FBOFW: you had me and you lost me entry.

Eh, I'll just post this one separately. It's old but applicable.

"It takes a lot for me to stop reading a comic. Having been both a storyteller and a failed cartoonist, I understand the amount of work that goes into creating one of these strips. I also have come to understand that no matter what I think, it's the cartoonist's story. They are investing a portion of themselves into this work, and I'm not one to take pleasure in insulting that story or the work behind it. I've only deliberately stopped reading two comics in the past, and one of those I started reading after a two month break.
Thus it's with... considerable distaste that I'm putting aside a comic that is among the oldest of the storyline comics I've read. For Better or For Worse predates the Internet (or at least the World Wide Web). It predates even my own interests in writing, and was a childhood icon, showing the life and times of a small Canadian family. Perhaps it was a tad simplistic at times, especially as the world around us grew in complexity, but there was a simple wholesome joy to the comic that shined through and kept me reading.
That purity has been sullied. The comic is descending into the worse form of storytelling, when the author forces her own interests and desires onto the characters rather than letting them tell their own story. And by that I am talking about the contrived romance growing between Elizabeth and Anthony.
Part of the problem lies with Johnson's own storytelling skill. She has, over the decades, crafted a young lady who is vibrant, beautiful in body, mind, and spirit, and intelligent. I've watched as she opened her wings and took flight, leaving the nest and establishing herself elsewhere. And then I watched as Johnson took a net and captured her young wayward swallow and dragged her back to the nest and away from the community and freedom she'd claimed as her own.
The homesickness she felt was sudden, unexpected, and artificial. It truly felt like Johnson decided one day to wrap everything up in a box with her created family all together again. That meant of course that young Elizabeth couldn't be allowed to create her own nest elsewhere and had to be brought home. And the character has shown this. We've seen how incredibly unhappy Elizabeth has been since she came home. The character has been miserable, and I don't think it was because Johnson was writing her as such, but rather because the character herself was struggling against her creator. Having written before, I've experienced when the characters try to take control of the story, and I've seen how when you let them, it can result in some truly spectacular stories. It's a scary feeling letting them take control... but you have to trust in them. They know best.
Instead, Johnson decided to continue her plan to wrap everything up and next in line was to have Elizabeth "fall in love" with her high school sweetheart Anthony. Unfortunately, Anthony has not grown as a character. He's slowly rotted in the mulch Johnson planted him in, his roots slowly dying and his leaves withering. Fans started calling him "Blanthony" and worse. I've watched as he existed in an unhappy marriage and muddled his way through... and realized the truth about this one-dimensional character.
He's a "Nice Guy." Note the quotation marks. This isn't a good thing. "Nice Guys" aren't (to put it simply). I suppose I should explain. A "nice guy" is a quiet and seemingly decent individual who inevitably ends up passed over by girls and life in general. The reason for this is they don't try. Instead they blame others for their shortcomings. Girls don't choose them because they "prefer jerks." Bosses don't promote them because of "the old boy's network" or the like. These "Nice Guys" are passive-aggressive individuals who ultimately have only themselves to blame for their shortcomings.
I should know. I was once one of them. I grew a spine and outgrew it. I am to blame for my shortcomings. Thus I (the former pot) can tell when the kettle is black.
Still, just being a "Nice Guy" isn't a death knell for character development. I grew a spine. So could Anthony. And it seemed almost like he was going to, when he protected Elizabeth from an attack and sexual assault one summer... and then he threw it onto the fire and gained the disdain and disgust of millions of fans when he then emotionally assaulted Elizabeth and all-but stated that he, a married man, was interested in her.
Here we have, a young lady who had just suffered an attack that literally wounds the very soul (and having been the victim of both being assaulted and of sexual harassment, I know how even an unsuccessful attack can leave someone shaken for weeks afterward... it is a violation, a loss of security and of knowing the world isn't safe anymore...) who then had the man who protected her, who saved her... turn on her and ask for something she didn't want to do. Anthony wanted her to be "The Other Woman" while he left his wife.
Back then, Johnson didn't have complete control over Elizabeth's character (I think it took lobotomizing the character to gain that control) and the girl showed understandable horror at the offer. Anthony immediately went from Hero to Heel and in many ways became no better than the man who had attacked Elizabeth physically.
Sometime between then and now, Johnson managed to crush Elizabeth's spirit. Anthony became "desirable" (despite the fact several other men who were considerably more mature and fleshed out (ironic when you consider Anthony's been around for far longer than them) are interested in her) and Johnson started a game of cat-and-mouse, of teasing Anthony just out of Elizabeth's reach and then Elizabeth just out of Anthony's reach. No doubt this was a lame attempt to get the fans to root for this contrived relationship. Instead, it made me reach for the antacid. I'm a romantic at heart. I believe in the happily-ever-after and in true love and all of that... and I detest this little "union."

Incidentally, this old entry is STILL GETTING COMMENTS. It's on to six pages now, most recent being a fe days ago. Amazing.