Monthly Archives: February 2006

(From Questionable Content. Click on image to see it full-sized.)

It should come as no surprise that I enjoy comics with ongoing storylines. I think of all of the comic strips I’ve reviewed, the number of strips that could be considered gag-a-day strips can likely be counted on one hand. Indeed, even the more humorous strips I read (such as Ctrl+Alt+Del, or the classic Ozy and Millie) tend to have storylines mixed in with the humor.

Still, sometimes you’ll be reading a book and suddenly realize where it’s going. Depending on the book, you either put it down or continue reading. However, the realization of where the story is going does leech some of the fun out of that story. Unless you have something big happen, or some twist, you’re left wondering if you’ve just been wasting your time.

Questionable Content is such a story. Jeph Jacques has stated that there is a set storyline here. Further, the relationship between Faye and Marten is central to the meta-story of the comic as a whole. When we’ve a final culmination between Faye and Marten, that’s it. If they hook up, then the story ends. We won’t continue down the path of watching Faye and Marten struggle with their relationship, trying to make things work, or dealing with problems between them that would arise.

This suggests, then, that if Marten and Faye were to come to a final decision, on not being together, that the comic likewise would come to an end. After all, we’ve closure either way. Thus I look upon the “sudden” decision of Dora to bitch-kiss (sort of like a bitch-slap, only done with lips and being decidedly more pleasant) Marten into realizing that there’s a perfectly gorgeous girl interested in him sitting next to him with a degree of skepticism.

Sure, Faye probably won’t be too happy with Marten dating Dora, even though she’s stated she’s not ready for a relationship and probably won’t be for quite some time. But even getting around the possible jealousy that will arise, and these three working through that… there’s still an obvious path in front of us.

Sometime in the future, perhaps after having sought counseling (or even just after seeing Marten and Dora happy together), Faye is going to realize that she does love Marten, and that she wants to be in a romantic relationship with him. What’s more, it’s almost a certainty that the relationship between Dora and Marten is going to fail, though how that will come about (Dora realizing she doesn’t feel that way about Marten after all, Marten realizing he’s only “using” Dora to fill the void in his heart left by Faye, or Faye making a move on Marten and making him choose between his heart and his fantasies) remains to be seen.

I mean, think of that. It sucks, when you get down to it. Dora is a nice fun vivacious young lady, and we’ve watched her for a while now, harboring a crush on Marten. And I don’t want her to get hurt here. But literary convention pretty much assures us that Marten is going to have to choose between Faye and Dora here. And we’ve had 500 comics in which Marten and Faye have pussyfooted around each other, and for fans to grow adjusted to the idea that these two will end up together, that they deserve to be together.

Maybe I’m worried for nothing. Maybe the Marten/Faye romance has ended, and that arc has moved on to something else. But I doubt it.

And as I’m writing this, the Late Monday Night Update slams into the side of my review, causing several thousand dollars of damage, forcing my airbag to deploy, and the cops to suggest I let them tow it because it’s not drivable under these conditions. But… is it?

I’m more interested in Jacques’s comments in that update than the update itself. The update moves the venue from Dora and Marten to Faye and Marten (and makes me wonder if those two did have sex, as Dora was strongly hinting toward, or if Marten just went straight home to Faye to talk to her, so they’d not be doing this behind Faye’s back)… and Faye isn’t angry. Instead, she’s resigned.

This surprised Jacques. Faye was supposed to be shocked, angry, and upset over her best friend going after Marten, especially this quickly after Faye laid down the law. Faye did something unexpected, and this throws a wrench into the works. Faye wasn’t supposed to just take it in stride. She was supposed to be upset. This would create strains in the relationship between Dora and Marten early on, and allow for the eventual breakup of those two. Or something like that.

And Jacques admits that the path this comic was taking used to be clear to him. Now he’s not sure. The characters have taken a life of their own, and the comic is starting to write itself.

This is something gifted writers experience from time to time. Sometimes the story starts to write itself, and goes on paths you don’t expect. I’ve gone through this, both in fanficcing and in writing novels. I’ve seen other people go through this as well, and the smart writers go with the flow, even though this disrupts long term plans and what was supposed to happen.

If Jacques trusts his characters and lets the story take this new path, then it may be that QC won’t end the way he expected. Marten and Dora may realize they want to stay together. Faye might be happier just as a friend, knowing that Marten has found happiness, a happiness that she couldn’t provide.

