For Better or For Worse is a comic strip by Lynn
Johnston that began in September 1979.

Set in the fictitious Toronto-area suburban town
of Millborough, Ontario, the strip chronicles the
lives of a Canadian family and their friends. The
father, John Patterson, is a dentist whose hobby
is model railroading; he appears less often than
the mother, Elly, a housewife turned book store
owner.

The happy couple have three children: Michael,
Elizabeth, and April. Michael is married to
Deanna, Elizabeth teaches on an Indian
reservation, and April is in high school. The
strip also features Elly's father, Jim Richards,
and his second wife, Iris.

Unlike most comic strips (the best known exception
being Gasoline Alley, but also the newer strip
Baby Blues), the characters age in real time; fans
have been known to express surprise and dismay at
passing time in the story, such as "Michael is
married?! He can't be that old!"

The comic's characters were based upon
Johnston's real family. However, the characters
are substantially different from her real family.
When her children were younger, she asked their
permission before depicting events from their
lives; and she only once used a "serious" story
from their lives. [1] When Lynn Johnston had the
urge to have another child, she settled on
creating a new daughter (April Patterson) for her
alter ego from the strip.

Johnston has stated that the strip will end in
2007.

Past Storylines
In the comic's quarter century, the strip has
featured a variety of storylines, as the
characters and their friends age. These include
Elly's return to the paid work force, John's
mid-life crisis, the birth of a friend's
six-fingered daughter, friends' divorces, the
coming out of Michael's best friend Lawrence
Poirier, and the death of Elly's mother, Marian
Richards.


Current Storylines
Storylines sometimes concern the Pattersons
dealing with difficult acquaintances such as
Kortney, a dishonest employee who worked for Elly;
Becky, April's vain friend and bandmate in 4Evah;
and Thérèse, the wife of Elizabeth's friend
Anthony, who seemingly resents Elizabeth's
presence. Deanna's squabbling parents, Wilfred
and Mira Sobinski, are recurring characters.

Storylines covered in summer 2005 include: the
imminent breakup of April's band "4Evah",
Elizabeth being stalked by her co-worker Howard,
and April spending the summer at her aunt and
uncle's farm in Manitoba.


Unconventional Comic Storylines
Since the comic happens in "real time", at one
point it became apparent that the Patterson's
first dog, Farley, was starting to get fairly old.
When he was fourteen years old, Farley saved April
from drowning in a stream near the Patterson home.
Unfortunately Farley could not take the shock of
the cold water, or the exertion of saving April,
and the dog died of a heart attack. Very few
comics have main characters die. In FBorFW, the
realism demands it.

In recent years, the strip has tackled more
sensitive issues. The 1993 series on Lawrence's
coming out generated controversy, with some
readers threatening to cancel newspaper
subscriptions. About 100 newspapers ran
replacement strips or cancelled the comic. Later,
Lawrence introduced his boyfriend and another
uproar ensued. In 2001, when Michael chose him to
be his best man at his wedding to Deanna, Johnston
ran two sets of comic strips - one for readers who
had not been allowed to read the earlier
coming-out story.

During her second year at university, Elizabeth
moved in with her boyfriend, Eric Chamberlain. She
maintained her own bedroom. Elizabeth later broke
up with Eric when she found out he was cheating on
her.

Elizabeth dealt with a co-worker, Howard, who also
stalked her and tried to assault her. She was
saved from the assault by Anthony, who later
hinted that his marriage is failing and wants to
be with Elizabeth.


Characters

Main characters

John and Elly Patterson
John Patterson (b. February 17, 1949), is a
dentist whose hobby is model railroading. John
appears less often than his wife Elly. Elly
Patterson (born August 26, 1951), nee Elly
Richards, is a housewife turned book store owner.
She tends to take life quite seriously, sometimes
to the point of appearing grumpy.


Michael and Deanna Patterson
Michael (b. April 28, 1976), is oldest of Elly and
John Patterson's three children. He works as a
senior editor at Portrait magazine. He is married
to Deanna (b. December 13, 1976), who is a
pharmacist. The couple have had two children: a
daughter named Meredith (b. October 10, 2002) and
a baby boy named Robin Michael (b. November 1,
2004).

