Various local bluenoses here in Winston-Salem got worked into a froth a while back when our local paper, The Winston-Salem Journal, rearranged the comics page, dropping Peanuts reruns and adding Lio to that prime spot on the front page of the comics section. Relentless griping ensued, and as a result Beyond the Hedge was dropped, Peanuts returned, and Lio moved into the interior of the comics section.
That hasn’t appeased these grousers, however, and there’s been a steady stream of complaining about the continued presence of Lio. My favorite letter, is the following, which was a response to Lio cartoonist Mark Tatulli’s spot-on parody of the inexplicably well-loved strip For Better or For Worse:
The March 25 comic strip For Better or Worse was a blessing to me as a subscriber to the Journal and an avid reader of the Sunday comics.
Lynn Johnston, its creator, is to be commended for putting forth a family-friendly feature. I was especially touched by its final frame, in which John and Elly Patterson pledge, after visiting her elderly parents, to keep falling in love with each other if one or the other of them loses his or her memory.
Unhappily, I was not blessed to read Mark Tatulli’s Lio, in which John and Elly’s family was spoofed. The family-friendly behavior of Lynn Johnston’s creation was reversed to portray the very opposite, all in the name of entertainment. Fie, for shame!
WILLIAM K. ACH
Here’s the strip in question:
So, you think I was just being a jerk when I used the term “bluenoses” now? You gotta love that last line: “Fie, for shame!”
WON’T SOMEONE PLEASE THINK OF THE CHILDREN?!?!
Anyway, given that people apparently like to write to papers to bitch about this kind of stuff, and that comics editors are notorious for responding to said bitching by dropping the strips in question (a situation which obviously leads to a comics page noteable mainly for being bland, innocuous and insipid) I thought I’d further my newfound role as a letter-writing crank, by writing the editorials page in support of Lio:
It’s well known that folks are quick to complain, yet slow to complement, and certainly this propensity has been in clear evidence since The Journal had initially dropped “Peanuts” and added Mark Tatulli’s “Lio” to the comics page. I’d like to buck this trend, however, and voice my wholehearted support for your addition of “Lio.” Tatulli’s strip is visually challenging, innovative and quite funny. Aside from “Mutts,” it’s just about the last bastion of quality cartooning evident among current offered newspaper strips. As for those folks who have complained that the strip is “morbid,” they need look no further than a strip or two to one side of “Lio” to witness true morbidity: strips like “Blondie” and “Dennis the Menace” which continue to shamble on lifelessly, decades after their creators have shuffled off this mortal coil.
1 comment
Here’s the crazy thing. My 4yr-old daughter loves Lio. It’s her favorite strip. She doesn’t always get it (we have to explain some of the punchlines), but hands-down, it’s the one she wants to know about first. And I read her everything she wants me to, unless it has some kind of “adult” story going on. Which brings me to “For Better or Worse.”
Often I can’t read it to my daughter because of storylines like Elizabeth’s assault. Just stuff I don’t want her exposed to. (I did read her the story about the grandpa recovering from a stroke, which has been useful when discussing Real! Life! Issues!)
I like FBoW (well, I did until Anthony loomed large like the end of days). I also like Funky Winkerbean, but I’m glad it’s not in our paper so I don’t have to explain cancer every five seconds.
I think it goes to show that what adults think of as heartwarming/family oriented, and what kids like/want are two totally different things.
Justin