It's hard to believe we've known and loved the Pattersons for two decades. This lively family-Elly and John and their kids, Michael, Elizabeth, and April-has grown and changed, yet always retained its heartwarming combination of wit and wisdom. Through the years, this extraordinary clan has become like treasured relatives to millions of devoted fans. In Behind the Lines-the new collection that celebrates the strip's 20-year anniversary-For Better or For Worse creator Lynn Johnston takes us on a trip down memory lane, looking back over some of the strip's most memorable moments: Farley's heroics and death. Elly's concerns about aging. Michael's early days at college. Presented as a scrapbook, Behind the Lines includes a chapter for Elly, John, Michael, Elizabeth, and April, highlighting formative times in their lives. Johnston's commentary adds a behind-the-scenes element, as she describes some of her thoughts about the strip over the years. An abundance of her favorite color and black-and-white cartoons makes this must-have book a guaranteed winner with the strip's most ardent fans.
Another Winner! I have read compilation books on For Better or Worse, but this is the treasure every FBOW fans should have in their libraries! Not only do we have comics in this book, but we also have chacter profiles, and a bit of background on the real life people Lynn Johnson based her comic characters on! A must have for Johnson fans!
Times changing This has got to be one of america's best comics EVER!!!! I just love for better or for worse, because you see the characters growing up and changing, and it makes me think of the good old days when i was little. I highly recommend it!
Lynn's BEST of the FBOFW ANNIVERSARY books. This book is a MUST for any diehard fan. It contains in its pages details and answers to questions that have always wandered in your mind as your read her strip each day. (Why does Candace have such issues? How are Phil and Georgia doing? Why happened to Annie and Ellie's friendship?) How does Lynn do it? Well, in this book she uses narrative and art to flesh out details that just won't fit into 5 panels Mon-Sat strip. With this book, it's like you just bought a house next to the Pattersons and Ellie has invited you over for a coffee and a good gossip to fill you in on the goings on in the neighborhood. Enjoy!
A Must For Any Lynn Johnston Fan Though a college student at the time and money was scarce, I skimped and saved and managed to order a copy of this book right after it came out about six years ago. Once it was in my hands I sat and delightedly read it start to finish in one long, chilly New England day. What a wonderful memory...
This book, released to coincide with the twentieth anniversary of For Better Or For Worse, is much more than an anthology or trip down memory lane, it is a revelation of the lives that Lizzie, Michael, John, Elly and the gang have going on beyond what we're told in the comic strip each day. Oh, sure, someone is probably reading this and thinking, "these are fictional characters and have no lives, either in the daily paper or beyond it." Right? Well...let's say they do. For instance, I was tickled to learn of a secret crush Lizzie had as a teenager that was never revealed in the strip (I won't say for whom) and I liked hearing that Phil and Georgia, scarcely seen in the strip in a decade, were still married and doing well, and that most of the families mentioned at one point or another in the neighborhood remained around. I also found it a real treat to have the hsitory of how John and Elly met, roughly a decade before the strip began, told in the form of an illustrated story. (How young they both looked back then!) Okay, I admit it, having followed this family for most of my life (it came out, I believe, the year I was born) they do seem like real people to me, and I mean that as a tribute to the talent of Lynn Johnston.
The title of this work really says it all, and if you're a FBOFW fan who wants to find out more of the personal history of each member of the Patterson family, then this is where to go.
A Book for Fans If you are a fan of For Better or For Worse, you will love this book because it tells you how Johnston's real life entertwines with the comic strip. I got it for Christmas and before the end of the day I was finished it. It has great stories and insights into how Lynn Johnston writes her comics.
Anything Goes Trivia
Megaton Man
Tailipoe
Trevor
