Okay okay I know - it's a collection of cartoon strips. But Lynn Johnston's strip is one I have read faithfully for almost twenty years. Home Sweat Home is the 35th collection.
Johnston is a Canadian cartoonist. The strip has followed the lives of the Patterson family. Their lives actually progress in real time. Johnston bases many strips on that of her actual family. Elly and John and their family have become a part of many family's days. The strip is not always after a quick gag or joke. Instead it deals with the everyday problems of life with a view to finding the lighter side. That is not to say that more difficult topics have not been dealt with. The coming out of one character who is gay caused many newspapers to boycott the publication of Johnston's cartoon. However For Better or Worse is carried by over 2000 newspapers around the world!
Sadly that is coming to an end. After 30 years, Johnston is looking to retire. In 2008 she has been blending past strips with new panels and will wind up existing story lines in the near future.
You can always follow the daily strip online here. Or go back to 2003 online and read forward to present day.
I've had fun over the years following the lives of the Pattersons and their family and friends. Many of the situations rang so true to life, from the death of a beloved pet to a child heading off to University.
This reader will mourn the demise of this comic strip.
I LOVE this comic strip too!! It's really the only one I follow these days and now you tell me it's going to end!?? arggghh!! I don't know what I will do!! I have read this for YEARS..I will have to see if I can find this book..For Better or Worse makes me smile, laugh and cry with the family as their lives go by..Thanks for talking about it! From one fan to another!!
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