Friday, June 4, 2010

Inside the Pattertonic Head

Click to enlarge.

Well, howtheduck totally called this.  Yes, Elly, in her catatonic state, is thinking the reprints.  This is an image I've had in my mind for more than a year--ending* FOOBAR with Elly catatonic, John wondering what she's thinking about, and the last panel showing Elly with that day's reprint in her thought bubble.

I of course didn't know what reprint would be running on that day.  I think the one that this landed on is oddly appropriate.  It seems to fit in with the theme of never having appreciated what she had when she had it.  (Not that John was such a prize, but you know what I mean.)

*But I'm not quite ready to end--there will be some epiloguey goodness to follow.

29 comments:

DreadedCandiru2 said...

I think the one that this landed on is oddly appropriate. It seems to fit in with the theme of never having appreciated what she had when she had it.

That's for sure; John ain't much but he's better than what she's got. I hope the epilogue explains how she got that way.

Godozo said...

Hmmm...most interesting...

I thought the mind would double-age and have her older than she should be. I never could have foreseen THIS.

Waiting for the explanation (if one's necessary).

Anonymous said...

I note that the "summer" illustration on the FBoFW official site features April de-aged to little Aypo, a re-puppy-ized-Edgar, and fixed, eerie puppet mouth-grins all around.

The Pattersons are best freed from Elly's version of the past.

howard said...

I liked the layout of the panels and the drawing of April is particularly nice.

April Patterson said...

I hope the epilogue explains how she got that way.

I don't think that's possible--unless, maybe, if I did a 30-year epilogue. ;)

Anonymous said...

Elly's brain decided to leave her skull and start a small sewing school. In a toy shop that just happened to contain extremely valuable vintage collectible toys that the former owner didn't want. In a partnership with a guy whose last name was "Wright".

IT WAS FATE!

April Patterson said...

Waiting for the explanation (if one's necessary).

I'm really leaving that open. In my mind, it's Elly's way of holding onto the past. The first time she decided to fixate on the past, she wanted to go back there and muck around with various events/choices. We saw how well that went.... She went along with April's spell to restore everyone to 2010, and then she was dissatisfied all over again. Her kids wouldn't follow her advice, her husband had left her, and none of the things she thought she wanted to do appealed to her anymore.

So she starts thinking about the past again. Maybe the things she originally wanted to change (e.g. new-runs) seem not so bad now. She begins to idealize those times all over again--and next thing you know, her mind is locked in replaying that past. Hence the reprints we are seeing. (Yeah, I know we are still getting Sunday new-runs, but that's likely to last for only a few more weeks or so--maybe we can explain away the few remaining ones as irregularities in Elly's brain chemistry.)

The epilogue(s) I'm planning will be more about brief vignettes on the various characters--not wrapping things up neatly with a bow with a tome of destiny, but more "here's where he/she is at this moment."

April Patterson said...

I note that the "summer" illustration on the FBoFW official site features April de-aged to little Aypo, a re-puppy-ized-Edgar, and fixed, eerie puppet mouth-grins all around.

I've noticed this, too--and it's happened so frequently that I'm convince Lynn lost interest in April once she couldn't be Aypo anymore.

The Pattersons are best freed from Elly's version of the past.

So true!

April Patterson said...

I liked the layout of the panels and the drawing of April is particularly nice.

Thanks. :)

April Patterson said...

Elly's brain decided to leave her skull and start a small sewing school. In a toy shop that just happened to contain extremely valuable vintage collectible toys that the former owner didn't want. In a partnership with a guy whose last name was "Wright".

IT WAS FATE!


::snerk:: Love it! :)

Muzition said...

I think you drew that strip in Elly's mind better than Lynn drew it originally.

Joe England said...

Aw. How bittersweet. I find it ironic that she was complaining how she "never got the chance to change anything," and yet in the end escaped into recollections of the past pretty much as it happened. Maybe she realized that if she couldn't have things the way she wanted them, she would have them the way she thought they used to be. Nothings better, but nothing's worse. Let's hope she can be happy floating in dreams of the past. She wasn't really so bad, just... okay, yeah, she was so bad. But still, her plaintive, selfish yearnings were merely human. Let the baby have its bottle, even if the bottle is a Matrix-ish illusion.

Anonymous said...

That's the most interesting thing I've found about this particular fix-fic/strip. It's similar to Charles Dickens' "A Christmas Carol" in that ultimately we discern it's not great single sin that's damned Elly. It's a bunch of little ones that she let pile up and pile up until they took over her life. Scrooge, when confronted with this, chose to do the hard thing and repent...and in the end, received a life more difficult but far, far more rewarding.

