Now forgive me if this sounds extreme, but this shit offends my artistic sensibilities. Lynn's early work--Jules Feiffer-influenced, in my opinion--is some of the charmingest comic art around from the late 70's* that I could think of, which may mean that it's some of the charmingest comic art around, period. Look at its contemporaries, for Christ's sake. Cathy, Garfield, Andy Capp? Fred fuckin' Basset? The fact that this strip was in the paper I think was probably if not a big deal at the time it first appeared, at least a perhaps noticeably different deal...particularly as time passed and it became apparent that the characters were aging at a real-world rate. (Garfield's birthdays notwithstanding.)
I mean sure it's cutesy at times, but the shit is not exactly Full House either. I would call it the My So-Called Life of the comics page, in fact, if MSCL had gone on for 30 years and started when Angela was a baby and each episode was 45 seconds long. It too is about a middle-class family doing regular old shit, involving children, drawn in what can only be described as a hippie-ish style of art. Which brings me to the point-- I am really, really glad that Lynn ceased and desisted with the redrawing bullshit that was going on. I'm not sure whether that was to soften the blow with our less web-savvy fellow FBFW fans or what, but I for one found it to be a bad idea. I'm all for the 'Michael's Reminiscences' or whatever they might be called that preface these reruns, now that they're being printed with the original art. Even if they might be a little hokey sometimes, hey, it's FBFW, right? Even MSCL could be a little hokey sometimes.
But, to quote the judge in Philedelphia, "Let's see where this is going." Maybe eventually the reminiscences will not even be there and we'll have bona fide reruns-- and if they were done sequentially, I wouldn't mind that one bit. I have a suspicion that book-sales-related concerns may make that not happen and they'll do it in the randomer style that they use on the Time Travel section of fborfw.com, though. And I guess that would also be cool with me, although I never imagined this strip going that route when I thought about the possibility of it ending.
Whatever happens, let's not forget that we've got one final romance to wrap up before "time" "stops" or whatever, and evidently some Sunday newness to look forward to:
ya still got it, Lynn baby! Who needs dia-log... that strip 'leaves' me in stitches! (A one-two pun-ch for my gal Laura over at fbfw.com!)*I know that strip's from 1981, but I think fbfw started in like '79 right?
4 comments:
You know what kind of rankles? After the posting that initially revealed the upcoiming stoppage of time, so-called, I sent an email to the gang over at FBFW.com, requesting a little more information. And received no response!! Lynn, your impassioned and loyal fans are in a deeply fragile emotional state right now, and you need to reach out to them, not to draw back the loving hands which have cradled them for so many years.
wow. um, is baby blues commenting on equal rights for the ladies today??
Isn't Lynn herself is in somewhat of an emotionally fragile state right now?
You might enjoy this Mr. Media podcast interview with cartoonist Jules Feiffer, who talks about the new collection of his comic strips from the Village Voice, getting his start with Will Eisner on The Spirit, his plays (Little Murders), his movies (Carnal Knowledge, Popeye), the Disney musical adaptation of The Man in the Ceiling, and his forthcoming memoirs.
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