For Better or For Worse by Lynn Johnston for November 15, 2012

ohhh….. poor Mike….

Shame his friends didn’t band together and turn on the bully.

Gotta remember folks, this is Canada, where the National game is played with a stick and a puck. Third man in, rule and all that.

It’s even painful to watch bullying in a cartoon! Mike’s teeth are broken and that will costs $$$ to fix,too. Parents should sue the parents of those who bully and cause such damage. Brad’ s parents probably don’t even care what he’s doing to others.

Brad’s parents should pay for all of Michael’s dental work.

Hah! Didn’t even hurt! (Now pass out, Mike!) Much! Now the macho comes out.

I’ll give Brad credit; at least he did the deed himself. One time when a girl wanted me beat up, she picked her TWO smallest friends “to make it fair” (even tho both girls were still bigger than I) to do it: one to hold me, the other to punch. I learned what the word “adrenaline” meant that day.

I recall the episope of Andy Griffith where Opie was being bullied. Barney & Andy tailed Opie, but you can only follow for so long. Opie ended up with a black eye and with a smile he told Andy, “It didn’t even hurt that much.”

that boy that started all this looks way older/bigger than Michael so why is he in the same grade/class? Is he the real loser?

yep, while the adrenaline is going, no pain, once the shock/adrenaline leaves, the pain.lol

prinicipals should be fired if they don’t stop bullies.

Suuuure, of course not! But it will later…I hope that’s not Deanna there in that group. And why didn’t his friends help him out rather than watch him get beat up?

If he got a tooth knocked out, I don’t see his parents doing nothing.

I am a non violent person but bullying gives me very violent thoughts……Brad needs a lesson or six in how to think instead of hit…..grrr but first he needs to be royally smacked!

It could be possible that Michael’s beaning Brad with the eraser was the “prepackaged excuse” that Brad was looking for any excuse to attack Michael. Brad appears to be justifying his violence on the basis he was hit with the eraser. As readily evident, he has enacted far worse retribution on Michael. This seems to be of the attitude of “blind eight people for an eye, bash several sets of teeth for a tooth”.

My parents should have sued the school AND my bully for placing a scar above my lip w/ MY soda can! All I’m sayin"!

I hope there is a good message following this strip!

Dad’s a dentist. Family rates. That bully good for business. Silent pardner?

You don’t need dental work when you get your teeth broken, I had my two front teeth chipped short when I was 12 and I sucked it up- no big deal.

Lest Y’all forget, Michael’s Dad is a dentist so it won’t break the bank to get his teeth fixed! Good parenting is the problem here. Don’t go firing and suing those who werent’ there! Brad should be set back another grade so he’ll be 35 before he ever gets out of grade school (if!) !!!

Lynn’s site no longer seems to have the “classic” character bios, but if I remember right, Brad Luggsworth came from a broken home and lived with his mom. I believe that she had some kind of problem and left Brad on his own most of the time. While that doesn’t excuse bullying, it does explain why he acted out so much.

Spoiler alert!

Brad grew up to be a policeman and was the one who arrested Elizabeth’s attacker. He became a friend of all the Pattersons.

Brad will be sorry when he learns who Michael’s father is… at his next dental appointment.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0074860/quotes?qt=qt0247589

Didn’t Brad go into the Service, then become a Police Officer in the later strips?

AHH! Shoulda read the SPOILER ALERT.

Yes,you are right – demo rats are bullies, cheaters and liars!

Don’t let the bully to hear that, or he will be back.Incidentally, parents of bullys don’t give a hoot -until another bully beats him up!!Then they raise——————————————————

Mad magazine covered the bully issue some years ago:Bully corners one man and makes him eat grass.“I’m eating, I’m eating!”Bigger guy comes along and says he’s tired of seeing him bullying others, so now you get down and eat grass“I’m eating, I’m eating” as the little guy leaves the scene.Arriving home, he is told “Look out, Big Jake is looking for you!”“Yeah, I know – we had lunch together!!!”

Mike’s dad is a dentist so all dental work is free.

& it is the job of the bullied kid’s parents to stop the bullying. The bully’s parents obviously don’t care or their kid wouldn’t be a bully in the first place. Mike’s dad should beat the crap out of Brad so he never dares bully anyone again.

I’m not surprised to hear he grew up to be a cop. It’s the #1 career choice for bullies.

This is so sad

Reminds me of high school junior year1962. I spoke to a girl at our football game.Her boyfriend was the captain.He saw us together and caught up w/ me after the game.He beat me even after i yielded.Somebody reported it.Guess who was suspended for 3 days? Not the football player. Never did return to that school. Got my revenge. i married that girl 20 years later. He became a meth head and wound up in prison.

I’m so glad HS days are long past (grad 1955)

Remembering my first school yard fight. Sigh.

His dad is a dentist — the cost is not the problem. The bully is what someone needs to do something about.

That is NOT what happens in real life. At least not in school real life. In my personal experience, this strip was pretty spot-on.