyed by the whole idea of redrawing.
If you read articles about Lynn, you'll find out that she intended to end the strip a year(?) or so ago and retire. But her husband left her for another woman, and she's been trying to redefine her life plans. She didn't want the pressure of continuing on with a 365 day/year job, but she also wasn't ready to quit. So she's 'enhancing' old strips and storylines as a compromise. I'm not impressed with the idea either.
post #19 of 20
9/3/08 at 11:31pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by flminivanmama View Post
i loved it and I'll miss it....
:

sniff...

-Angela
post #20 of 20
9/3/08 at 11:54pm
There's a great interview with Lynn in this weeks Mcleans magazine. She talks about her divorce, redrawing the comic etc.

I'm gonna miss it too . . .
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Mothering › Forums › Natural Family Living › Books, Music and Other Media › is anyone else sad about For Better or For Worse ending?