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What a wonderful journey it's been. I discovered FBOFW taped to a wall in my OB's office in October of '79 in Houston. A trip to the library to look up old strips and I was addicted to the Pattersons.

My father taught me to read at 3 using the "funny pages". He maintained that humor was the best way to start a day and the headlines could wait until we'd had our daily chuckle. I still begin each morning with the comics.

Thanks so much for adding to the quality of my days for the last 29 years. I look forward to reading about the young Patterson family, but I will truly miss April and Iris and all the rest. The "wrap up" last week was sweet, but not as satisfying as another 29 years of stories.

Thanks for all the laughter and tears (poor Farley).

Paula B, Dallas, Texas

Dear Lynn, Thank you for the joy you have brought me over the last 20+ years. I have laughed and cried with your family, "The Pattersons," because, like many, it has been almost a carbon copy of our family. I was so happy to read that you are not "quitting," but redoing the story. I will now still be able to begin my day with you. Your words give me laughter and thought, which is more important to me than the newspaper's headlines which are mostly depressing. My best wishes as you find some time to relax, and my thanks for continuing your uplifting story!

Sally H, Mansfield, Ohio

I thought the epilogue in Sunday's paper was brilliant. My husband thought I was crazy, sitting at my computer with tears running down my cheeks. Thank you so much for years of enjoyment. If all comic creators would follow your lead, then maybe there would be more of them to enjoy. I think "Sparky" would have been proud of how you finished this. As always, A loyal fan.

Julie S, Decatur, IN

I grew up reading your strip and read it faithfully daily. My morning isn't complete until I've had a look into what's happening with the Patterson clan. Now that I'm a parent, I see the strip much differently than when I was a kid and have now introduced my children to the strip. Now that you're "starting over," my children and I have the unique opportunity to grow up together (again, for me) with the Pattersons. Thanks for all you do...It's incredibly important to us out here in reality.

Bill H, Small Town, North Carolina

Dear Lynn,

Your strip has been one of the few consistent bright spots in my life for the past several years.

I have had a chronic illness that generates loads of pain and other disabling symptoms. In addition, during the past two months, I've undergone two surgeries and been in even more pain than before. I've lost my ability to work, walk long distances, create art, even sing.

During even the worst of my suffering, your art and stories kept me going. There were times when I've been too sick to email, read, even watch TV. But whenever I had the energy, I spent it catching up with your characters.

What am I going to do without your stories? Of course I will look forward to your new/old work. I know I will enjoy it.

But I'm not complaining, even though it may sound like it. I really want to say thank you thank you thank you for helping me over the hardest parts of my pain, losses, and disabilities. You and your loving, delightful, insightful characters have been more than a blessing to me. And I know they have helped me to heal.

Enjoy this new part of your life. And again, Thank you.

Serena A, St. Paul, MN

Why did the story line stop with the wedding?

I so looked forward to the strip every day and was interested in where the "senior years" would lead.

Gloria S, South Dakota

I did enjoy the conclusion of the modern day Pattersons story line. But I must say I wish it hadn't happened. I wish Lynn could have continued. Even if it was only in the Sunday Strips. I really enjoyed this comic strip. It is the only one I ever went online to read if our paper wasn't delivered. Have never done that before. The wedding of Anthony and Elizabeth was especially beautiful. Too bad it had to end. But will enjoy reading the new strips.

Theresa H, Pennsylvania

I have already had afew chuckles with your strip starting again as of Sept 1st - Know how it seems when you visit your parents house and see your old bedroom - the bed seems sooo small. Or watching your kids laugh while watching what used to be your favorite cartoon early Saturday mornings. Finally 'getting' it now that you are a parent and you kid is driving you crazy asking for a dog....things seem different that time and life has givin us a new perspective. I am looking forward to enjoying your strip now that I am in 'Elly's shoes' where I used to see things from Michael and Elizabeth's point of view.. Thanks for this opportunity!

