Episode 235

Episode 235 is now up - and in it I take an easy swipe at a comic strip that could crush me like a bug.

For those of you who don't follow it, For Better or For Worse used to be an amazingly insightful, well written, well illustrated comic. Over the past few years, though, it's really gone downhill. The characters have been reduced to stereotypes, one-note-wonders who have lost all touch with current events and "the real world" they used to inhabit. The plot lines have gone from caring to ham-fisted angst fests. And, worst of all, the subtle commentary has been replaced with dialog that can only be described as "preachy".

Then word came down that the strip was ending. Or so we thought.

Lynn Johnston (the strip's creator, now head-of-workshop-that-makes-the-strip-for-her) decided on a unique way end end her strip, yet still retain her space on the comic's page. Rather than retire (like Watterson) or even semi-retire to Sundays like Foxtrot's Amend, Lynn has decided to go "hybrid."

Up until now the characters in FBoFW have aged in close to "real time". In the hybrid they enter the more common "ageless universe" where the characters never change from week to week. Now they will just "think back" over their lives, opening the door for Lynn-n-co to republish strips from their archives with minor editing and art tweaks.

Many people feel that LnC should end the strip while she has some dignity left - and make room for new talent on the comic's page. Apparently, Whiskey is one of them.

Personally, I still read FBoFW every day. I don't enjoy it. But I read it because I like to have stuff to bitch about that, in the long run, doesn't really have any impact on my life at all.

I'm strange like that.