For Better or For Worse (FBorFW) is a comic strip by Lynn Johnston that began in September 1979.

Set in the fictitious Toronto-area suburban town of Millborough, Ontario, the strip chronicles the lives of a Canadian family and their friends. The father, John Patterson, is a dentist whose hobby is model railroading; he appears less often than the mother, Elly, a housewife who, until recently, owned a book store. The Pattersons have three children: Michael, Elizabeth, and April. Michael is married to Deanna, Elizabeth teaches on a First Nations reserve (though she is now moving back to the Toronto area), and April is in high school. The strip also features Elly's father, Jim Richards, and his second wife, Iris.

Unusual for comic strips, the characters age in For Better or For Worse. The strip may be unique in that this occurs in real time, and fans have been known to express surprise and dismay at passing time in the story (e.g., "Michael is married?! He can't be that old!"). The closest comparisons to the strip are Gasoline Alley and Baby Blues, both of which feature characters who age progressively, though slower than real time.

The comic's characters were based upon Lynn Johnston's real family. However, the characters are substantially different from her real family. When her children were younger, she asked their permission before depicting events from their lives; and she only once used a "serious" story from their lives. ^[1] When Johnston had the urge to have another child, she settled on creating a new daughter (April Patterson) for her alter ego from the strip.

Johnston has announced that she intends to end the series in 2007 upon completion of her current contract.^[2]

In the comic's quarter century, the strip has featured a variety of storylines, as the characters and their friends age. These include Elly's return to the paid work force, John's mid-life crisis, the birth of a friend's six-fingered daughter, friends' divorces, the coming out of Michael's best friend Lawrence Poirier, child abuse (perpetrated by Gordon's alcoholic parents), the death of Elly's mother Marian Richards, and Elizabeth's experience with harassment and sexual assault at the hands of a co-worker.

The strip has also strived to present a relatively diverse and culturally sensitive portrayal. Although the Pattersons themselves are a fairly typical middle class white family, there have been recurring characters of many different backgrounds, including Caribbean, Asian, Latin American, Franco-Ontarian and First Nations cultures. Elizabeth's favourite high school teacher, who inspired her to study education herself, was a wheelchair user. Lawrence's sexuality, as well, fits into this context, as Johnston has always strived to make the strip as reflective of real life as possible.

During her second year at university, Elizabeth moved in with her boyfriend, Eric Chamberlain. She maintained her own bedroom. Elizabeth later broke up with Eric when she found out he was cheating on her.

Storylines sometimes concern the Pattersons dealing with difficult acquaintances such as Thérèse, the wife of Elizabeth's friend Anthony, who resents Elizabeth's presence, or Deanna's squabbling parents, Wilfred and Mira Sobinski.

Since the comic happens in "real time", it eventually became apparent that the Patterson's first dog, Farley, was starting to get fairly old. When he was fourteen years old, Farley saved April from drowning in a stream near the Patterson home. Unfortunately, Farley could not take the shock of the cold water or the exertion of saving April, and died of a heart attack. Very few comics permit the death of main characters, but in FBorFW, the realism demands it.

"People's emotions were kind of raw," said Johnston of the time. "I received 2,500 letters, about one-third negative. I didn't expect the response to be so great. The letters were open and emotional and honest and personal, full of stories and love."^[3]

The timing of this story line was especially noted, as it coincidentally was published at the same time as the Oklahoma City bombing.^[3] These strips were used by some parents and church groups to try and explain the concept of death to children.

The official For Better or For Worse website has a section dedicated to Farley. This includes the strips depicting his heroism and death, plus a selection of 'Farley's Spirit' strips (See External links)

In recent years, the strip has tackled more sensitive issues. In the 1993 season, Lawrence Poirier's coming out generated controversy, with some readers threatening to cancel newspaper subscriptions. About 100 newspapers ran replacement strips or cancelled the comic. Three years later Lawrence introduced his boyfriend to another, though smaller, 'uproar'. In 2001, when Michael chose Lawrence to be best man at his wedding to Deanna, Johnston ran two sets of comic strips– one for readers who had not been allowed to read the earlier coming-out story.

