Do it to Julia! Do it to Julia!

[james_davis_nicoll]

Is it just me or does poor, expendible Julia put on about 20 pounds between these two strips? I guess Johnson felt that having Julia demonstrate in public her ability to swallow coconuts whole didn't telegraph the inevitable realization that she just isn't good enough for GrAnthony.

And yes, and Anthony is a total dick for inviting Julia to an event where Liz will be, since he must know he's just going to pine over Liz.

Comments

[ailsaek.livejournal.com]

And I keep hoping it won't happen. *sigh*

[thespian.livejournal.com]

he can pine all wants, as long as she dates someone else.

The fix is in

[(Anonymous)]

Why would you think that?

You can see the rails. It would be /hard/ for Johnston to not put them together now.

And... it's pretty clear that (1) she wants to give the characters a Happy Ending, and (2) this is the happiest ending she can think of. The fact that it makes the rest of us squirm and cringe is irrelevant.

It's really hard not to think that her own history has her nerve-stapled here. But it doesn't matter; whatever the reason, she's made it pretty clear where she's going.


Doug M.

Re: The fix is in

[ailsaek.livejournal.com]

It could all be a huge "Gotcha!" It probably isn't, but I keep hoping.

[winterknight.livejournal.com]

I was JUST thinking that. Wow. It's not just you.

[mayakda.livejournal.com]

Why do you folllow fborfw? (Not being snarky -- just wondering what it is about the strip that attracts readers)

[james-nicoll.livejournal.com]

In the old days, it was amusing enough to invest the 10 seconds that it took to read it. Also, the continuing story-lines were not as forced as they are now [1] and it was one of the very few strips where people aged.

1: The end of the Gay Lawrence story was pretty abrupt, I admit.

[phanatic.livejournal.com]

I find the FBOFW thread on Something Awful to be far, far, far more entertaining than the strip has ever been.

[pixelfish.livejournal.com]

Linkage?

[timeliebe.livejournal.com]

Love your sig - except I doubt Bush has the native intelligence or testicular fortitude to fire an assault rifle in anger! >:)

Best,
Tim Liebe (http://spousecreature.blogspot.com/)
Dreaded Spouse-Creature of Tamora Pierce (http://www.tamorapierce.com/)
- Does it show that I'm no Friend of Shrubbie's? ;)

[hobbitbabe.livejournal.com]

For me:
It's Canadian, and there are Canadian things in it.
It's a family story where kids grow up and people get old and die.
I like a lot (not all) of the values in it.

I'm hoping that Between Friends will fill that niche for me. It's promising so far.

[martin-wisse.livejournal.com]

I have to confess I'm only following it for its trainwreck like fascination and because it's such a good source for snark. Never read it before it got bad.

[thespian.livejournal.com]

the black at the front of her in the first comic, 3rd panel, is actually shading on her, not on the background. You can see part of the curve of her breast just above the elbow in that panel.

[(Anonymous)]

I've read the last month or so. Flinch.

Funny thing is, it's still probably around 75th percentile for newspaper comics.

Julia: short, fat, and ill-mannered too... I wonder if she'll be all over Anthony a bit later, emphasizing his desirability and all.


Doug M.

In Anthony's defense

[(Anonymous)]

One, inviting person B to the event where you know person A will be, when you're really much more interested in A than B?

That's very common. Falls IMO into "understandable poor judgment", well short of "total dick".

Two, he's lost the moustache. Give him that.


Doug M.

Re: In Anthony's defense

[james-nicoll.livejournal.com]

Two, he's lost the moustache. Give him that.

Ah, the glue holding it on probably gave way.

Re: In Anthony's defense

[pixelfish.livejournal.com]

It would be "understandable poor judgement" if Anthony didn't have a pattern of turning it into something more.....re: Therese. As far as I know Anthony knows damn well that he's got the hots for Liz but CONTINUES to pull people along for the ride. Getting married, inviting the "one that got away" to the wedding, and visibily pining after her all the way through the engagement....that's riding into the realm of total dickery. He obviously didn't learn his lesson.

[hobbitbabe.livejournal.com]

It took me longer than usual to get this far in the paper today, since there was something on the first page I needed to write them about.

So you beat me to it. Today, Julia looks like Shannon the teenager with Down's syndrome (shown as a sympathetic character but not a sexual one), or like one of Mike's landladies (ditto). The writing was on the wall, so to speak, before the dialogue was added.

Andrew wasn't pining until he saw the handsome Mason escorting her, either. Which sort of makes it worse.

[mjlayman.livejournal.com]

I was thinking her shape was like the woman who bought the store from the mother.

[missingvolume.livejournal.com]

And today's Something Positve chimes in on FBOFW as well.
http://www.somethingpositive.net/sp06122007.shtml

[fengi.livejournal.com]

Also, what happened to Liz's super attractive date? Is he just going to be dropped, or did I miss the strip where he was rendered unavailable?

Johnston keeps offering fakeout alternatives for Liz's story. I assume this is meant to be tension building obstacles to the preferred outcome, but in reality it further emphasizes how not inevitable and inadequate her planned conclusion will be.

[james-nicoll.livejournal.com]

I think the dark haired guy is supposed to be Mason.

[jrittenhouse.livejournal.com]

Me, I'm getting sick of the whole thing. I'm beginning to hope that Liz gets an offer to teach kids in Australia and just moves away.

[elynne.livejournal.com]

I haven't exactly been following the strip closely at all really, so I'm just going by what's been written about it (mostly here), but having Mason molest Liz and GrAnthony Charge To Her Rescue (TM) and then ask for/demand a date immediately afterwards seems appropriate to the venue. Bonus points if GrAnthony gets nagged at/dumped by Julia in the process of Charging To The Rescue (TM).

[jeffreyab.livejournal.com]

Julia's chin disappears between the two strips making her look heavier.

Liz is in transition she does not need a new/old guy she should just go for some onion rings and then a ride on her motorcycle.

What ever happened to biker Liz anyway?

[pixelfish.livejournal.com]

It scared mummy too much....so she gave it up. Just like everything else that scares mummy too much: living up North, interracial marriage, being independent from her family.....

Liz has been spayed and neutered in the service of bringing her back to the fold. The character I found interesting is more or less gone.

[thebitterguy]

I love the Comic Strips Without Pity posts.

[movingfinger.livejournal.com]

[Delurking, baited]

Julia: no, she's presented as a chunky gal in her first appearance there too.

Johnston has lobotomized and declawed all her women characters. How about Deanna? She had some very interesting experiences, remember? But as far as we can see, she's forgotten. We never saw her at work or traveling. All she's interested in now is children and decorating. Turning Liz into a chickenshit Mama's girl, re-infantilizing her, is par for the course. She's doomed to get hitched with that zombie dick, Anthony.

April's going to suffer the most.

Until I saw your posts on friend jonquil's flist I thought nobody else was noticing the creeping creepiness of this strip...

[mmcirvin.livejournal.com]

The Comics Curmudgeon has been on it for quite a while.

[(Anonymous)]

Since you seem to hate Anthony as well, you'll probably love this: Why I Hate Anthony - http://shaenon.livejournal.com/29475.html. It was all the rage a few months back amoung the web community who of fbofw fans who hate fbofw.

[antikythera.livejournal.com]

So... Anthony lost his chance with Liz and now he's stuck with an uncouth overtalkative fat chick? That's low, Johnston. And I'm speaking from the fat chick perspective here.