tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4115958760816352341.post4229322763078692954..comments2023-04-07T03:32:41.046-04:00Comments on FOOBAR: Inside the Pattertonic HeadApril Pattersonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06364188321350027405noreply@blogger.comBlogger29125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4115958760816352341.post-53331255416858280062010-06-07T13:24:45.665-04:002010-06-07T13:24:45.665-04:00It's almost sweet and heartwarming... until yo...<i>It's almost sweet and heartwarming... until you remember how she treats her friends.</i><br /><br />Yes--there's the rub!April Pattersonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06364188321350027405noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4115958760816352341.post-70518969033041933502010-06-07T13:24:22.742-04:002010-06-07T13:24:22.742-04:00I'm glad you're not going the "destin...<i>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.</i><br /><br />Thanks. :)April Pattersonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06364188321350027405noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4115958760816352341.post-60050711344902902002010-06-07T12:40:10.228-04:002010-06-07T12:40:10.228-04:00It's almost sweet and heartwarming... until yo...It's almost sweet and heartwarming... until you remember how she treats her friends.kamnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4115958760816352341.post-66458553657085407212010-06-06T22:39:07.190-04:002010-06-06T22:39:07.190-04:00I'm glad you're not going the "destin...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.Joe Englandhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09736479622821269273noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4115958760816352341.post-32500916374401855202010-06-06T20:57:42.983-04:002010-06-06T20:57:42.983-04:00No kittens will be harmed in the production of the...No kittens will be harmed in the production of the epilogue. :)April Pattersonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06364188321350027405noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4115958760816352341.post-14789827501688325552010-06-05T10:13:22.178-04:002010-06-05T10:13:22.178-04:00Just don't you dare kill a kitten for your epi...Just don't you dare <a href="http://www.cracked.com/article_18490_the-7-most-soul-crushing-series-finales-in-tv-history_p2.html" rel="nofollow">kill a kitten</a> for your epilogue.johnhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05792253276772262545noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4115958760816352341.post-49462032590485315592010-06-05T00:27:01.980-04:002010-06-05T00:27:01.980-04:00It works just perfectly. After all, Elly never ap...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...Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4115958760816352341.post-38359756502994053312010-06-04T21:52:29.622-04:002010-06-04T21:52:29.622-04:00On the other hand, Lynn had no problem reprinting ...On the other hand, Lynn had no problem reprinting the timeless strip about the "swinging couples" of the sexual revolution.<br /><br />Lynn makes very odd choices.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4115958760816352341.post-78174303648927880522010-06-04T18:30:07.246-04:002010-06-04T18:30:07.246-04:00(Yeah, I know we are still getting Sunday new-runs...<i>(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><br /><br />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 <a href="http://catalog.fborfw.com/indexid.php?q=6649&Submit=Search" rel="nofollow"> May 31, 1981</a>. 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 <a href="http://catalog.fborfw.com/indexid.php?q=6653&Submit=Search" rel="nofollow">June 7, 1981</a>, <a href="http://catalog.fborfw.com/indexid.php?q=6072&Submit=Search" rel="nofollow">June 14, 1981</a>, and <a href="http://catalog.fborfw.com/indexid.php?q=7086&Submit=Search" rel="nofollow">June 21, 1981</a>; which would correspond in time to the next 3 Sundays. She did not reprint any strips from <a href="http://catalog.fborfw.com/indexid.php?q=7087&Submit=Search" rel="nofollow">June 28, 1981</a> on, except for <a href="http://catalog.fborfw.com/indexid.php?q=6073&Submit=Search" rel="nofollow">July 19, 1981</a>. She could:<br /> <br />(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<br /><br />(b) Do new material for the next 3 Sundays + one more new-run on July 18, and the rest are straight reprints, or<br /><br />(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.<br /><br />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.howardhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16303489266324639466noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4115958760816352341.post-49703091449681017202010-06-04T14:05:03.613-04:002010-06-04T14:05:03.613-04:00I honestly think this is too positive and sweet of...<i>I honestly think this is too positive and sweet of a reprint to end FOOBAR on.</i><br /><br />I understand what you mean, <b>Cedar</b>. 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.April Pattersonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06364188321350027405noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4115958760816352341.post-7010263566608831182010-06-04T14:02:52.437-04:002010-06-04T14:02:52.437-04:00It has that twilight zone kind of ending, adding a...<i>It has that twilight zone kind of ending, adding any more. . . I don't know, this is just perfect to me.