Striking a Chord

Another great collection with major changes in the lives of my favorite comic strip family, the Pattersons. The family rabbit, Mr. B. dies in a touching sequence, and is quickly replaced by Butterscotch. April forms her band, and she and Gerald begin "dating" after he gives her her first kiss. Candace's Aunt Ruby is violently mugged and her store robbed. Mike and Weed go to Tokyo to do a story on a fashion diva, which gets Mike unjustly laid off. Elly's father, Jim, starts having memory lapses. Elizabeth gets a summer job with Lawrence and his partner.

This one's okay, I guess. It's pretty much the era where For Better or For Worse gets boring. I mean the rabbit dies, but not much else... um, let me rephrase that. Mr. B--April's pet bunny--croaks. That's the big plot development in the world of the Patterson clan. Oh, sure Michael and Deanna deal with their new baby and Elizabeth does college things and April does junior high things and Grandpa does old man things, but those are just so... mundane. I mean, Ms. Johnston has just made the strip too real.
--J.