Explaining her decision to have Lawrence come out as gay, Johnston said that she had found the character, one of Michael's closest friends, gradually "harder and harder to bring... into the picture". Based on the fact the Patterson were an average family in an average neighbourhood, she felt it only natural to accept this change in Lawrence's character, and have the characters deal with the situation.

After two years of development, Johnston contacted her editor, Lee Salem. Salem advised Johnston send the strips well-ahead of time, so that he could review the plot and suggest any necessary changes. So long as there was no offensive material, and Johnston was fully aware of what she was doing, Universal Press would support the action.

Johnston's personal reflections on Lawrence, an excerpt from the comic collection "It's the Thought That Counts...", are included on the strip's official webpage. ^[4]

April's band 4Evah breaks up as vain friend Becky causes internal tension and eventually goes solo. Moira fires Kortney from Lilliput's while Ellie is away; Kortney had threatened April and stolen stock from the store.

Much of that summer, April spent at her aunt and uncle's farm in Manitoba.

In summer 2005, Elizabeth dealt with a co-worker, Howard, who also stalked her and tried to assault her. She was saved from the assault by Anthony, who later hinted that his marriage is failing and he wants to be with Elizabeth. Victim advocates criticized the story because the characters failed to call the police, or to take Elizabeth to the hospital to document her injuries immediately after the attack. In one strip, Elizabeth is shown complaining that her boss told her that she'll "hafta file a report" eventually.

Mira battles with Michael and Deanna's noisy neighbour (13-19 Jan). Elly considers selling Lilliput's, to be relieved of the responsibility, and be able to spend more time on herself (23 Jan-7 Feb). John talks to April, to make sure she's using the Internet in a safe and appropriate manner; she reassures him that "I can protect myself. I can choose wherever I want to go on the Internet. And you taught me to make good choices" (10-18 Feb). Paul gets transferred to Spruce Narrows to be closer to Elizabeth, but Liz's boss begins to privately question her focus on her work with such distractions (21 Feb-1 Mar). Elizabeth supervises student teacher Susan Dokis of Thunder Bay (1-4 Mar).

John and Elly travel to Mexico, while April is babysat by Connie Poirier; April resents this, feeling she is old enough to take care of herself (5-18 Mar). Mike goes to the airport to pick up John and Elly, who have returned from Mexico (20-23 Mar). Elly's father Jim celebrates his birthday (27 Mar-1 Apr). April's band gets a new member and a makeover (3-8 Apr). Elly sells Lilliput's and starts some long-neglected cleaning (10-15 Apr). John buys a car from Gordon's dealership and sees Anthony (17-22 Apr). Anthony reveals that his wife, Therèse, has left him (24-29 Apr). Meanwhile, Liz starts to question living in Mtigwaki. (Jul) Michael and Deanna battle the summer heat.

John Patterson (b. February 17, 1949), is a dentist whose hobby is model railroading. John appears less often than his wife Elly. Elly Patterson, née Richards (born August 26, 1951), is a housewife turned book store owner. She tends to take life quite seriously.

Michael (b. April 28, 1976), is oldest of Elly and John Patterson's three children. He works as a senior editor at Portrait magazine. He is married to Deanna Sobinski (b. December 13, 1976), who is a pharmacist. The couple have had two children: a daughter named Meredith Anne (b. October 10, 2002) and a baby boy named Robin Michael (b. November 1, 2004).

During the couple's marriage preparations (not to mention after!), Deanna was constantly at odds with her unruly mother.

Elizabeth (b. June 26, 1981), John and Elly's adult daughter, formerly taught on an Indian reserve in the fictional town of Mtigwaki in Northern Ontario. [4] She declined to renew her teaching contract there and is now teaching in Mississauga in the Greater Toronto Area. Throughout her childhood, her brother Michael referred to her by such names as "Lizardbreath" and "Sistwirp." She is currently in a long-distance relationship with a police officer, Paul Wright.