If he doesn’t… if he tries to fit this round peg into a square hole… then the story, the characters themselves will lose some of that luster, and QC’s ending will likely be dull and unsatisfying, the characters listless and disinterested. Hell, for once, getting “friended” may be the best thing for a guy.

Robert A. Howard

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(From junkRIOT. Click on image to see it full-sized. Warning: the comic contains nudity and sexual situations. Viewer discretion is advised.)

It’s one of those sad truths that sex is taboo in American society. If you take a look at television, movies, or even comics, you see that sex is either hushed up, or covered up. Indeed, when the new television show Battlestar Galactica started up last year, it “shocked” audiences with characters having sexual relations on screen, complete with glowing spines for the Cylon females. (Naturally, Cylon males don’t have sex, as no one wants to see a guy’s naked butt on TV.)

This tendency naturally has made its way along to webcomics. Sex tends to be covered up, or dealt with with fade-to-black, shadows, or venue changes. Indeed, early incidents in comics like CRFH or this near encounter in Roomies show a tendency of cartoonists to avoid blatant nudity on screen, and keep sex hidden.

Naturally, there were exceptions, such as some of Josh Lesnick’s works, and some of the R-and-X-rated pornographic comic sites out there. Still, sex in comics tended to be a quiet and sedate thing, shown after the fact or in passing. Some comics, such as Loserz, would use its sexual content as part of the shock value, but there were few comic stories which had sex as a natural extension of a scene between two characters.

Perhaps that’s why I’ve been following the current storyline in junkRIOT so intently. For the past month, we’ve watched two characters who are good friends become lovers. And unlike other many comics, the sexuality doesn’t fade to black but remains vivid and explicit (without becoming pornographic).

We’re given a glimpse into Chris’s head during this scene. He loves this girl. And he’s afraid to act (which is partly why Alice takes the initiative, I’m sure). He is afraid of admitting his love to her. He’s afraid of opening himself up to that extent, even in the middle of something so intimate and sensual as sex… he’s still afraid.

And there are consequences. Mary has done a superb job of storytelling, of showing that things aren’t just rosy after this young couple have sex. Instead, Chris knows somehow that Alice is upset, after this. He’s unsure if he did something wrong. He’s scared that this was just something between friends. And it leads him to make a mistake, by playing it safe.

Because she loves him, and she’s just as scared as he is. I mean, sex is big. It’s a huge step, it creates bonds between couples or it can break them apart. And Chris means a lot to Alice. She doesn’t want to lose their friendship. She doesn’t want to lose his respect. But in a moment of passion, they both did something that will change things between them forever.

Perhaps we could have been told this without the nudity, without the visible sexual play between these two. But by doing this, the story would have been lessened. It would be diminished just to bow to a self-deluded sense of morality. Because when you get down to it, why is it wrong to show sex in a comic or TV show, but it’s perfectly acceptable to show violence and hate?

I doubt this is why Mary Mevis showed this scene. She showed it because it was a natural extension of the story. It belonged here. And that’s why it’s so important it was there. It’s not because Mary was making a statement or a point. It’s because she was telling a story… and this scene belonged there. It’s because it was a natural evolution of the relationship between these two.

Hopefully we’ll see more stories follow junkRIOT’s example, with sexuality as a natural part of the comic, rather than covered up or used for shock value.

Robert A. Howard

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(From April and May and June. Click on image to see it full-sized. Warning: contains sexual situations, violence, disturbing humor, and links to a web-site that can be most disturbing at times. Viewer discretion is advised.)

It’s a common fallacy that “comics are for kids.” This is part of the problem with the current line of print comics from Marvel and D.C. in fact; they are busy trying to create comics that are more mature, more adult. The problem is that comics tend to lose many fans after a few years. If characters don’t change, then they become stale, stagnant, and people drift away because they lose interest. But if characters change, then you risk having a character become something that a fan hates, and they leave because their “beloved” character is “a caricature” or worse.

This belief that “comics are for kids” followed comics into the Internet, and then slammed head-first into the dark truth about comics. They are, in fact, a diverse and at times disturbing mixture, some meant for kids (and adults who want a quick romp through something “decent” and innocent, and some downright depraved.

(The Japanese, on the other hand, view comics more realistically as an art form that can have a diverse mixture of venues. This shocks some parents who think of comic books as “for kids” and then find a comic with violence, death, and sex (sometimes all mixed together). This also may explain part of the attraction of manga among some artists; subconsciously they think of manga as “more adult” and thus might be drawing in the style to try and differentiate their work from mainstream American comics.)

