Horror in Foobville

[jamesq]

For the best take on why this is bad, read this.

In other news, who would have thought that Garfield would be so much more funny and terrifying without Garfield.

Comments

Re: I disagree that it's "bad"

[http://users.livejournal.com/-grog-/]

but I'd like to believe your circumstances didn't include pressuring someone who'd made it abundantly clear before the marriage that she didn't want children into having a baby.

Ummm...no my past doesn't include that. However, your take on Anthony's marriage story is a bit different than what I recall - I got a very different read of that storyline, not that it matters - I'm not about to squabble over trivia at the moment - it's not like I have a shelf full of FOBFW books to refer to...

...it doesn't invalidate the general point that we always see the dorky-looking guy get the good-looking girl.

Now, as a criticism of the storyline, I accept the critique. However, on the other hand, I also think that criticism loses sight of the semi-biographical nature of the strip in the first place.

I don't think comparing Cathy with FOBFW is a good comparison - Cathy is more about the irony of being single where FOBFW is a rather different genre - I've always seen it as a blend between a soap-style story and Blondie.

People don't see this as character growth because it does have a recycled feel to it,

Yes, but again, this complaint misses the fundamental reality of Johnson's stories. A therapist I know once commented that "we often repeat the scripts of our parents" - and it's true in so many dimensions. From where I sit, Lynne Johnson has reflected that reality in a very human sort of way. (It may be entirely accidental, but that's how I read it)

I do think it's time for Johnson to "hang up her pen" so to speak - FOBFW has run its course, and although I'll miss the characters and the little window into their lives, I do think it's time to let it fade now.