For Better or For Worse by Lynn Johnston for October 21, 2022

tough, Anthony

Is that Dawn purring up on a guy in panel 2?

Anthony, if you are interested you ask.

When you don’t ask, the answer is always NO.

Having for some odd reason missed this Anthony character the first time around, I was surprised to hear a couple of references that he turned out to be some sort of monster. Still not looking for spoilers, but now that I see that trademark (for this strip) mouth open at a 45 degree angle with the prerequisite gap toothed “I’m goofier than Jethro Bodine” look, it’s starting to make sense.

Poor Anthony.

I was an Elizabeth and never knew when a guy “liked” me.

I had a very good friend named Mark, all throughout high school. We were great friends.

It wasn’t untill 20 years later, me married and with a child, that Mum said to me “you should have married Mark. He was always so crazy about you.”

My answer was something like ”HUH?”.

I was so blind and had absolutely NO idea. Four years of high school and he was always there.

Don’t worry Anthony, she will see your beaming love light eventually.

(PS Mum was right. I should have married Mark)

“Yon (Anthony) has a lean and hungry look.

He thinks too much. Such men are dangerous."

William Shakespeare—“Julius Caesar”

“So, Anthony, where do you live?“ …… “I have no HOOOOOOME!!!”

I have read this strip almost every day from the beginning, except for a couple of years in the late 80’s when I didn’t get the paper.

We didn’t have online comics or forums when this arc was running, only the newspaper, so I didn’t get to hear other opinions except occasionally from a few friends…. but I don’t remember anybody saying Antony was a creep.

He was a gawky teenage guy, and Elizabeth’s friend when he wanted to be more…. so he hung around, like a shy teenager would… but I never saw it as stalking.

His gaping expression is just Lynn’s occasionally overly comical style of drawing some characters… she’s trying to make him look a bit goofy so we know why Liz doesn’t take him for a romantic hero…

But considering his later role in the strip, which probably hadn’t even been dreamed up at this point, I seriously doubt he was ever meant to be evil or a creep.

Maybe some of you think that’s naive…

But I think there’s also enough unrealistic conjecture here to more than balance that out.

It’s like the office water cooler or the neighborhood coffee klatch… looking for gossip and magnifying stories.

This was a family strip… Liz having a stalker wouldn’t fit Lynn Johnson’s mold.

There are some slightly heavy or socially aware subjects tackled… but you always know there’s meant to be a “message”, by the way it’s showcased and remarked upon.

I don’t remember that happening in an arc about Antony.

I’m willing to change my opinion if someone shows me something that will do it, but for now, I’ll keep my impression that he’s just an awkward kid with a crush and a goofy expression.

Hey Anthony, don’t blow it. You just met this girl and you just asked her to lunch for the first time and the first thing she can say to you is about couples hooking up romantically. There is a subconscious hint hidden there. For me that wouldn’t happen until I took her for lunch at least 3 to 4 months in a row.

Sometimes the obvious just isn’t in anyone’s mind until it dawns on people too late.

Keep wishing!

And the snail race has begun.By the time they finally got married,they were eligible for Social Security

Anthony, it’s time to screw up your courage, and tell Elizabeth how you feel. (Spoiler Alert Anthony; things will work out.)

Every person (including her father) told me Ishould NOT marry my wife. Before the honeymoon was over, I agreed with them. Two and a half years later, were divorced!

Instead of thinking, he should say it!

Patience my boy, patience…