April (b. April 1, 1991) is the teenage daughter of John and Elly Patterson.

Elly's father, Jim Richards (b. March 21, 1921) is known to the Pattersons and readers as "Grandpa Jim". Jim is a World War II veteran of the Royal Canadian Air Force.

Iris (b. May 19, 1926) is Jim Richards' second wife, who entered the story after Elly's mother, Marian, died in 1998.

Anthony Caine

Elizabeth's boyfriend in high school, he later decided to be "just a friend.". He now manages the garage and other businesses owned by Gordon Mayes, and is married — unhappily — to Thérèse. In 2005, he told Elizabeth he was still in love with her. In April 2006, he revealed that Thérèse has moved out.

Agnes Dingle

The former landlord of Michael and Weed while the two were attending the University of Western Ontario in London. Though often moody and crabby, she was shown in several instances to have a gentle heart deep inside her.

Becky McGuire

April's on-again, off-again friend. In a January 2005 plot line, another character claimed that Becky was sexually active (in FBorFW-speak, she was labelled as "hands on", "gig" and "roadside", and was stated to have "been there"), although Becky has never confirmed this. Subsequent episodes deal with Becky's rejection by an older boy.

Candace Halloran

Elizabeth's roommate at Nipissing University in North Bay, Ontario (near Johnston's current residence in Corbeil). The two have known each other since their middle school days, but eventually grew apart. They reunited during Elizabeth's first year at university and have since become close friends.

Connie Poirier

Mother of Lawrence, and Elly's closest friend since their days at the University of Toronto.

Moira Kinney

Elly's trusted employee at the bookstore. Moira used to work for the previous owner of the toy store, Lily Petrucci. Elly kept Moira on staff when she took over the store in 2000, and Moria assumed ownership of the store in 2006.

Shannon Lake

A girl in April's home economics class who is mentally disabled and suffers from growth issues. When Shannon got lost in a mall in March 2005, April happened to be there, and was able to stay with Shannon until Mrs. Lake found her. Shannon is based on Lynn's niece Stephanie Haskins. [5]

Ted McCaulay

A doctor by profession, Ted is John's friend and was briefly married. Despite his increasing age, Ted is still single and for years lived with his mother, who died in 2005.

Lawrence Poirier

Michael's friend since childhood. In 1993 it was revealed that Lawrence is gay. He remains a family friend, and hired Elizabeth to work for his landscaping business for two summers.

Olivia "Lovey" Saltzman

Michael and Deanna's current landlord. She is very kind to Michael and Deanna, often helping the couple out by preparing meals and babysitting the kids.

Ned Tanner

Not a character but a grinning, six-inch, anatomically correct figurine with bendable plastic limbs, colourful boxer shorts and suction cups. Josef "Weed" Weeder, a photographer who often works with Michael, regards "Ned" as his tongue-in-cheek mascot. Meredith flushed Ned down the toilet, and his fate is, as yet, unknown.

"Weed" (Josef Myron Weeder)

A professional photographer who is Michael's university friend, roommate and later journalistic partner. Though not central to the storyline, in keeping with the diversity angle of the strip it has been noted a couple of times that he is Jewish (based on last names, there have likely been others, but his character is the only one in which it was noted). He bears somewhat of a resemblence to a young Geddy Lee, lead singer of the Canadian rock band Rush.

Andrea Sobinski

Deanna's older sister. She moved to Halifax to get away from her bossy mother.

Anne Nichols

The Pattersons' longtime neighbor. For years a housewife and babysitter, Anne in recent years has managed the food and catering services at a local hotel. A close confidante of Elly in the early years of the strip, she has appeared less often recently– in part because of her perpetually rocky marriage, partly modeled after Johnston's first marriage, which ended in divorce.

Ardith Narayan

Babysitter for Michael and Deanna's two children.

Beatrice Alfarero

Elly's assistant at the bookstore; hired after the firing of Kortney.

Bev Cruikshank

John's sister, who with her husband Dan operates a farm in Manitoba. Bev is modeled after Johnston's actual sister-in-law, Beth Cruikshank.

