A 'For Better' Wrap-Up as the Old 'For Better' Wrapped Up

By: Dave Astor The "For Better or For Worse" comic replaced by the "Hints From Heloise" column?

Well, sort of.

The Star-Ledger of Newark, N.J., yesterday dropped the daily "FBorFW" (as the strip began its "new-runs") and brought back "Heloise." But the paper didn't put the hints column on the comics page; rather, "Heloise" was a replacement for "FBorFW" in the Star-Ledger's feature budget.

"FBorFW" will continue to appear in the N.J. paper's Sunday comics section "for sentimental reasons," according to The Star-Ledger.

"Heloise" runs in more than 500 newspapers via King Features Syndicate. "FBorFW" has been appearing in 2,000-plus papers via Universal Press Syndicate.

E&P has not yet been able to reach Universal today about how many clients dropped Lynn Johnston's comic as she restarted her 1979-launched feature from the beginning with new content (drawn in her earlier style) interspersed with the old.

Some of the papers canceling the comic are The Atlanta Journal-Constitution; The Washington Post; the Lexington (Ky.) Herald-Leader; The Gazette of Cedar Rapids, Iowa; and The Pantagraph of Bloomington, Ill. (The last paper is asking readers to choose between "Mutts," "DeFlocked," and "Tundra" to replace "FBorFW.")

Among the many papers keeping Johnston's comic is the Journal Star of Peoria, Ill., where Managing Editor John Plevka said: "Because of this emotional reader devotion to 'For Better or For Worse,' we will continue to publish the strip." He added that the "new-runs" are "an interesting experiment and if anyone can pull it off, I trust that Johnston can."

At least some papers -- including The Washington Post -- will continue to carry "FBorFW" online-only.

Meanwhile, Johnston brought closure to the pre-"new-run" version of her comic on Saturday and Sunday.

On Saturday, the Iris character -- who's caring for her ailing husband Jim, the Patterson grandfather -- tells the just-wed Elizabeth and Anthony in the last panel that making a commitment such as marriage is "for better or for worse, my dears ... for better or for worse." (A bit of wishful thinking given that Johnston's husband left her last year.)

Underneath that Saturday comic are these words from Johnston: "This concludes my story.... With grateful thanks to everyone who has made this all possible."

On Sunday, Johnston told readers about the future of her main characters. For instance, Elizabeth and Anthony have a child that Jim gets to see before he dies at the age of 89, Elizabeth continues to work as a teacher, April gets a degree in veterinary medicine, etc. In the last panel, Johnston thanks her family, her friends, her staff, her syndicate, her readers, and others -- and invites readers to see the "new-runs."

Also, a Johnston letter "to all my wonderful readers" was posted Friday on FBorFW.com. It read, in part:

"For the past seven years or so I was aware that the stories were becoming more complicated, the drawings more controlled, and the characters more realistic. Gone was the loose, funny, free-hand line I had started with....

"'For Better or For Worse' [began] again on September the 1st.... Without the need to visit all of the auxiliary characters, I can concentrate once again on the insular little Patterson household. I have the children all to myself again. I can do spot gags and silly stuff. I can fix what I don't like about my early work as I add and subtract ... redraw and just improve everything.

"The crazy part is drawing the way I used to draw!! I practiced, using the first two books, copying as if I was trying to draw someone else's work, not my own! It's taken some time to simulate the earlier work, but it's coming and because it's a simpler style with less detail in the background, I can comfortably do all the art myself without the need for another illustrator.

"This makes the process faster and because I'll be including some of the classics, I'll be able to take some much needed time off!..."

"Mixing the classic and new strips is both challenging and rewarding as I improve the work I started with. Who gets to do this???"

Johnston's complete letter can be seen here.

Her Sunday comic can be seen here.

Her Saturday comic can be seen here.