Clone.Manga is one of those darker sites out there. The comics range from surreal horrors that take a closer look at what constitutes reality to the sometimes touching, sometimes twisted story of Nana’s Everyday Life.April & May & June is in the middle of this range, with suggestions of a lesbian relationship between the two young ladies, homicidal tutors, and even sock puppet theater.

But it’s the most recent episodes of AMJ that have interested me. Out of some whim, Dan Kim “reset” the A&M universe and added a young blonde-haired daughter (June) to these two, a girl probably around six or so. As soon as I saw their daughter, something just clicked. This was a new dynamic to this duo that just seemed right, somehow.

I mean, everyone knows that if you want real comedy, add a baby to the mix, right? Okay, that’s not quite true, but kids do open up some rather interesting possibilities to the stories.

It’s pages 58 and 59 that really speak to me. Perhaps it’s because I’m taking classes to be a teacher, or that I’m substituting and often get to see some of the more… problematic students acting up, but those two pages just speak too purely about the current pharmacultural tendency of so many parents.

I recently read a Newsweek about a mother who brought her hyperactive boy to a doctor, hoping that her child had ADHD so he could be medicated. Fortunately, she found an intelligent and reputable doctor who told her the truth: her child just had a lot of energy. He didn’t have ADHD. He didn’t need medication. But her first impulse seemed to be “medicate him” rather than deal with the problem.

Now look at this scene of domestic bliss, of a young mother reading a story to her child, the child nestled against her mother’s breasts, looking safe and loved. And then we move to the second panel, and a scene so many parents have encountered. “Aaaw! Mooommyyy! I’m not tired!” At which point April stuffs a bunch of pills down her daughter’s throat and shoves her into bed.

And she’s praised for it. And then tells May that if her daughter wets the bed, there’s a medication on the counter… despite the fact that June would probably be wetting her bed because she’s been medicated to sleep.

And then the next day June is at the bus stop, talking to her friend Alice… and tells her that she’s been given Dexedrine (obviously to counteract the effects of the sleep medication she was on) and isn’t feeling good. And Alice just stands there blithely. When called on it? “I’m on Zoloft. I don’t care about anything.”

“I’m on Zoloft.”

Hmm. You know, maybe those commercials about the big blobs bobbing around are truer than we think; you go on Zoloft and have your emotional centers shut down, becoming an unemotional blob.

I’m hoping that Dan actually keeps June around for this off-the-wall comic. I mean, college-age April and May is fun and all that, but there’s much potential in June. No doubt some of the jokes will be inane, and others will be downright disturbing… but that’s a good description of AMJ as a whole, and is part of what makes it so enjoyable.

Besides. April? Working for a living? And May? Being a housewife? Entirely too amusing!

Robert A. Howard

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There is an absolutely fantastic and detailed review of the comic Nahast over at The Webcomics Examiner, written by Aleph of Malakhim fame. It’s definitely worth a read, both the review and the comic.

Speaking of Malakhim, we’re in the middle of the Malakhim Agami, which is a period of fanart and storyline explanations for Aleph and crew. The Agami are only up during story breaks, and then are removed, never to be seen again (except by Aleph’s zombie crew). So if you’re going over to Malakhim and wondering why the artwork looks strange and what’s going on, Aleph is taking some desperately needed time off. She’ll be back (and indeed is posting a few things herself in good fun, outside of the continuity of the comic). So please don’t flip out on her about this. We’ve got elite kitten commando squads ready to paratroop in and ribbon people who misunderstand this. And steal your milk. But hey, they’re kittens.

Robert A. Howard

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I’ve avoided talking about Questionable Content of late. Still, today’s comic just called out and demanded a tangent. Except of course that I don’t tangent strips on Tuesdays, and I’ve got a tangent written up for Monday already. But hey, that’s why I’ve got the Secants anyway, isn’t it. Anyway, Monday night’s QC (well, technically it’s for Tuesday but it’s up on Monday so I consider it fair game) is well deserving of kudos. For a long time now, Jacques has been improving his artwork. Every so often there is another jump in skill.