Trish W, London, ON

I think the idea of FBorFW "new-runs" is truly inventive. I study "re-imaginings" in media as part of my graduate work, and I have *never* seen an artist try this before. Even media giant George Lucas settled on making prequels rather than completely remaking Star Wars. I've personally always wondered what Gene Roddenberry would've done with a second chance at Star Trek, or what Bill Watterson would do with another crack at Calvin & Hobbes. In a generation or so, there might be a comic artist who decides to do a re-imagining or adaptation of FBorFW, but it's even better that there's a wealth and abundance of material for the characters in both the 29 year run, and now a retrospective. I hope that Lynn's cathartic efforts continue to yield unexpected fruit, and I look forward to reading the strip anew. I was born in 1979 and missed out on the first few years, so for me, this feels like a second chance to get reacquainted with the strip. With a tip of the hat; all the best,

Andrew W, Tucson, Arizona

I am soooo glad that you are continuing with the Patterson's!! I would really miss that family and all their fun times. My newspaper has decide not to carry your "new " comic strip so I will have to be satisfied with the website. Hopefully they will pick it up again when enough fans e- mail in their desire to continue with your strip. Thanks again for keeping on.

Susan E, Atlanta, GA

On the second go round PLEASE don't kill off Farley (I can't take the tears again) More garden railroad stories!

Dave S, HICKSville, NY

Thank you for so many years of laughs, tears, thoughts, observations and sharing. Thank you for exploring the more complex world of Elly and John's family as it grew. I have watched your art since the earliest books, and feel like I know and love these people. You've touched on worlds I'm intimately familiar with (the Society for Creative Anachronism, for one), and things I knew nothing about.

Thank you, also, for naming Anthony and Elizabeth's son "James Allen" -- I know it had nothing to do with me, but it gave me a special frisson of happiness. I was named for two uncles killed at the Battle of Midway, so the names have special meaning.

James Allen D, Ontario, California

I am not interested in the reruns, but I am going to be fascinated to see how you will handle on your website the disappearance of established characters: April, Deanna, Meredith, Robin, Iris, Anthony, Edgar, Dixie, Butterscotch, etc.

Count me among those who hope you, too, will become disinterested in the reruns.

Sincerely,

Linda GC, New Mexico

Thank you, Lynn, for this strip! I am keeping this past Sunday's comic page to hang on to that last FBorFW strip. Perhaps one of these days I'll get a chance to meet you and you might sign it for me?

I started reading this strip in the late 80's, when I was a teenager and really, really got into it after I got married the first time, in 1999. I have so enjoyed following the lives of this family and their friends and neighbors. There was always something enlightening, or funny or emotion provoking...just like life!

I wasn't sure what you'd do for that last strip on Sunday, but I was happy with what I saw. It was very wonderful that you went through and truly 'tied up' the rest of the story. And while I was never a fan of the Elizabeth/Anthony marriage, I am happy to read they have a good life. And I'm even more happy to read that April is enjoying the adventure of life somewhere other than her hometown and with someone other than her childhood boyfriend!

I think it would be so wonderful if, maybe a few years down the line, you came back and did a book (or a series of strips) that come back to present so we can see April's wedding when it finally happens and so there's just a little catch up on the rest of the Patterson clan (i.e. do Elizabeth and Anthony have another kid?). Maybe you could do that in like 6 years...a lovely way to celebrate 35 years of FBorFW? Just a thought...

I'm looking forward to seeing the story from the beginning. My own son is 4 and I imagine seeing Michael as a young one will give me plenty to chuckle about as I compare him to raising my own boy. :-) I'm hoping to start purchasing your books soon, too, I'd love to have the whole collection...cleary I'll be asking for this at Christmas when asked about my wish list!
Thanks again!!!! Happy drawing, Lynn!!!

Lisa, Las Vegas, NV

Don't go !!!!! You have helped me through half or more of my adult life !!! Your FBOW family has paralled mine in so many ways, I can't bear for you to leave me !!! It's like losing an old friend !!