</i><br /><br />Thanks, <b>Tim</b>. :)April Pattersonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06364188321350027405noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4115958760816352341.post-79408805286234601402010-06-04T13:59:39.535-04:002010-06-04T13:59:39.535-04:00I honestly think this is too positive and sweet of...I honestly think this is too positive and sweet of a reprint to end FOOBAR on.Cedarhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11828779727874213014noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4115958760816352341.post-4951019687292158142010-06-04T13:47:01.065-04:002010-06-04T13:47:01.065-04:00Even though I'd love to see more I really thin...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.Timhttp://www.timothypcallahan.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4115958760816352341.post-44312424502384192822010-06-04T11:55:11.553-04:002010-06-04T11:55:11.553-04:00Not Saint Elly, the perfect martyr saint of sainte...<i>Not Saint Elly, the perfect martyr saint of sainted martyrs. So she negated her own mind.</i><br /><br />Interesting take--I can see how in Elly's mind nothing but "Saint Elly" would be acceptable.April Pattersonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06364188321350027405noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4115958760816352341.post-29925624283881952292010-06-04T11:53:31.468-04:002010-06-04T11:53:31.468-04:00But still, her plaintive, selfish yearnings were m...<i>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><br /><br />I like the <i>Matrix</i> 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 Pattersonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06364188321350027405noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4115958760816352341.post-34772875007935250162010-06-04T11:46:20.257-04:002010-06-04T11:46:20.257-04:00I think you drew that strip in Elly's mind bet...<i>I think you drew that strip in Elly's mind better than Lynn drew it originally.</i><br /><br />Thanks, <b>Muzition</b>. It was an interesting exercise--not only trying to replicate the strip closely, but also to squeeze it into that thought bubble. :)April Pattersonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06364188321350027405noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4115958760816352341.post-1908767985449573272010-06-04T10:57:36.576-04:002010-06-04T10:57:36.576-04:00That's the most interesting thing I've fou...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.<br /><br />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.<br /><br />Again, interesting contrast.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4115958760816352341.post-32669727561223622822010-06-04T09:59:45.168-04:002010-06-04T09:59:45.168-04:00Aw. How bittersweet. I find it ironic that she w...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.Joe Englandhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09736479622821269273noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4115958760816352341.post-83913815780708401042010-06-04T09:33:39.839-04:002010-06-04T09:33:39.839-04:00I think you drew that strip in Elly's mind bet...I think you drew that strip in Elly's mind better than Lynn drew it originally.Muzitionhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11178255315096221987noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4115958760816352341.post-23369343885886358152010-06-04T09:16:34.433-04:002010-06-04T09:16:34.433-04:00Elly's brain decided to leave her skull and st...<i>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".<br /><br />IT WAS FATE!</i><br /><br />::snerk:: Love it! :)April Pattersonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06364188321350027405noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4115958760816352341.post-10654477210484838732010-06-04T09:15:51.086-04:002010-06-04T09:15:51.086-04:00I liked the layout of the panels and the drawing o...<i>I liked the layout of the panels and the drawing of April is particularly nice.</i><br /><br />Thanks. :)April Pattersonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06364188321350027405noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4115958760816352341.post-74212600428215547202010-06-04T09:15:00.296-04:002010-06-04T09:15:00.296-04:00I note that the "summer" illustration on...<i>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><br /><br />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.<br /><br /><i>The Pattersons are best freed from Elly's version of the past.</i><br /><br />So true!April Pattersonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06364188321350027405noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4115958760816352341.post-51456767017597497732010-06-04T09:13:33.648-04:002010-06-04T09:13:33.648-04:00Waiting for the explanation (if one's necessar...<i>Waiting for the explanation (if one's necessary).</i><br /><br />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.<br /><br />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.)<br /><br />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 Pattersonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06364188321350027405noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4115958760816352341.post-27398197105157657672010-06-04T09:13:01.504-04:002010-06-04T09:13:01.504-04:00Elly's brain decided to leave her skull and st...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".<br /><br />IT WAS FATE!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4115958760816352341.post-25007367400081080712010-06-04T09:05:01.777-04:002010-06-04T09:05:01.777-04:00I hope the epilogue explains how she got that way....<i>I hope the epilogue explains how she got that way.</i><br /><br />I don't think that's possible--unless, maybe, if I did a 30-year epilogue. ;)April Pattersonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06364188321350027405noreply@blogger.com