Just One More Hug: A For Better or For Worse Collection

 

From the bookshelf at my mother-in-law's house.

Title: Just One More Hug: A For Better or For Worse Collection
Date: March, 1990 (originally published in 1984)
Publisher: Andrews McMeel
Writer: Lynn Johnston
Artist: Lynn Johnston

This is the second For Better or For Worse collection I've read, but this one comes earlier in the series than Keep the Home Fries Burning (reviewed here). I continue to love the art style that mixes some cartoonish elements with realistic bodies and a generally cozy feel that matches the tone of the writing. The punchlines can be a little hit-or-miss, but definitely more hit than miss. I did find that this book had fewer ongoing plot elements than what I found in the later compilation, although there are still some here.

Elly's ongoing interactions with her bachelor-lifestyle brother with their looks back at their childhood together are a lot of fun. So is the family's visit to their "country cousins" out in farm country. A storyline involving Michael dealing with a bully at school gets a too-quick and convenient resolution, although I did enjoy the nostalgia vibes of Michael spending time at the arcade.

This continues to be some of the best slice-of-life humor out there, and it gets a lot of the little interactions of family life spot-on.

Rating: 7.5/10

Keep the Home Fries Burning: A For Better or For Worse Collection

From the bookshelf at my mother-in-law's house.

Title: Keep the Home Fries Burning: A For Better or For Worse Collection
Date: June, 1989
Publisher: Andrews McMeel
Writer: Lynn Johnston
Artist: Lynn Johnston

This collection covers about a year in the lives of the Patterson family, as Elly's best friend Connie moves to another city while in the midst of relationship drama. The move also results in Michael getting separated from his best friend. Over the course of the year, there are new friends and neighbors, a Halloween dance, a new baby among the Pattersons' friends circle, and the possible beginning of a writing career for Elly.

I love the pacing of For Better or For Worse. The stories always feel very real and very grounded, and the author does a great job with putting low-key but effective punchlines in to end each newspaper strip installment while still building multiple long-term storylines.

There were some really genuinely funny gags sprinkled among a lot of excellent storytelling and good character work. The art style is delightful, with enough realism to make the character come to life while still keeping things simple.

Rating: 8.5/10

Andy Capp Strikes Back

A recent yard sale find.

Title: Andy Capp Strikes Back
Date: 1967
Publisher: Fawcett Gold Medal
Writer: Reg Smythe
Artist: Reg Smythe

This is a 1967 paperback, reprinting Andy Capp comic strips from the London Daily Mirror. My grandfather was a big Capp fan back when he used to take his daily walk up to the corner for the newspaper.

For those not familiar with the strip, the setup is pretty straightforward. Andy is a lazy drunk who tries to get by mooching what he can off of his long-suffering wife. Andy is of the same archetype that gave us every other lazy male chauvinist character from Fred Flintstone to Al Bundy.

Andy dodges the rent collectors, sneaks out to the pub at every opportunity, and has the occasional run-in with the law. He's not a complete loser: He's a pretty competent footballer (aside from the occasional own goal) and handles himself quite well in brawls.

This was probably fairly edgy stuff in the 1960s, but it has more of a ring of nostalgia when read today. Much of that nostalgia is pleasant, but it does get uncomfortable in a few sequences when Andy's treatment of his wife shifts from verbal jabs to physical abuse. The fact that Andy is often on the receiving end isn't enough to erase the cringe factor, nor does the idea that this is simply a product of its times. Those particular jokes are simply not funny in today's world.

There are only a few such moments in this book, and there were a fair number of jokes that I did find funny. But it didn't make for entirely comfortable reading.

Rating: 4/10

Note: I've got this volume up for sale on Ebay here.