Monday, February 16, 2009

In which I also parody LJ's early imitation of "Sparky"

Howtheduck and others have pointed to various examples in which early foob strips bore a certain resemblance to "Peanuts"; for example Michael would look strikingly similar to Linus Van Pelt, while Lizzie looked an awful lot like Sally Brown. I also recall LJ using the device of having Lawrence and Michael lean on a wall, Charlie-Brown-and-Linus style. I decided to take that a step further:

In other news, I was worried I wouldn't get this drawn and posted on my usual schedule, since I've come down with a nasty stomach virus. But I did it!

8 comments:

Holly said...

Beautiful tribute!

Get well soon!

DreadedCandiru2 said...

It's probably going to take Mike a while to get from A to B because he takes detours like this, isn't it? Not that he wants to be at B, of course. He doesn't want to be the man he is in his nightmares because he doesn't know if he can avoid the future. Luckily for him, Mira might just be strong enough to beat the crap out of destiny. Unluckily for someone else, it'll just mean that he leaves Rhetta and their children on the fire escape.

April Patterson said...

Thanks, forworse!

I'm feeling better so far today (::knocks wood::) after going 24 hours without solid food.

April Patterson said...

Unluckily for someone else, it'll just mean that he leaves Rhetta and their children on the fire escape.

Hm, there's an interesting idea. Though maybe Rhetta would still go off with that other guy she was on a date with when Michael tried to call her.

howard said...

aprilp_katje,

Very nicely done imitation of Lynn's imitation.

Sorry to hear about your stomach virus. I hate when that happens.

As for Rhetta Blum, I have often thought that Michael, as a writer, would have been better off with her. When Mike took Rhetta to see where Farley died, Rhetta encouraged Mike to write about the incident and Mike promised to do that. In my mind, Rhetta would have encouraged Mike to write about things he knew, instead of going off on these tangents about things he doesn't know the first thing about. We made fun of Mike writing about WWII war brides and windjammers; but if Mike really had written his first book about Farley, imagine how much better that book would have been that the slop which showed up in his monthly letters.

Also, the whole idea of Mike staying and living in Milborough would make more sense with Rhetta, who would have had ties there with her father's business. Lynn Johnston would not have to have gone through the ridiculous measures she did to get Mike and his family back to Milborough, if he were married to Rhetta.

April Patterson said...

howtheduck, after what your ARB Michael had planned for his "Farley" tome, I think I'm scarred for life on the idea of Michael tackling that subject. ;)

I'm doing much better than I was yesterday, but my poor son has had the stomach bug since Wednesday and still can't even keep liquids down. My husband talked to our pediatrician yesterday and she told us that this is the nature of the stomach virus that's been circulating--and just keep doing what we're doing.

To add to the fun, my husband has it now, too. :(

Cedar said...

Howard--

I remember the storyline you're talking about, when Mike is struggling over writing an article for his internship, and takes a walk down to Farley's tree. Rhetta finds him there and encourages him to write about what happened with April. Of course, he never does.

It is strange that Mike and Rhetta broke up because he wanted to travel the world, etc, yet did so little of that; he really ended up being exactly the kind of man Rhetta was hoping he'd be.

Anonymous said...

Here's a thought: maybe the mojo that Lynn/Elly/Connie/whomever-it-may-be used to push the crew back in time may have affected people differently?

Elizabeth remembers her past because she was deeply involved in the wedding, and so her mind is relatively untouched by the mojo. Same, probably, with Lawrence (with the possibility that the mojo doesn't work on gay people). Deanne figured things out, so she's now immune (though presently out of the picture).

Not sure how much Elly and Connie were affected by the mojo (whether they were victims or the folks trying to push things back), but I'm sure what's happening is hardly accidental on their part. Unexpected (as I'm betting Connie was more controlled during the original run), but hardly accidental. And John...his mind has blanked out, so he's probably fully unaware.

Which leaves us with Michael. I think that the mojo did the same thing to him that it did to Deanne: pushed him back to the past without erasing his experiences. However, I'm not sure he can get from "A to B" because the connection isn't logical. Remember, Deanne discovered it by accident ("LAST TIME?" was the quote, if I remember right. With shock on her face, as well.).

Maybe Lawrence may have to lay it out to Michael.