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I LOVE the idea of Liz becoming a stepparent. I am a stepparent and Lynn is hitting the nail on the head!! Keep up the good work, I love the story line!!
p.s I would love to win a mug!! LOL

Shylo F, Malaga WA

The comments I find here on Liz and Anthony are so well written! I am a pro-Liz/Anthony, but the arguments I've read include things I hadn't thought of. My hats off to your fans!

On another note, I found looking at the "About Liz/Anthony" under the "Explore More" tab helped remind me of some of the more subtle things in their relationship.

Keep up the good work!

Michelle, Cincinnati

I love the Anthony and Liz characters.

It is very interesting to see how people, from their own point of view, pick apart Anthony, and now Liz.

I do believe that Anthony did love Francois. I know selfish, self centered characters as her. And yes, I remarried a man with no children who loved my daughter dearly, but because of the rejection from her father (he too, was out of her life for a long time) she was very clingy to me for a while.

Viva Anthony and Liz.

Arlene, Clearwater Fla

I am so, so tired of Anthony. It really bothers me that Liz now walks around in a state of constant worry while Anthony has a perpetual self-satisfied smirk on his face. Unless you are planning for them to get divorced later when he begins to treat Liz the way he seems to treat everyone else, then why continue this story line? Of course, you *could* let them get married and then have him drive over a cliff so Liz winds up with a young child to continue one of those interesting kid story lines you have always had in the strip.

Anonymous in Conneticut

This is my first attempt at 'Coffee Talk'
I truly love FBOFW and have followed it ' 4 Evah' ! I check it out every morning on line and it gives me a good start for my day.I am really enjoying the way you are rerunning some of the origional strip, Lynn. It is nice to see how the generations are not so very different from each other.I especially like the way you depict strong family values and the real stress situations that families face at times. I use examples from the strip when dealing with tough situations in my work with families and the examples resonate with people.

Looking forward to tomorrow's strip!

Mary M, North Bay ON

I never knew this was here until today! I have been trying to get in touch with Lynn for years now! I sooooo relate to the strip; having 7 children of my own!! The one that hit home the most, is the one with the outing of Lawrence. Not long after, I found out my oldest son is gay...This strip may have caused you a lot of unexpected heartache; but it softened my heart towards my own son! This strip and you, have CHANGED MY LIFE...

THANK YOU!! :)

Christine P, Worcester MA

Dear Ms. Johnston and company,

I'm sure you've already received a good deal of mail about your misspelling of 'Claus'. I won't say anything more about that.

I know you work hard and your team up there has a good deal to do. However, I think you need to pay a bit more attention to your grammar and proper use of punctuation. I'm not a grammar fiend and I accept the English language is always changing. I don't mind when people slip up or get creative. I'll probably make several mistakes in this letter. However, with so little text in your work, your mistakes stand out more. Grammatical errors confuse the reader and therefore rob the strip of impact.

Today, your non-standard use of quotation marks around the word 'legs' made it very difficult to understand your joke.

The proper use of quotation marks are:

1. To denote that someone is speaking - generally a convention not used in comics.

Example: "I'm going out to pick up some milk," said Susan.

2. To denote a speaker is quoting someone else.

Example: Susan said he's "insane in the membrane".

3. To denote that one is speaking about a word and not using it. (I generally use single quotation marks in such situations, but most people don't make that distinction. )

Example: I always love to use "sanguine" whenever possible.

When you use quotation marks for emphasis, you confuse the meaning of the statement. Was Francois meant to be quoting someone else? If so, is she using 'legs' in a different way most English speakers? If you merely meant it for emphasis, you have better tools at your disposal. As the author of a comic strip, you can apply all sorts of visual tricks most writers cannot. You don't need to confuse your reader.

Sincerely,

H. A

Ontario, Land of Butter Tarts

P.S. No amount of touching father&daughter moments can undo what the past depictions of Anthony and Theresa. In real life, if Elizabeth Patterson continued to blame everything on Theresa, she'd be in for a rude awakening after marriage. A truly good man would admit his faults and be honest about the role he played in the breakdown of his marriage. As he is, Anthony comes off as a passive aggressive creep whom I wouldn't want as a friend, much less a husband.

H. A., Ontario

I have been thinking about people's comments about Liz not being interesting anymore and Anthony being a dull character. I think there is eveidence for this point of view in today's strip. The conversation they are having (The gist of it is, I love Christmas and all the mall trappings of it. Yeah, me too) could be had by a couple meeting for the first time on a blind date. Are these really their thoughts? Is there nothing not to love in a pre-Christmas mass materialistic shopping scene? For all Liz's supposed awareness of other cultures, is there no thought for the way this Christmas holiday takes over everything despite the fact that many many people are of other religions and do not wish to celebrate Christmas (some do anyway to please their children who are so inundated by the material aspects (yes, the music, which is everywhere and not even that lovely in the mall versions) that they want want want it for themselves as well. I am not saying that Liz and Anthony should mirror my own thoughts, just that maybe, just maybe, they could think and express something interesting, as Liz used to. I also want to echo the dissappointment one reader expressed about what Lynn did with Paul. He did not have to behave so crassly, and I didn't think he would, given how he seemed, so very un-Eric. The challenges Liz would have experienced with him and his family would have been so much more interesting to read about than what she is now experiencing with Anthony.
The struggle to form a step family would be worth it if the relationship were strong and if we saw Liz growing through it, but I haven't seen that. My hear sinks as Liz seems to fall deeper into what I too see as settling for something second-rate. For Francie, I would rather see her mom come back into her life and see her have to struggle with that and eventually benefit from it.

