Ah, blasts from the past.

I attended college in Alliance Ohio, between 1969-1973, (Mount Union College, class of 1973). Go Raiders. After checking most of the local Sunday papers, Plain Dealer, Akron Beacon Journal and Canton Repository, I choose the Beacon Journal as my Sunday paper, partly because I liked their version of comics and because their editorial page didn't just reprint the GOP weekly points.

There was a column in my NJ local paper, Newark Star Ledger, listing FBoFW as one of the better strips, at which time I started to read it. Michael was probably in high school. Even then, the dad seemed a bit removed from the family, but I'll blame it on his full time job and Lynn staying home with the herd. Such that Lynn would be there for more of the daily drama of teenagers.

I do wish Lynn and Bill Amend (Foxtrot) would return to daily strips. Right now, all we get are Funky Winkerbean and Luann, and the Ledger has taken to shrinking the strips down, Much smaller and they can stop printing them altogether, as nobody will be able to read them.

Re: Jon's being a jerk in early FBoFW strips. I think that's a reflection of the times. I remember reading one of Johnston's compilations - It's The Thought That Counts? - in which she describes her family looking at her strips like a family album...

So much of FBoFW is based on Johnston's wish-fulfillment. The whole character of April, of course; Johnston had a late baby in the strip rather than in real life. And some commentators remarked how unrealistic it was to have Elizabeth room with two guys and still be a virgin on her wedding day, which makes sense if we consider it Ellie/Lynn's fantasy.

If Jon's attitude is a little rough, it's possibly because it didn't occur to Johnston to "enlighten" him, or possibly she meant it to reflect real life. I can remember giving new-parent friends copies of Johnston's first books - David, We're Pregnant! Hello Mom! Hello Dad! and Do They Ever Grow Up? - and them remarking on how true-to-life they were.

"All of a sudden life seems so important!"

About revised FBOFW: No, John wasn't a jerk originally. The changed attitude is a result of the author's divorce and how she has chosen to reflect it in her revised strips.

John was definitely a jerk in the early years of FOR BETTER OR FOR WORSE. I have most of the clipped strips and all but the last couple book collections so it's easy to confirm. [The night school gag, for instance, is on page 12 of Is This "One of Those Days," Daddy?.] Flip through I've Got the One-More-Washload Blues with the earliest strips and you'll see a shallow, sexist John who's a far cry from the more-rounded figure who developed as Johnston matured and expanded her vision beyond going for easy gags at the expense of character. I haven't compared the current hybrid to the originals in any detail but it seems to me the new material in the 2009 version is specifically designed to balance the lack of depth in the early reprints.