During the couple's marriage preparations (not to
mention after!), Deanna was constantly at odds
with her unruly mother.


Elizabeth Patterson
Elizabeth (b. April 26, 1981), John and Elly's
adult daughter, teaches on a Indian reservation in
the fictional town of Mtigwaki in northern
Ontario. Throughout her childhood, her brother
Michael referred to her by such names as
"Lizardbreath" and "Sistwirp."


April Marian Patterson
April (b. April 1, 1991) is the teenage daughter
of John and Elly Patterson.


Jim Richards
Elly's father, Jim Richards (b. March 21, 1921)
is known to the Pattersons and readers as
"Grandpa Jim". Jim is a World War II veteran of
the Royal Canadian Air Force.


Iris
Iris (b. May 19, 1926) is Jim Richards' second
wife, who entered the story after Elly's mother,
Marian, died in 1998.


Supporting characters
Agnes Dingle 
The former landlord of Michael and Weed while the
two were attending the University of Western
Ontario in London. She is often moody and crabby
but does have a gentle heart that is deep inside
her; this was shown in a few episodes. 
Candace Halloran 
Elizabeth's roommate at Nipissing University in
North Bay, Ontario (near Johnston's current
residence in Corbeil). The two have known each
other since their middle school days, but
eventually grew apart. They reunited during
Elizabeth's first year at university and have
since become close friends. 
Moira Kinney 
Elly's trusted employee at the bookstore. Moira
used to work for the previous owner of the toy
store, Lily Petrucci. Elly kept Moira on staff
when she took over the store in 2000. 
Shannon Lake 
A girl in April's home economics class with
special needs. When Shannon got lost in a mall in
March 2005, April happened to be there, and was
able to stay with Shannon until Mrs. Lake found
her. [2] 
Ted McCauley 
A doctor by profession, Ted is John's friend and
was briefly married. Despite his increasing age,
Ted is still single and lives with his mother. 
Becky McGuire 
(14 years old as of September 2005) April's
friend. In a January 2005 plot line, another
character claimed that Becky was sexually active
(in FBorFW-speak, she was labelled as "hands
on", "gig" and "roadside", and was stated to
have "been there"), although Becky has never
confirmed this. Subsequent episodes deal with
Becky's rejection by an older boy. 
Lawrence Poirier 
Michael's friend since childhood. In 1993 it was
revealed that Lawrence is gay. The Pattersons are
still friends with him, and he has hired Elizabeth
to work for his landscaping business for two
summers. 
Olivia "Lovey" Saltzman 
Michael and Deanna's current landlord. She is
very kind to Michael and Deanna, often helping the
couple out by preparing meals and babysitting the
kids. 
Ned Tanner 
Not a character but a grinning, foot-long
anatomically correct figure with bendable plastic
limbs and suction cups. Josef "Weed" Weeder, a
photographer who often works with Michael, regards
"Ned" as his tongue-in-cheek mascot. 
"Weed" (Josef Myron Weeder) 
A professional photographer who is Michael's
university friend, roommate and later journalistic
partner. 

Minor characters
Andrea Sobinski 
Deanna's older sister. 
Anne Nichols 
The Pattersons' longtime neighbor. For years a
housewife and babysitter, Anne in recent years has
managed the food and catering services at a local
hotel. A close confidante of Elly in the early
years of the strip, she has appeared less often
recently - in part because of her perpetually
rocky marriage, partly modeled after Johnston's
first marriage, which ended in divorce. 
Anthony Caine 
Elizabeth's boyfriend in high school, he later
decided to be "just a friend." He now manages
the garage and other businesses owned by Gordon
Mayes, and is married - unhappily - to Thérèse. 
Ardith Narayan 
Babysitter for Michael and Deanna's two children.

Beatrice Alfarero 
Elly's assistant at the bookstore; hired after
the firing of Kortney. 
Bev Cruikshank 
John's sister, who with her husband Dan operates
a farm in Manitoba. Bev is modeled after
Johnston's actual sister-in-law, Beth Cruikshank.

