For Better or For Worse

[ivy]

Is Iris 4'2" or what?

[azaleaqueen]

Jim is really pissed at the idea of having to stay with Elly.

[Deleted]

PLEASE, Lynn, just stop the strips with Jim. I'm going to write to her about it, because I simply can't stand any more. It's painful, embarrassing and depressing. I don't think comics have to be rip-roaringly funny all the time, but there's no redeeming quality to this any more. It's not even well done.
Please... just stop.

[Deleted]

This didn't come to mind until I posted at the FOOBiverse today, but I've now realized that the one character that we have seen visit Jim the most and who treats him like he did before the stroke (April) is the character that does not have a real-life counterpart. I find that interesting, especially with my theory that Lynn won't kill Jim off because it's her way of getting revenge on her father, who supposedly didn't do anything about her mother's abuse.

[Mugsy]

Wha? Making Jim - a fictional character - suffer gets back at her father how? You'd think she would have shown Elly's mother as a Mira type then, if she's all about projecting through her characters. Instead, Elly's mother is some sort of saint.

You know, I've sent comments into CoffeeTalk several times now and only the first one was printed. That was back when CoffeeTalk was 50/50 critical/fawning. Now, it's more like 90% fawning, so my critiques are not being accepted, I guess. It's so gushy there now, everybody's had a grandparent suffer *just like Jim* and Elly is such a saint and when will she get to the wonderful wedding, blahblahblah.

Oh, I must post the latest ramblings from Joan from Peoria:
- How wonderfull of Elly to come and stay with her father for a entire week! Elly allready is so busy and always on the go-go-go and now she is taking this time to help him out and take care of him.
And during the big wedding planing as well! I'm sure she will get lots of help from the wonderfull Micheal and his wife Dee and also from the "engagees" Liz and Anthony as well, the kids will all pitch right in and help Elly out when she needs them the most. Because family is the most important thing!
I am getting a little misty eyed right now just thinking of those wonderfull Pattersons and their family. So nice. - Joan from Peoria

In Joan's previous post (why does she get two in one day?) she goes on again about how Elly has raised two wonderful children. This time, a couple people called her on it, saying that even Patterson fans forget about poor April.

Reading Joan's post above, I can't decide if she's serious or if someone is yanking Lynn's chain with some ridiculous treacle. It's so over the top, I wonder if she's being facetious.

[Deleted]

I'm 99% convinced that Joan from Peoria is taking the piss out of Lynn and her fawning fans. Saying that Elly only raised two kids really gave it away.

What's more, I suspect that one of the drudges who handles the blog for Lynn has caught on and is playing along for laughs. Thus the posting two messages in one day, etc.

[Mugsy]

Oh dear, Elly is going to kill Jim with kindness. Iris keeps him on a short dietary leash, so this sudden deluge of fat and cholesterol may kill him. Whether Iris is correct is not is debatable - is it good to restrict an old man so much hoping healthy habits will give him few more months or should he be allowed to enjoy his final years indulging in his favourite foods? Regardless, suddenly changing his diet can't be good for him.

If the Pattersons visited more often, Elly wouldn't have to "share the latest photographs". And who says "photographs"? Wouldn't you just say photos or pictures?

And Iris has never heard of things like newspapers? Jim seems so excited about such every day things - no wonder he's cranky.

[ivy]

I think the only reason Gramps is happy to see Elly is because she brought chocolate. She mentions the word and bam, he finally smiles. I can just see him thinking, "Hooray! No more dog biscuits today."

I'd like to see his face when Elly tells him Liz chopped up his dead wife's wedding dress all to hell to suit herself better.

[aibohphobia]

I wonder if Sunday's strip is a return to the flashbacks even though Connie hasn't been around lately. It seems like LJ pretty much has everything taken care of on her check list that she was crticized for (not getting to see any of the wedding planning, Anthony and Liz not spending time together, Elly never visiting her father, etc.), so I wouldn't be surprised if she goes back to just using flashbacks now until the wedding day.

I'm not sure now which one I would rather see. The new ones provide snark, but if LJ keeps inserting pointless flashbacks in during the wedding arc, even the Kool Aid Nation gets frustrated, which will hopefully mean that more newspapers like the one in Detroit pull the strip.

As for today's strip, I think we get it by now that Rod/John is a jerk, and while I sympathized with her at first, all these strips trying to make Rod/John look like the bad guy just make me start to sympathize with Rod.

[huntergrayson]

I love how Elly brought April's term papers and Michael's new book for Grandpa Jim -- yeah, because that's just what a 80-year old stroke victim wants to read, term papers and another 500-page opus on suffering.