Today’s jump was the most visible, as Jacques takes a significant leap forward into spacial awareness in the strip. Each panel is from a different perspective, and a different angle. Indeed, for two of the strips we have profiles of one of the character’s faces. The vast majority of Jacques artwork is of 3/4th profile shots, with some front-on drawings. But profile shots? I can’t remember the last time Jacques didn’t have a character’s head turned slightly. (Side note – it appears they did yesterday, in the final panel. Thanks to Wednesday White for pointing that out. Guess my memory needs a few boosts.) But even more importantly is how the characters move outward, becoming three-dimensional. (Also, in the final panel you can see Marten’s fingers through the glass of coke, much like you’d see in RL.) Well done, Jacques. I look forward to your next artistic leap.

A special nod toward Wish^3. For a while now, we’ve been watching a relationship grow between a couple of the characters, and wondering how the main character would respond. Well, push came to shove and it’s come to a head… and our hero isn’t jealous or anything. Indeed, he’s happy for them. Not many people saw that coming, and it was a rather fun twist for a rather twisty comic.

As my computer was undergoing an upgrade, I didn’t have a chance to wish Dan Shive a happy birthday. Fortunately, his fans rose to the task. It was rather sweet and heartfelt to watch, and quite a bit of fun as well. Congrats Dan!

Oh, and speaking of overdue messages… I meant to mention this last week. Dan Shive drew up a special EGS Filler comic for Valentine’s Day, a comic specifically meant for those of us who don’t have someone in our lives. The message? Being single is not the same as being alone. Wise words we all should live by.

Take care, gang!

Robert A. Howard

If only he could see her now…

(From Girl Genius. Click on image to see it full-sized. Warning – if you’ve not read the comic books or are currently only reading the 101 comics, this review (and images within) contain spoilers.)

I have to admit that certain comics seem to get the lion’s share of reviews at Tangents. Well, I say lion’s share, but when you consider I’ve over 250 reviews written, even Anywhere But Here or Narbonic hasn’t gotten that many reviews out of me, percentage-wise.

The truth is, certain comics draw my attention more than others. Tangents are inspired, and without inspiration they wait, half-written, dwelling on my hard drive not to see the light of day. I’ve not the initiative to actually finish them, not when so many other stories out there catch my eye. Still, even the “big” strips that have gotten multiple tangents from me need to do something special to get a tangent out of me.

Girl Genius is one such strip. Indeed, I first commented on this comic on the second day of Tangents, more commenting on its inclusion on the web rather than talk about its storyline. Still, as time went on I found more to talk about. Unfortunately, there were aspects I couldn’t talk about, because they exist in the comic books, rather than being on-line.

One of them is the character of Gilgamesh, Baron Wulfenbach’s son and heir.

Well, that’s not quite true. I mean, Gil’s been in the 101 strips, but to be honest I’ve felt little need to review them (outside of the Meta-Review I wrote a ways back). Thus I’ve particularly noticed the lack of Gilgamesh in the comic since Girl Genius went on-line. The moment he first appeared in the comic, we could see he was a fascinating and detailed young man, and a definite counterpart to Agatha herself.

But the series is Girl Genius, not Gil Wulfenbach. And we’ve had no real reason to return to Castle Wulfenbach until now, with Agatha’s mind suppressed by The Other’s possession of her. (Indeed, for now there is no Girl Genius. Agatha has gone bye-bye, there is only Zuul.)

Thus it was interesting to see that Gil’s been spending his time destroying rogue Clanks that he’s had captured, and even reworked to give him something to fight. Each Clank is a means for him to strike against that which destroyed his love, that killed the woman he had hoped to create a future for. (And while we know that Agatha’s still alive, if possessed, Gil doesn’t.) He’s growing harder, more aggressive, becoming the perfect heir to the Baron if he only knew it.

The old Gil was playful, amused. He was a dabbler, a scientist. Agatha commented that he needed more death rays. This harder Gilgamesh very well may have a couple lying around, though he doesn’t rely on them. Indeed, he fights his clanks in hand-to-hand combat, hoping to get hurt, hoping deep inside that he’ll slip up and follow Agatha into the grave. Or at least that’s the impression I’ve gotten.

And it seems that part of what haunts him the most is that he didn’t have a chance, to see if perhaps he could have had a future with Agatha. “I had not realized that the two of you were so close?” Wooster asked. And Gil… Gil has a haunted look on his face as he says “We weren’t.”

Except they were. When under the effects of the truth potion at dinner, she thinks of him and of their kiss. It’s huge, in the background. Agatha just sits there, wide-eyed, speechless despite the potion coursing through her veins, remembering the feel of his lips against hers, of their kiss. Yes, she’ll be lucky if she never sees him again. But she wants to. She wants to.

