Any of you comic strip readers?  Any favs?  Matt's favorites are Calvin and Hobbes and Dilbert.  Mine are Zits, Baby Blues, and one that I've read regularly for over ten years now:  For Better or For Worse.   So when I saw this past Sunday's For Better or For Worse (FBorFW) edition, I was stunned and sad; I didn't see it coming.  After following The Patterson family for over 10 years, enjoying the detailed storylines (especially the romantic ones), creator Lynn Johnston brought to a close the main storyline of FBorFW.  Did any of you read it?  What did you think?  You can click here if you want to read the final daily.  It's not the complete end of FBorFW, for Johnston is getting another shot at the storyline, starting afresh with drawing more loosely and freely and writing storylines that are more about the "insular little Patterson household", going back to when the Patterson kids were itty-bitty.  She can, in her own words, "...fix what I don't like about my early work as I add and subtract...redraw and just improve everything."  You can read Johnston's letter to her readers that explains the closing of the main storyline and why she is going back to drawing and writing the way she used to in the early days of FBorFW. 

I loved the detailed images and storylines.  I've been engrossed in knowing about Elizabeth's romantic life; seeing how Michael and Deanna raised their two cutie-pa-tooties; watching unconditional, servant-hearted love between Jim and Iris; and seeing all the pets in the Patterson household made me reminisce about our own menagerie growing up.  Johnston is a talented writer and drawer; in both regards, she knows how to engage her audience into the characters' lives.  The Patterson family, as I've known them the past 10 years, was a special family.  There will be a part of their lives, the ongoing storyline and intricate drawings, that I will miss.  But I look forward to seeing how Johnston gets a second opportunity at doing something she's loved doing, and done so well.