Name That Year!

I haven't posted about Lynn Johnston's newspaper strip For Better or For Worse here, mostly because I've been broadly in agreement with the More Words, Deeper Hole/Comics Curmudgeon gestalt take on the situation: that Johnston has turned very manipulative as her strip winds down, and that's making her twist characters to fit her preconceived and reductionist pat ending.

The biggest element of that is the nuclear-fusion -- if you shove two particles together with enough force, they'll have to merge, right? -- impending marriage of used-to-be independent daughter-of-the-family Liz and used-to-have-a-non-stalkerish-personality Anthony, which much of the strip's audience thinks is ill-conceived.

But Johnston explained it all yesterday:

For those of you who oppose Anthony as a marriage partner for Liz. Please consider the fact that he has been closely tied to her family all the while she's been away at school and up north. John and Elly invested in, buy their cars from and constantly connect with Gordon Mayes who owns a successful automotive complex with Anthony now as manager of the repairs and maintenance division. Both Elly and John regard Anthony highly and ultimately, this bodes well for Elizabeth's future with him. She respects her parents' opinions.

So, that's that -- her parents like him, so she'll marry him. And it's not like she didn't go to high school with him!

Someone should have told Johnston that sometimes explaining things makes it worse.