Social Distancing in the Strip?

John Patterson in mask and gloves

We’ve had a few people ask us why the FBorFW characters aren’t wearing masks and social-distancing in the strip.

As you may be aware, the current strips you’re seeing were originally written and published in the early 90s—For Better or For Worse is being re-run, and we have chosen to run the strips as they were. With that being said, we have made some changes, such as making sure everyone in a car has a seat belt on.
The issue of masks and social distancing is a tough one for us. If we were to make the changes you are suggesting, which are good suggestions, we would have to rewrite the
entire strip, which we are not in a position to do at this time.
You are not alone in your thoughts, but we also hear the opposite opinion where people are happy to see normalcy in the strip as we are bombarded with Covid news everywhere we turn these days. We certainly take your comments into consideration, but at this time, I am doubtful that we will ever reference the pandemic, or any other significant current event, in the strip.
Thank you for your understanding.

Lynn’s Recipes: Mom Ridgway’s Cherry Loaf Cake

We’ve been collecting recipes from Lynn’s family’s collection, for your enjoyment. This special cherry cake was featured in this Sunday strip (and check out Lynn’s note about how her Mom turned the tables on her one day, making Lynn bake it herself!)

You can find the whole recipe series here. Hope you enjoy!

Ingredients

1 ¾ cups flour
2 tsps. baking powder
½ tsp salt
¼ tsp nutmeg
½ cup butter
1 cup granulated sugar
3 egg yolks lightly beaten
1 tsp vanilla
½ cup milk
3 egg whites stiffly beaten
1 cup maraschino cherries

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350°. Sift flour with baking powder and salt. Add nutmeg.
In a separate bowl, cream together butter and sugar. Add egg yolks and vanilla. Mix until light
and fluffy.
Using an egg beater, add alternately 1 ¼ cup of flour mixture with milk and beat until smooth.
Fold in egg whites.
Sprinkle ½ of remaining flour mixture over batter, then add cherries. Sprinkle remaining flour
over cherries (This keeps them from sticking together) and mix well.
Place batter in a lightly greased loaf pan and bake for 1 hour or less (until a tooth pick comes
out clean). Don’t over bake.
Warning: When cooled, this cake disappears almost immediately.

Free Livestream of “Hand Drawn Life” Comics Documentary: Sat. Nov. 21st

Tom Tanquaray’s film, Hand Drawn Life, will stream free on Sat Nov 21st on YouTube Live. Sign up in the link below. Please pass this along to anyone you think would be interested. It’s a feedback forum so comments are encouraged (hopefully positive). While this film predates the current pandemic and other crises, Tom hopes it shows why comics are an important outlet to mirror the common experiences and express the collective anxieties.

Saturday, 21 November 2020 from 8:00 PM to 11:00 PM (EST)

Click here for the invite and to sign up to watch!

It’s October! Time For Our Halloween Games

We know some of you leave your Halloween decorations up all year long, so we didn’t want to make you wait any longer for our games!

Monster Match game graphic

Tricky Treat – try our challenging matching game here.
Halloween Treats – clear the board with our Halloween treat game
Halloween Colouring Pages – print and colour Lynn’s Halloween line art
Monster Match – match Lynn’s monstrously silly doodles
Pumpkin Carving Stencils – want a classic FBorFW-style Jack O’Lantern? get your stencil here

Watch Lynn Interview Patrick McDonnell

From this year’s NCS Fest: click to watch the interview!

Join host and For Better Or For Worse creator LYNN JOHNSTON in celebrating PATRICK McDONNELL’S journey over the past 25 years with his iconic comic strip, MUTTS and everything along the way. Patrick is this year’s Elzie Segar Award-winner for his unique and outstanding contribution to the profession of cartooning.

Lynn and Patrick talk about everything from early influences like their friend, the late Charles Schulz, to the fantastic Lynda Barry, and working with Abrams Comic Arts Editor Charlie Kochman on Patrick’s new Book, The Art of Nothing. (Which is really something.)