Brad Luggsworth

A grade-school classmate of Michael who bullied him in his elementary school days. He changed as an adult and became a policeman.

Brian Enjo

Michael's former classmate and the son of Keith and Carol Enjo, neighbors of the Pattersons. Moved to Japan and married a Japanese woman.

Carleen Stein

"Weed's" long-time photographic assistant, more recently his girlfriend.

Carrie Patterson

John's mother.

Dawn Enjo

She became Elizabeth's friend when her family moved into Connie Porier's former home (Connie returned a year later and bought another neighbouring house). She is a descendant of Japanese-Canadian immigrants.

Dennis North

A friend of Lawrence and his partner, Nicholas.

Duncan Anderson

April's classmate and band mate in the group 4Evah & Eva.

Eric Chamberlain

Elizabeth's ex-boyfriend from university. Elizabeth broke off the relationship when she caught him seeing another woman.

Eva Abuya

April's friend and classmate. She replaced Becky McGuire as the singer in the band 4Evah, causing it to be renamed as 4Evah & Eva.

Fiona Brass

A distant cousin of John who, during a brief stay with the Pattersons, nearly ate them out of house and home. Later became the manager of a disreputable pool hall in town.

Gary Crane

Principal of the small school where Elizabeth teaches.

Georgia Richards

Wife of Phil Richards, Elly's younger brother.

Gerald Forsythe

April's boyfriend; also a member of the band 4Evah & Eva.

Gordon Mayes

Michael's friend from childhood. The son of alcoholic and sometimes abusive parents, he made his own fortune by turning an auto-repair garage into several successful businesses (most notably a car dealership), with the help of "seed money" from John Patterson. He married his high school classmate, the former Tracey Wells, and the couple have two children.

Greg Thomas

Connie's second and current husband.

Jean Baker

John's longtime assistant at the dental clinic.

Jeremy Jones

Classmate of April. In elementary school he mercilessly bullied her and finally tried to run her down in a bicycle chase, only to crash into an oncoming car and severely break his leg. He and April reached a truce of sorts after the accident but rarely speak to each other.

Jesse Mukwa

A bright if rambunctious boy in Elizabeth's school class at the Ojibwa reservation in Mtigwaki.

Kevin Smyth

Deanna's assistant during a medical mission to Honduras in 1999.

Kortney Krelbutz

Former assistant at Elly's bookstore. Kortney was fired for embezzlement and for threatening April when she threatened to tell her mother. She retaliated by filing a lawsuit, but that storyline inexplicably vanished.

Laurie McLeod-Shabogesic

Lily Petrucci

Former owner of Lilliput's Bookstore; later retired and sold the business to Elly, who had worked there for six years.

Luis

Replaced Becky McGuire as keyboard player in the band 4Evah (now known as 4Evah & Eva)

Marian Richards

Elly's mother, who died in 1998 after a long bout with heart disease. The series about Marian's final days was heavily based on Johnston's own experiences with the death of her mother, Ursula Ridgway. A few of the real-life Ursula's quotes were placed in Marian's mouth to reflect her courage in the face of death.

Martha McRae

Michael's first girlfriend. When Michael failed his first driving test he blamed it on Martha breaking off the relationship just before the test.

Maxine Hébert

A friend of Deanna.

Melville Kelpfroth

Michael and Deanna's noisy neighbour from downstairs. Smokes a cigar, despite the "No Smoking" clause in his tenancy agreement

Mira Sobinski

Deanna's mother, notorious for her overbearing and obnoxious ways.

Nicholas Browne

Lawrence's domestic partner with whom he co-owns a landscaping business.

Paul Bergan

April's guitar instructor.

Paul Wright

A policeman with family in Mtigwaki. Elizabeth is currently in a relationship with him. He helped Elly when she fell asleep on the drive home to Toronto, and became enamored with the photograph of Liz in her mother's wallet, so contrived an excuse to meet her. Elly immediately thought of him as "Mr. (W)Right".