And if I were to speculate, if I were to go for the storyteller clichÈ, it would be Gil Wulfenbach who would free Agatha of the Other’s influence. She’d remember. She’d remember and she’d resist the possession, he’d help her break free. But this isn’t a story, this isn’t a faerie tale. No doubt she will be freed because of the efforts of Krosp, Zeetha, Lars, and the J‰gers. And maybe Gil will get a clue that Agatha is in fact alive, he’ll chase after her, maybe catch her. But he won’t be the hero to save her.

Well, not this time at least.

But Gil and Agatha compliment each other. They have a connection. Not just the Spark, which makes them contemporaries (and indeed, without the Spark any male interested in Agatha no doubt will end up feeling powerless in comparison, and it’s a rare person who can live with that without their love being tainted; we’ve seen that so many times in marriages among celebrities in this world). But something deeper. Something epic.

What’s more, it appears that Gil might very well have Punch and Judy, otherwise known as Adam and Lilith Clay, in his lab, and be in the process of rebuilding them. I honestly don’t know who else they could be talking about that would cause the Baron to be so upset if he were to learn about it. And somehow I don’t think that Adam and Lilith are out of the story just yet. Indeed, I could very well see him chasing after Agatha when he learns of her being alive… with Adam and Lilith at his side. Though they might not entirely trust him, as he loves the girl they raised as their own daughter. You know how parents are.

And we’ve even the Baron showing up again. Baron Wulfenbach, who has been locked in his own labs for the past two months. (Has it been two months since Agatha escaped Castle Wulfenbach? My how time flies… and what has Klaus been up to, all this time, with the body he believes to be Agatha Heterodyne… perhaps he figured out that which eluded Gil? Though his ire could be for any number of reasons. We’ll have to wait and see.)

It could be some mission of the Baron’s, sending Gil out into his Empire to deal with some threat or negotiate with one of his subordinates, that brings Gil and Agatha in contact again. But I doubt they’ll meet until after Agatha’s friends rescue her from her dire fate.

Gil may not save Agatha from the Other… but eventually I’m sure Agatha will save Gil from himself.

Robert A. Howard

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(From Venus Ascending. Click on image to see it full-sized. Warning, may offend bigoted and prejudiced people, or those who have no sense of humor. Please go to your nearest doctor and ask for a funny bone transplant if this describes yourself.)

I’ve put off reviewing Venus Ascending for a while. You see, Venus Ascending is an utterly charming, intelligent, and amusing spin-off of another comic called Venus Envy, which is about a young transgendered teenager who is currently (I believe) undergoing hormonal treatments in preparation for the surgery that will let her body match her soul. I wanted to write up a review of VE first, but… well, today’s update was too amusing not to write about.

Venus Ascending “borrows” (with permission) the characters from VE, setting them in a future where computers plot to take over the world, aliens want nothing more than to eat us, and we’ve got colonies in the stars. The ship’s name itself is Venus Ascending, and Zoe Carter, the young TG individual from VE, is set as captain of this poorly designed starship, with a crew of misfits and “less than perfect” individual (mostly female, at that).

With such a premise, you’d think that the comic could be heavy-handed or moralistic. Instead, it’s played with a lighthearted whimsy, with breaking of the fourth wall (otherwise known as authorial intervention), bizarre plots, and a cast that is loveable and who perseveres.

It also helps that the villains involved are complete and utter idiots. Their first attempt to cause Zoe to wash up as captain failed. Indeed, Zoe proved so competent (as a result of playing video games when young, which goes to show you that all starship captains should be required to play video games as part of their training…) that her ship is being sent to the front line.

Unfortunately, that’s in the same area where those aliens are. You know, those aliens that think of humans as food?

Of course, VA is more than just a sci-fi comic. It does touch upon elements of Zoe’s transgendered nature, and does so intelligently and realistically. And that includes a mother who doesn’t want to lose her son, even if she’s gaining a daughter in return. (My, that sounds almost like Zoe’s getting married, doesn’t it.) Interestingly, Zoe’s father is more accepting, due to his own past and how his family treated him. It’s nice to see that part of Zoe’s family accepts and supports what she wants, what she’s pursuing.

Still, while the human aspect of the comic is important, it’s the science fiction aspect that drew me in. The mixture of the two is important for any sci-fi to succeed. Venus Ascending succeeds with this, even when talking about space combat tactics or the idiocy of those arrayed against her. Best of all, it’s funny, without being cruel.

