Coffee Talk
Welcome to Elly's Coffee Talk, where every day we feature some of the comments we get from Lynn's devoted readers, and occasionally we'll share a message from Lynn herself. If you have a comment or a story that relates to FBorFW, please share it by clicking on "Spill Your Beans Here"!


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Lynn's Responses to Your Mail

Lynn--Your strips appeal to such a wide age group. In our family--three generations enjoy them!

I'm amazed that you can have humor and drama, a beginning and a conclusion and a clever word-play in 5 frames! And great art, too. What genius!

This site is a lot of fun. I enjoy it every day.

I know you were close friends with Charles Shultz. My question: What cartoons do you read in the paper? Any new cartoonists that especially impress you?

Pat H.


I have many favourite comics. I particularly enjoy Zits, Baby Blues, Rose is Rose, Speed Bump, Stone Soup, Mother Goose and Grimm - all these people are friends as well, so it's like a note from each when I read their work.

I love how true to life your comic strip is. I love how you can take real-world issues and experience into the comic strips.

I own your entire collection and read them chronologically and it is a joy to watch the Patterson family grow.

Two questions.

Edgar the dog has been alive longer than Farley. Will he have a heroic ending as Farley did?

Also, will you be continuing the Lawrence storylines? In a changing atmosphere of the acceptance of gay culture, I was wondering if you'd use the comic strip to address other LGBT issues, that shows that gay relationships are equally normal and meaningful as normal heterosexual relationships.

Keep up the great work!!

Tim B.


Edgar will continue to live on as the strip goes into the new format, as will all other characters. The storyline wherein Lawrence comes out does not run for a long time when you see the process we're working with! So, if I'm to integrate the two styles of art, it'll take quite a few years for this subject to be covered again in such detail. You never know, tho. I have a lot of flexibility within this new format. Thanks for asking!

Just a question that popped into my head the other day. How does Lynn find drawing the strip compares to the work she did before (medical and commercial drawing)? I have always loved her artwork. It has just the right combination of realism and exageration to make the characters come alive. Has her experience with anatomy had an effect on how she does her work? I'm dying to see the R&D section on models [We finished it yesterday, Joe!].

Joe D.


I miss the anatomical drawings because I learned so much! I enjoyed working with teaching physicians and seeing projects that were cutting edge (of the scalpel, perhaps!) It was 3D imagery and I had a lot of freedom to draw these illustrations in a way I thought best described the procedures. In a way, I still do that today and I'm always learning.