Lisa, Penfield, NY

Today I took the comic section from my husband as he was working on a sudoku. I turned first to the bach and your section caught my eye. I knew right away what I was reading as I read it to my husband. I almost couldn't do it, I started to cry and thinking of it now has tears welling up. It was beautiful. Thank you so much for all the years and memories and capturing the memories of so many family moments. May your retirement be as happy as John and Ellie's sounds. May none of your fans begrudge you that as you have enriched so many lives. Thanks...

Karen S, Nova Scotia

I'm grinning after reading the opening strip on Monday and Tuesday's! I think I'm going to enjoy this retelling in spite of myself! Thank you for sharing your talents with us all!

Sue B, Murrieta, CA

BAH HUMBUG ---My local paper will no longer carry FBorFW because Lynn is "re-introducing" the Patterson clan. So I will get my daily fix right here on the Web, along with the other refugees of stupid editorial decisions.

Barb, New Jersey

Well after 2 days of the "new" old strip revisited, I must say I am already bored to tears. I truly hope you will be too and come to your senses.
You can't live in the past and doing it over doesn't make it new and different. Trying to draw like you did is just denying that there was any development or learning process.
I will not be the regular reader that I have been all these years, I will check in now and then to see if sanity has visited your house, but in till then I would just be bored beyond tears.
You just can't back the truck up...the road has changed and so have you. Draw the door knob! the waffles are burning!
Very disapointed in Eugene.

Didier M, Eugene OR

Well, the tears have finally stopped falling from this 69 year old faithful reader. Your strip will be so missed, and I feel as though a personal loss has occurred since my newspaper The Newark Star Ledger has opted not to carry your story anew. Goodbye dear friend you will live in my heart for a very long time. I bid you a very warm goodbye.

William T, Bloomfield, NJ

I do not know when I first started reading fborfw, but from my first acquaintance I recognized it as something very special! I feel as if I am losing contact with my favorite family! I have LOVED the realism - so many real life experiences - handled with sensitivity and taste! It has impoarted to many readers such good values without being "preachy".

I would have been devasted had you not gotten Anthony and Elizabeth married. I've waited for YEARS.

Thank you, thank you, thank you. You must be an AWESOME mother!

Ann J, Tulsa, OK

I'm SO glad I finally visited your website! I've loved The Pattersons and all their friends since the "baby and the sunbeam" piece, too!
Over the past months I was afraid that another artist was going to take over the strip and I really didn't know how I felt about that!!
My "routine" is to open the LifeStyle section of our newspaper (The Leader, Corning, NY ), fold the sheet carefully and read FBorFW! Then on to the Crossword Puzzle of the day. There was going to be a huge hole in my heart without "my friends!"
Now that I've read your plan(s), I'm happy again! This afternoon I spent ALL my free time reading Anthony Caine's bio and love him even more!
Thank you, Lynn, and many blessings to you and your (entire) family!

Pam S, Cohocton, New York State

Dear Lynn,

First of all, congratulations for all of your success these past couple of decades! You are a gifted artist. Even though you are not retired per se, I do hope the new strip style allows you more free time to enjoy your family, traveling, etc. I cried both Saturday and Sunday after I read your strips. I began reading FBOFW in high school and enjoyed wwatching the Pattersons' children grow up as I was entering adulthood and now middle age! Everything that happened from Farley's death to Liz's love life to Grandpa's stroke were all things I could relate to as I experienced these own problems and tragedies in my own life. I though FBORFW was the most realistic comic strip out there and that was part of the appeal to me - the ability to present life's ups and downs, and still be able to laugh at life and ourselves; this is part of the beauty of living. Unfortunately, I am not thrilled about the new strip. I have no interest in going back a couple of decades to when the ki!
ds were small. I want my characters to age like the rest of us. While I certainly respect your wishes for any easier schedule to travel, spend time with family and friends, etc. I had hoped you would still occasionally include new, up-to-date strips with the characters aging normally; perhaps just once a week have a current strip. I guess that idea is not what you want and I respect it, but I am very saddened and disappointed in losing my favorite comic strip. In fact, I know I am not alone in my thoughts as my newspaper, The Indianapolis Star, has now dropped FBORFW effective today. They stated that surveyed readers are not interested in the new style of the strip and I agree with them. While I am very disappointed in the decision to end the strip as we know it, please know that I do not mean any disrespect toward you! I think the fact that I loved the strip so much is why I am upset now; some things are not meant to change. That being said, I wish you the very best! :)