Elly never got spirit guides, but her magical trip to the past did supply her with the information that the flaws were in her all along. But she couldn't admit that. Not Saint Elly, the perfect martyr saint of sainted martyrs. So she negated her own mind.

Again, interesting contrast.

April Patterson said...

I think you drew that strip in Elly's mind better than Lynn drew it originally.

Thanks, Muzition. It was an interesting exercise--not only trying to replicate the strip closely, but also to squeeze it into that thought bubble. :)

April Patterson said...

But still, her plaintive, selfish yearnings were merely human. Let the baby have its bottle, even if the bottle is a Matrix-ish illusion.

I like the Matrix comparison. Also, I can't help thinking of the "Normal Again" episode of Buffy, where she believes that she's in a mental institution and her real life is just a delusion she keeps slipping in and out of.

April Patterson said...

Not Saint Elly, the perfect martyr saint of sainted martyrs. So she negated her own mind.

Interesting take--I can see how in Elly's mind nothing but "Saint Elly" would be acceptable.

Tim said...

Even though I'd love to see more I really think this is the perfect comic to end with saga. It has that twilight zone kind of ending, adding any more. . . I don't know, this is just perfect to me.

Cedar said...

I honestly think this is too positive and sweet of a reprint to end FOOBAR on.

April Patterson said...

It has that twilight zone kind of ending, adding any more. . . I don't know, this is just perfect to me.

Thanks, Tim. :)

April Patterson said...

I honestly think this is too positive and sweet of a reprint to end FOOBAR on.

I understand what you mean, Cedar. Landing on this particular reprint was a total luck-of-the-draw thing. If it's any comfort, you can rest assured that soon her mind will be replaying the nasty summer trip where the family are supposed to stay in Ted's cottage but accidentally stay in a falling-apart shack instead.

howard said...

(Yeah, I know we are still getting Sunday new-runs, but that's likely to last for only a few more weeks or so--maybe we can explain away the few remaining ones as irregularities in Elly's brain chemistry.)

I am not sure what Lynn has in mind for the Sundays. She failed to reprint one of the only Sunday strips she had not reprinted for May 31, 1981. The strip, with its mention of women’s liberation, is so dated; I could easily see why she might skip it. She has already reprinted the strip from June 7, 1981, June 14, 1981, and June 21, 1981; which would correspond in time to the next 3 Sundays. She did not reprint any strips from June 28, 1981 on, except for July 19, 1981. She could:

(a) Save the strip from May 31 to reprint on July 18 to replace the already-reprinted strip and then do new material for the next 3 Sundays and then go to straight reprints on Sundays, or

(b) Do new material for the next 3 Sundays + one more new-run on July 18, and the rest are straight reprints, or

(c) Do new-runs on Sundays for as long as she wants. A steady supply of reprint materials means she could do 1-2 new strips a month, and still make the claim that she is not doing all reprints as a sales tactic. There is some indication from last Sunday’s strip that Lynn is colouring the stuff herself, because of all the colouring errors. That lends some credence to this idea.

Regardless of her choice, I would be surprised if the number of new-runs on Sundays does not significantly drop after the next 3 Sundays.

Anonymous said...

On the other hand, Lynn had no problem reprinting the timeless strip about the "swinging couples" of the sexual revolution.

Lynn makes very odd choices.

Anonymous said...

It works just perfectly. After all, Elly never appreciated her 'friends', and this is a poigiant reminder of that. She didn't appreciate anything about what she had; all she cared about was recapturing a happiness she never allowed herself to experience. And now she's gone and made it so that she'll never manage to learn that lesson...

john said...

Just don't you dare kill a kitten for your epilogue.

April Patterson said...

No kittens will be harmed in the production of the epilogue. :)

Joe England said...

I'm glad you're not going the "destiny" route with the epilogues, by the way... I like it when the author leaves it to our imaginations what happens to the characters. It gives them an open future, a sense of continuance.

kam said...

It's almost sweet and heartwarming... until you remember how she treats her friends.

April Patterson said...

I'm glad you're not going the "destiny" route with the epilogues, by the way... I like it when the author leaves it to our imaginations what happens to the characters. It gives them an open future, a sense of continuance.

Thanks. :)

April Patterson said...

It's almost sweet and heartwarming... until you remember how she treats her friends.

Yes--there's the rub!