VA isn’t a serious hard-core sci-fi story by any stretch of the imagination. But as with most science fiction, it uses the setting to take a step back from current societal issues and problems, and uses that to show us something about ourselves, and the world we live in. It’s a worthy spin-off of Venus Envy. More importantly, it’s a fun comic in and of itself, and definitely worth reading.

Robert A. Howard

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(From For Better or For Worse. Click on image to see it full-sized.)

I grew up reading For Better or For Worse. I think many of us have; it is a special strip, something that tends to be lacking with most newspaper strips; it’s a touch of everyday life. And part of what makes it so special is watching these characters grow up… grow old even. Some characters have even died… such as their beloved pet dog, Farley.

Think of that. This is big, for a newspaper strip. Heck, this story was told when webcomics were still in their infancy. We’ve seen plenty of webcomics that work on a real-time basis. Avalon did this (until hiatus struck). Anywhere But Here also was doing this until recently. Perhaps one of the biggest webcomics to operate on a real-time schedule is Sluggy Freelance. And yet they all came to the scene late. Lynn Johnston had been doing this since her comic first started, back in the 70s.

In a time when Peanuts was at the height of its game, when Cathy and Garfield were printing out more of the same old same old, and B.C. was trapped in the ice age, unchanging and unmoving (but funny, I will admit!), Lynn decided to create a cast where the kids would grow up. Indeed, the adults would also continue to grow up, grandparents would grow older, start to gain more wrinkles, lose some more hair. Time became an important element to this strip, and thus when Michael and Elizabeth gained a baby sister, we all knew that eventually, she too would grow up.

John and Elly are grandparents now. They’re getting old, thinking of retiring. Ellie is thinking of selling her business, Lilliput. John has commented more than once about retiring and selling his practice. And April… April is in high school, has dated, and is growing up. She’s becoming a vibrant young lady, the sort I see each day I substitute teach, with a bright mind and an honest soul. (Indeed, I wish there were more young people like her, though to be honest, many have that potential, if only someone has faith in them.)

And showing a bit of courage and realism here, Lynn continues to have reality touch upon the comic. I’m not talking politics or the like, however. Instead, I’m talking about the Internet. April like so many other kids, does stuff on-line. She does homework. She surfs the web. She plays games. She chats with friends. Heck, I’d not be at all surprised to find out she reads comic strips on the internet; for all I know, she might be looking through Websnark or Tangents or any of the other review blogs out there.

It’s got her dad concerned. I mean, there’s some unpleasant stuff out there. Heck, even on the level of something as “simple” as a comic strip, we’ve got some decidedly hard-core stuff out there. What’s a parent to do? How do you protect your children? And do you have to?

Elly points out the fundamental truth. It’s about trust. They trust April to do what’s right. They trust her to avoid the ugly websites, to not play the violent games, and not to talk to pedophiles and other dangerous people. The internet is a vast and amazing place, with much potential and many places to explore. And it’s tempting, very tempting, for parents to restrict children from it, to monitor everything their child does. But we need to trust our children.

Within reason, of course. April is old enough to have earned her parents trust. She has been raised well. And even she occasionally can use some guidance. But children do need guidance, and boundaries, and checking in on them and making sure they’re not getting roped in by some predator or the like.

My friend Steve asked if John and Elly believe themselves to be such poor parents that April can’t take violence in “her media diet.” The truth is… the best parents are those who do question themselves, and wonder if they’re doing the right thing. They want the best for their children, and know that they don’t always have the right answers. So sometimes they’re a little torn.

Because April has viewed some “gross” sites in her explorations of the net. But then again, so has her dad, which is why he’s concerned.

The best parents learn from their mistakes and their travels, and use what they learned when raising their children. John and Elly are learning so many new things with April that they didn’t need to worry about with their other children, back when the Net was more in its infancy. Likewise, the world has become a more visibly dark place to live. (It’s not really different than before. It’s just we realize the danger now, when before we could pretend that the threats were “out there” and that they couldn’t “affect us” in any way.)

But John wouldn’t be worried for his daughter if he didn’t love her so much. This is part of the natural evolution of this strip. For Better or For Worse may be a story… but the characters within have taken a life, a reality all their own, and have grown, shaping our own world in little ways as well.

There is a little bit of John, of April, of Elly… of all of these characters in all of us.

Robert A. Howard

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