Michele B, Indianapolis, IN

I opened a laser hair removal business and was trying to think of a way to comfort my frightening of laser customers. Just that weekend Lyn came out with a strip about 'shaving the sheets' with the punch line 'if you think I'm shaving something you think is weird at least let me do it in private.' I have it framed on my office wall and my clients love it. There have been a number of "extra Hair" jokes and I am trying to collect them all. Thank you for talking about what is 'real' to ladies. From yanking unwanted hair to shaving the sheets.

Dee K, Aussie

For as long as I can remember I've read FBorFW, ever since my Canadian Aunt brought the first books back from Toronto! I feel like I've grown up with them (Mike is my age!) over the past 20 years since I started to read the books and then the online version.

It's a tribute to your hard work that you have such a dedicated following throughout the globe and I will miss my daily/weekly catch ups with the Pattersons! So glad to read that everything worked out in the end, no matter how tricky it was to write, or to read...

All the best for the future!

Russ LB, London, UK

Dear Lynn & Staff,
After reading all of the many, many postings, I suppose my words will simply blend in with all the others, as I, too, want you to know that your life's work has been enhancing the lives of the millions of readers for all these many years. I look forward to the new/old strips, as much as I have to the originals.

Everything has been said: Now, relax. Enjoy. Live in the moment. And be well.

Lucia A, Montana

Dear Lynn,

One of the true to life strips you did was about Elly standing outside in her robe and slippers trying to get her puppy to do its "duty", while she shivered in the cold. That so related to my oldest daughter who was doing the same thing with their puppy. I cut that strip out and mailed to her as it was so much like her life.

I just found your website on this past Sunday's strip, the final one in this series. I was very glad to now be able to read the daily strips, as we only are able to get the Sunday paper and miss the dailies.

I will look forward to reading all the "new beginning" strips.

Norma T, Fernley, NV

Hi Lynn! I am a first time "writer" to Coffee Talk.
I too, am one of many who grew up with your stips. I too, am one of many that can relate to the death of loved ones and pets and even the return of lost loves. Thank you so much for your insight and creativity. I swear, on Thursday night, I felt real heartache upon the conclusion of the real time strips. You had just posted Anthony's completed biography. I printed it and read the entire thing. Selfishly speaking, it would have been great to see Liz's and Anthony's new life together, April growing into adulthood and the adventures of the grandbabies also growing up. But alas, you still ended on a great note and it will be exciting to recap memories of old strips.
God bless you Lynn. You have made a difference.
I will cherish your work, always!!!

Regina W, Houston TX

Has anyone noticed that the young Elly looks like Elizabeth? Cool!

Cheryl L, Forest City, NC

Ihave read your comic strip from day one, have enjoyed it greatly. The Patterson family parelled my own life with my children, situations, etc. I will miss the continuing saga. I was hoping all along that Liz would get back with Anthony. I am very sad to see the Patterson's move on. Great work for so many years. I will still keep an eye on your new venture.

Charlene A, Costa Rica

I was so upset with the direction of the comic strip. What family goes back to the beginning? A family evolves with the passing of time. I really liked watching the family grow and the children became adults with their own families. The part with the Dad/Grandfather was realistic with all the worries involved with it. It seems as if it just got to be to complicated for the artist. I for one will not be reading your comic strip anymore!!