Phil Richards

Elly's younger brother, a trumpeter and music teacher known for being as adventurous and high-spirited as his sister is anxious and stress-prone. Lived in Millborough for several years and appeared frequently in the strip, but has appeared rarely since he and his wife, Georgia, moved to Montreal several years ago.

Rhetta Blum

Michael's second girlfriend, from his later high school years.

The New Bentwood Rockers

A band of aged musicians assembled by Jim at the retirement home where he lives. Years earlier, while living in Vancouver, he had formed another band known as the Bentwood Rockers. (But bentwood refers to a type of antique furniture.)

Ruby Andrews

Candace's aunt, who owned a convenience store in North Bay, where her niece and Elizabeth went to university. Ruby was mugged while minding the store; she recovered but later sold the business.

Rudy Dodd

Candace's boyfriend.

Sharon Edwards

Elizabeth's favourite teacher during her middle school years, Sharon inspired her greatly by building a teaching career despite being a paraplegic (she was badly injured in a motorcycle crash as a teenager). Recently married and is now Sharon Taylor.

Shawna-Marie Verano

A high-school classmate of Elizabeth.

Steve Nichols

Anne's husband and the Pattersons' neighbour. His wife once caught him having an affair, and their marriage has never fully recovered.

Thelma Baird

A kindly old woman who was the Patterson family's first neighbour. A breeder of English sheepdogs, Thelma gave a puppy to her neighbours, who named him Farley. (Johnston chose the name to honour the Canadian writer Farley Mowat.) Her death in 1987 was the first in FBorFW and served notice the strip would not shy away from serious topics.)

Thérèse Caine

Anthony's wife, she has been shown as jealous of his spending time with Elizabeth. However, she consented to bear a child with Anthony, on the condition that Anthony be the primary caregiver, since she didn't want children. Anthony has never seemed happy with the arrangement he also agreed to. In April 2006, Anthony revealed that Thérèse had left him, along with the baby girl, for another man with whom she had been having an extramarital affair with for some time. Thérèse had previously coldly told Anthony that she would not let the baby alter her career-driven ambitions. Cold, harsh, and unfeeling, Thérèse is the complete antithesis of the gentle and caring Anthony. However, it must be acknowledged that Thérèse was perfectly clear on her intentions with regard to the baby.

Tracey Mayes

wife of Gordon and a former classmate of Michael.

Vivian Crane

Warren Blackwood

A helicopter pilot who has kept up a long-distance friendship (with romantic overtones) with Elizabeth.

Wilfred Sobinski

Deanna's father; a hardware store owner.

William Patterson

John's father; a retired farmer in Manitoba.

Winnie Kelpfroth

Michael and Deanna's downstairs neighbour. Uses a broom on the ceiling at the slightest provocation of any noise from upstairs

Farley (Patterson)

Old English Sheepdog, the Patterson's first family dog. A so-called runt from the last litter of Thelma Baird's dog Lily, Elly felt sorry for the puppy and adopted him. Farley grew up alongside Michael and Elizabeth, later siring a litter of his own with the neighbor's dog Sera, resulting in his son, Edgar. Farley died shortly after rescuing April from the creek near the Patterson's home.

Edgar (Patterson)

Old English Sheepdog/Labrador Retriever mixed breed, the Patterson's second family dog, and offspring of Farley and Sera. He was part of April's rescue by barking to warn the family. After Farley's heroic passing, Edgar was promoted to the family dog position, and is at odds with the rabbit Mr. B from time to time. (Johnston often compares his character to Don Knotts)

Dixie (Patterson)

Shetland Sheepdog, the Patterson's third family dog. Originally Grandpa Jim's dog, Elly took her in after he moved into a senior residence. Dixie still misses Grandpa Jim, but has settled down into the Patterson home, taking the role as Edgar's devout follower - wherever he goes, whatever he does, she copies.