Rosie B. C., Minnesota

Lynn, I wrote you a fan letter umpteen years ago (I am now 80!) and you responded!

FBorFW is still my favorite cartoon, and I look for it every day. Today, for the first time, I noticed your website.

I enjoy the different story lines; they are always so plausible. It's amazing how you can get a point across in just three or four blocks.

Seeing some of the other readers' opinions was enlightening; I did not know there were others who also looked upon the Pattersons as "family."

Please be careful what happens with Elizabeth and Anthony. Looks like she is headed for a lifetime of competition with Francie. I know, we're expecting Francie to make a turn-around, but that doesn't always happen.

Please give Iris a special hug!

Thank you for adding to the favorite part of my day: coffee with the newspaper!

Hedy M, New York State

It was freakishly wierd how the FBorFW life mirrored my own family's that it was like Lynn Johnson was looking into our window. Farley the dog died the same time as our own dog and we shared in their grief. Mike met the woman destined to marry him just as my brother brought home the woman he eventually married and we shared in their trials and tribulations. And when his daughter and son were born the same time as Robin and Merry, we shared in the joy and gave thanks for these miracles.

I have been reading FBorFW for about 20 years. I grew up with Liz essentially and have overcome the same milestones with her as we grew. I shared in her first love, went to University at the same time, and felt her need for exploration (I loved the sections of Mtigwaki. I myself am Mi'Kmaq/Inuit), and even my own names match Liz's best friends. Eerie.

I am not sure where exactly my life and Liz's diverged, but I can still see apart of myself within her. Instead of a teaching degree, I got an archaeology degree, and traveled with the same adventurous streak as Liz, reading her on the website wherever I travelled. She had the same aspects I have felt, and have done what I would have done had I been in her circumstances, so I feel I can post a comment about her choices now.

I have been watching her progression with Anthony since they met in high school. Even then I thought him a little wiener (as was my own high school boyfriend), but they clicked and did so for many years until university where distance separated them into leading different lives. Now that they are back together, it seems fitting. (Of course I wouldn't touch my ex with a 50 foot pole, but I did just marry the man I met in first year university that is so much like Anthony - except for the heavy Newfoundland accent and the fact he is an officer of the Canadian Military). Yes, Liz has that adventurous spark, and her time in the north did show her resilience and spirit, yet her heart longed for home and familiarity. I'm not saying that Anthony is her way of finding that, but it can't be denied the spark they once had never went out. I had always pegged Liz to love a man who was like her father - hardworking, grounded and respectful. I am happy with the match. They are different enough to complete parts of each other and at the same time different enough to be individuals as well. My husband and I are like night and day, but we are best friends, as are Liz and Anthony. (Though yes, I do wish to smack him over the head with a rolled up newspaper when he rather play on the computer than go out. It's amazing the aspects of my father I never knew. Mom and I have never been closer).

In regards to how Anthony and his daughter now relate, well, that is something I never had to deal with. Yes, Francie did ask if they could "keep" Liz, but I don't think Franice quite understood the ramifications of what keeping Liz would mean. Now that her father devotes time to another does Francie see competition, thus her change in behaviour and the sudden switch. It can be hard to make a child understand the need for adult company. To a child, their love for a parent at that stage is above and beyond anything as is the parent to a child (something I now understand having just given birth). So why would a parent want more love when so much is already being given? I think Lawrence once asked Mike that so many years ago. Why would Connie want a man when she already had him? Trying to tell a three year old the concept and complexities of the adult heart can be trying. To a child, love is infinite and simple, pure to the highest degree. It's hard to explain that there are different kinds of love. Why else do we have puberty and why we never want to go through that again? Sure, saying that Santa wouldn't want Liz to cry if she didn't see Santa with Anthony and Franice could be seen as blackmail, but I don't think that was intended. If so, Anthony is a young parent, and they don't give out doctorates in parenting as soon as the baby is born. If they do then I totally missed the course. He is inclined to make mistakes, every parent does. Yet how he and Liz are handling it all is gracious. His daughter is first, and that is understood. Liz, so far, gives him space and time to tend to Francie. And time and space is exactly what I think we should give the strip to see where it goes.

FBorFW entwines itself in aspects of real daily life so well. It's understandable why so many take it personally. But like real life, we have no control over what is said and done. Instead it shocks and surprises us when least expected. I'm looking forward to where it goes, and seeing where my life goes along with it.

C.B., Halifax