Phil: Browse The Strips

Saturday, August 31, 2013

Lynn's Comments: This was an actual quote from my brother. I whooped when he said it. Not only was it funny, it was a punch line I didn't have to come up with!

Thursday, September 5, 2013

Lynn's Comments: I have always been at least ten pounds over the weight I want to be. When my brother was in the agonizing throes of nicotine withdrawal, I likened it to not being able to have a second helping of spuds and gravy, and he said it was not the same. I argued. I thought it was exactly the same. He just had to practice a little self-denial. He said I was completely out to lunch. Having never been a smoker, I really had no idea what he was going through.

Thursday, September 12, 2013

Lynn's Comments: Artificial cigarettes were newly on the market when I did this strip. As a non-smoker, I was fascinated by the idea. Could a placebo smoke really take the place of the real thing? Friends and family were eagerly testing this possibility, but couldn't get past the image of the pacifier to take it seriously!

Friday, September 13, 2013

Lynn's Comments: Alan bought and tried a cigarette substitute. It was a plastic inhaler with a nicotine hit. He wandered about the house trying to look nonchalant, but like all the other "quit the habit" innovations, this too was destined for failure. I had to give him credit--at least he tried. And when he flung the bogus butt into the woods one day, he didn't swear in front of the kids.

Saturday, September 14, 2013

Lynn's Comments: When my dad tried to quit smoking, he got rid of his cravings, he said, by going for a walk. We knew it was an excuse to grab a fast cigarette, 'cause Dad didn't like exercise and rarely walked anywhere!

Monday, September 30, 2013

Lynn's Comments: During my coffee house days, I was often among the great and wanna-be greats of the folk music scene. One evening I joined a group of musician friends for beer and pizza. The young man sitting next to me was rapping constantly on the table, ignoring our pained expressions. Fed up, I put my hand over his the way a mother would silence a child. He was furious! Turned out he was the drummer for a famous group. He did stop tapping, however, for which everyone was grateful!

Wednesday, October 2, 2013

Lynn's Comments: Alan's adjustment from singlehood to his relationship with Joan was a constant source of comedy. The thing I love about my brother is the way he greets adversity; he makes it into a story, which he embellishes just enough to make it great.

Saturday, October 5, 2013

Lynn's Comments: While the character, Uncle Phil, was starting to get serious about the character, Georgia, my brother had met Joan in real life. Since the quitting smoking story and the move in the strip closely and coincidentally paralleled his own life, Alan had me promise not to have Phil and Georgia announce their wedding plans until he had proposed to Joan!

Monday, November 18, 2013

Lynn's Comments: The Lynn Lake arena had a row of heat lamps along the ceiling, but the warmth dissipated long before it reached the bleachers. Parents who sat through hours of practice and many games shivered miserably despite blankets, parkas and warm winter gloves. We were grateful for rotgut coffee and the occasional shouting match, which kept us pliable.

Tuesday, November 19, 2013

Lynn's Comments: Boys really can smell terrible. A girls' locker room might have its ambient whiff, but a room full of young male hockey players can be downright asphyxiating. When it was decided that moms were no longer required for skate tie-ups and supportive hugs, women rejoiced all over town. The news made rink-side hot dogs and all-day coffee taste fine. It was, let me put it this way, "A breath of fresh air!"

Saturday, December 14, 2013

Lynn's Comments: Sure enough, a man from Ohio sent a letter telling me that he had indeed broken his foot by lifting a heavy frozen turkey by the tag, breaking the wire tie. The worst part of his injury, he confessed, was that nobody felt sorry for him. He said that as soon as they heard how it happened, they laughed. "If I had been skiing or hiking and had broken my foot, I'd have had some sympathy!" I sent him a strip. He wrote back to say it made him feel better!

Tuesday, December 24, 2013

Lynn's Comments: This is the prayer my grandfather always said before a big meal. "For what we are about to receive, may the lord make us truly thankful." We thought it was a great prayer. It was sincere. It was genuinely heartfelt, and it said what needed to be said--before the gravy got cold!

Thursday, January 23, 2014

Lynn's Comments: Recently at a friend's house, my son picked up an old trumpet--and could actually play! I was surprised he remembered something from the lessons he took so long ago, and he was surprised as well. Guess he didn't hate practicing as much as he said he did.

Thursday, July 17, 2014

Lynn's Comments: Johnny Hart (Wizard of Id and B.C.) was a wonderful cartoonist and a great friend. One of my favourite cartoons shows BC hitchhiking. Rock after rock rolls by, but the riders won't pick him up. Then the "camera" pulls back to show a sign slightly ahead of where B.C. is standing. It says, "CAUTION. DIP IN THE ROAD."

Friday, July 18, 2014

Lynn's Comments: Another cartoon I remember, was a panel in the New Yorker: Two couples are standing in front of a large, elaborate fireplace after having had an extravagant dinner in one of their homes. The caption read something like, "Dinner for dinner, lunch for lunch--.we're even." This really appealed to me. When someone asks me to dinner, I am immediately wondering when and how to reciprocate!

Tuesday, July 22, 2014

Lynn's Comments: Because my brother was so closely tied to the character, Uncle Phil, this comic strip relationship had to be carefully choreographed. I had to be careful not to write about anything that was true to life. When I introduced Georgia (a name I used as a nod to a friend from art school) Alan was single. Within a few weeks of Georgia's appearance in FBorFW, he met Joan, who looked a lot like the "girlfriend" character I had drawn.

Wednesday, July 23, 2014

Lynn's Comments: As time went by, Joan and Alan became an item and then a couple--as did the characters Phil and Georgia in the strip. One day, Alan called to say that he and Joan were getting serious and that I could not have Phil and Georgia get engaged until he was ready to propose to Joan. The strip, inadvertently, had become a window into their lives.