Veronica, California

I have read "For Better Or For Worse" since after the first couple of years. I was still a young girl when it started, but once I started reading it, it became a habit that I've kept with almost daily since the early '80s. I'm going to miss the ongoing saga of the Pattersons & their family & friends, but all things must come to an end. While I haven't always agreed with all the views portrayed in the strip, the realism of the thing has been part of its appeal and what's kept me coming back time & again.

Lynn, you've had a great run & the strip will live on in publications & here on the web, & I thank you & your team for many years of enjoyment & heartfelt truth. I'm glad you ended things up the way you did with looking ahead to the characters & in their lives, & in this way not leaving us hanging. Blessings to you & your team, & may you & your husband have a great retirement together! :)

Michelle, Agassiz, BC

Dear Ms Johnston,
I'm an 84 year old geezer who has been reading your FBOFW strip since I can't remember when.
I'm also a comic stip junkie ever since my mother used to read the Katzenjammer Kids to me before I was in school...
FBOFW had me hooked when Farley gave his life to save one of the kids... remember?
And now that you've retired and un-retired I'm happy again.
Thanks for hanging in there.
My coffee will taste better each morning because of you.

Old Geezer (Frank H), Fresno, CA

Lynn,
I don't care what you do or how you do it as long as you keep doing it. The Pattersons have been neighbors of mine for so long (and I have all the books) that I can not imagine not seeing them every morning over a cup of coffee. Thank you for not calling it quits.

Lynn G, St. Paul, Minnesota

Oh, Lynn...
I became a fan of FBorFW almost a year ago (I was googling something and this website came up!). I became enthralled by your characters because they reminded me about my own family (my oldest brother got married just last saturday, like Elizabeth).

FBor FW helped me realize that no matter the culture, the country or the language families are bonded by the same thing: love.

Thank you, thank you, thank you for reminding the world for three long, rocky decades about this.

Thank you for reminding me as well.

I will miss the new cartoons a lot. I will miss Meredith, Robin, Deanna, Elizabeth, Michael, April, Anthony, Francine, Jim, Iris, John and Elly a lot.

But as the title of one of your compilations stated, there is no shadow without sunshine. I'm looking forward to read all the strips I haven't read because they're not in the archives.

Good Luck Lynn and remember that for better or for worse, you still have a giant fan base rooting for you.

Love, Kisses and Hugs.

Ana F, Monterrey, Mexico

Dear Lynn,
Thank you so much. You made me feel so normal. Every time I thought I was going nuts, you wrote about exactly the same thing with your kids. You wrote about losing your mom shortly after I lost mine. You caught it exactly! You put into words what I couldn't. I will miss the old continuing story line but know I will enjoy the new. Thankyou again with love.

Sue B, South Windsor, CT

I loved how Lynn updated us on the future of everyone, with the EXCEPTION of Iris and Francie). Being a Stepmom myself I took offense since they really are a strong part of the Patterson clan. Iris has been a wonderful stepmom to Elly and a loving step grandma to the family. Francie should have also been updated since she is Elizabeth's step daughter and Jame's sister. I don't feel that they were secondary charachters. Step parents/children are a vital part of the family

Nancy, USA

Yay, animal cruelty! What's next, throwing Fred in a blender and calling it "art"? It would be about on par with Mike's artistic prowess anyway...

Laura, California

I have been reading FBOFW since the beginning. I have 3 sons; the oldest 2 are similar in ages to Michael and Elizabeth and I have a third son born a few years after April. I have always connected to this comic strip and was so sad when we moved from the US to Belgium 4 yrs ago...until I discovered I could get it online! Reading FBOFW has been part of my morning internet routine for over 4 yrs. We are now living in Tokyo, and although I am sad I won't be able to follow the 'day-to-day' life of the Pattersons, I am happy to re-visit when my oldest 2 sons were babies! Thank you, Lynn, for keeping up with this...it is VERY much appreciated!

Sue N, Massachusetts, USA...then Belgium...now Tokyo!