In the same way, most of the early "For Better Or For Worse" strips provide readers with "no real clue" that they are set in Canada. Typical images show the interior of the Patterson family home, where Elly does housework, enjoys a cup of coffee with a friend, or tucks her children into bed at night. Johnston explains that, "in the beginning... I only had a house, two kids, a dog, wife and husband to 'work with'" ("Responses"). When she was first offered her contract, Lynn Johnston famously held out for a Canadian setting (Tobin). But despite the fact that she was describing a Canadian family, its lifestyle was not one that often took readers beyond its neighborhood. Johnston acknowledges: "During the early years...the strip rarely advanced past the inner goings-on of the Patterson household" (Lives 6). As the characters aged, however, and their lives spread out across the country, "For Better Or For Worse" began to include allusions to more specific avenues of history and culture.

Labels: comic strips