Sera (Poirier)

Labrador Retriever, the Poirier's family dog. Connie bought her as a puppy while waiting for the day when she would have grandchildren of her own to play with. After Lawrence's confession of being gay, Connie took her husband's words to heart - "Que sera sera" - and named the puppy "Sera". Sera gave birth to a litter of puppies sired by Farley, one of them adopted by the Pattersons and named Edgar.

Lily (Baird)

Old English Sheepdog, Thelma Baird's dog. From her last litter, Elly adopted the runt - as Thelma called him - and named him Farley. Lily died of old age, contributing slightly to Thelma's move from Millborough.

Mr. B

Elizabeth and April Patterson's large white rabbit. His full name is Sheldon Fuzzlewhite Bunsworthby, but has been abbreviated to simply "Mr. B". Elizabeth brought him home from her farm stay, and April took responsibility over him. He is sometimes at odds with the family dog, but not much else is known about him. Mr. B died in 2002. April has a new rabbit, Butterscotch.

Butterscotch

April Patterson's second rabbit, named for her coloring. After April's school friends found that Mr. B had died, they informed her that a schoolmate was looking for someone to take his pet rabbit. April adopted the rabbit and took her home. Though more delicate than Mr. B, Butterscotch has proven to be equally - or even more so - full of mischief, has a bad habit of emptying her cage's wood chips onto the floor, and is starting to get the hang of taking on the dogs as Mr. B once did. Butterscotch has also fallen in love with Elly's bunny slippers, either following Elly everywhere when she uses them, or "playing" with them when they are in the closet.

Daphne

One of the horses on Bev and Dan Cruikshank's farm that Elizabeth Patterson rode during her stay with them. With a mind of her own and an understanding of Elizabeth's lack of confidence with her, Daphne started to get the better of her new rider. Eventually, Elizabeth did learn to ride her properly, though she could understand why people preferred their cars to horses - softer seats being one reason.

Shiimsa

Elizabeth Patterson's cat. Discovered as a stray kitten by Elizabeth's student Jesse, he persuaded/manipulated Elizabeth to take her in. Initially unreceptive to the expense, messes and shedding hair, Elizabeth has come to love her cat, hairballs and all. (Shiimsa means "little animal friend" in Ojibwe.)

The fictional town of Milborough is located near Barrie, Ontario. Deanna described the drive up to the Pattersons' house as a two-hour drive up Yonge Street.

Mtigwaki is a fictional community near Lake Nipigon in Northern Ontario, where Elizabeth Patterson taught from 2004 to 2006.

The strip is now seen in over 2,000 newspapers throughout Canada, the United States and about 20 other countries, and is translated into eight languages from its native English. Many Americans do not realize that the strip is Canadian until either a day's strip that uses a word with a British-style spelling (i.e. favourite vs. favorite) or when a reference to something that is different in Canada vs. the U.S. (i.e. school grade numbers, a metric measurement) is used on a given day's strip. What makes this especially remarkable is that American syndicators have historically shunned a foreign strip that did not make concessions to the U.S. market and its popularity in the States proves that Americans do not have to have media from other English-speaking countries be "dumbed down" to them.

In the late 1980s, CTV produced an animated special starring the Patterson family, called A Christmas Angel. The special soon became a fairly long-running series of mini-movies. Also, the set designs (for instance, for the Pattersons' house) which these and subsequent TV programs required led Johnston to a much more sophisticated background style in the comic strips, with the layouts of homes and even towns consistent from story to story.

In 1999 Teletoon, a cable-TV cartoon channel, had Ottawa's Funbag Animation create an animated series. Featuring introductions by Lynn Johnston herself, the show looked at three related storylines from three different eras of the strip. While the TV series never really caught on, many Canadian children know this animated version better than the original comic strip.

In 2001, Visual Arts Brampton's Artway Gallery exhibited Johnston's work.

• For Better or For Worse, official website
• For Better or For Worse: Strip Fix, the current comic strip
• goComics: For Better or For Worse
• Ned Tanner, official website
• Remembering Farley on the For Better or For Worse Official website
• The FOOBiverse!'s Journal, a daily satirical view of the strip