Brad Luggsworth 
A grade-school classmate of Michael who bullied
him in his elementary school days. He changed as
an adult and became a policeman. 
Brian Enjo 
Michael's former classmate and the son of Keith
and Carol Enjo, neighbors of the Pattersons. Moved
to Japan and married a Japanese woman. 
Carleen Stein 
"Weed's" longtime photographic assistant, more
recently his girlfriend. 
Carrie Patterson 
John's mother. 
Connie Poirier 
Mother of Lawrence and Elly's closest friend,
dating to their days at the University of Toronto.

Dawn Enjo 
She became Elizabeth's friend when her family
moved into Connie Porier's former home (Connie
returned a year later and bought another
neighboring house). She is a descendant of
Japanese-Canadian immigrants. 
Dennis North 
A friend of Lawrence and his partner, Nicholas. 
Duncan Anderson 
April's classmate and bandmate in the group
4Evah. 
Eric Chamberlain 
Elizabeth's ex-boyfriend from university.
Elizabeth broke off the relationship when she
caught him seeing another woman. 
Fiona Brass 
A distant cousin of John who, during a brief stay
with the Pattersons, nearly ate them out of house
and home. Later became the manager of a
disreputable pool hall in town. 
Gary Crane 
Principal of the small school where Elizabeth
teaches. 
Georgia Richards 
Wife of Phil Richards, Elly's younger brother. 
Gerald Forsythe 
April's boyfriend; also a member of the band
4Evah. 
Gordon Mayes 
Michael's friend from childhood. The son of
alcoholic and sometimes abusive parents, he made
his own fortune by turning an auto-repair garage
into several successful businesses. 
Greg Thomas 
Connie's second and current husband. 
Jean Baker 
John's assistant at the dental clinic. 
Jeremy Jones 
Classmate of April. In elementary school he
mercilessly bullied her and finally tried to run
her down in a bicycle chase, only to crash into an
oncoming car and severely break his leg. He and
April reached a truce of sorts after the accident
but rarely speak to each other. 
Jesse Mukwa 
A bright if rambunctious boy in Elizabeth's
school class at the Ojibwa reservation in
Mtigwaki. 
Kevin Smyth 
Deanna's assistant during a medical mission to
Honduras in 1999. 
Kortney Krelbutz 
Former assistant at Elly's bookstore. Kortney was
fired for embezzlement and for threatening April
when she threatened to tell her mother. 
Laurie McLeod-Shabogesic 
Lily Petrucci 
Former owner of Lilliput's Bookstore; later
retired and sold the business to Elly, who had
worked there for six years. 
Marian Richards 
Elly's mother, who died in 1998 after a long bout
with heart disease. The series about Marian's
final days was heavily based on Johnston's own
experiences with the death of her mother, Ursula
Ridgway. A few of the real-life Ursula's quotes
were placed in Marian's mouth to reflect her
courage in the face of death. 
Martha McRae 
Michael's first girlfriend. When Michael failed
his first driving test he blamed it on Martha
breaking off the relationship just before the
test. 
Maxine Hébert 
a friend of Deanna. 
Mira Sobinski 
Deanna's mother, notorious for her overbearing
and obnoxious ways. 
Nicholas Browne 
Lawrence's domestic partner, who co-owns a
landscaping business with him. 
Paul Bergan 
April's guitar instructor. 
Phil Richards 
Elly's younger brother, a trumpeter and music
teacher known for being as adventurous and
high-spirited as his sister is anxious and
stress-prone. Lived in Millborough for several
years and appeared frequently in the strip, but
has appeared rarely since he and his wife,
Georgia, moved to Montreal several years ago. 
Rhetta Blum 
Michael's second girlfriend, from his later high
school years. 
The New Bentwood Rockers 
A band of aged musicians assembled by Jim at the
retirement home where he lives. Years earlier,
while living in Vancouver, he had formed another
band known as the Bentwood Rockers. 
Ruby Andrews 
Candace's aunt, who owned a convenience store in
North Bay, where her niece and Elizabeth went to
university. Ruby was mugged while minding the
store; she recovered but later sold the business.

Rudy Dodd 
Candace's boyfriend. 
Sharon Edwards 
Elizabeth's favorite teacher during her middle
school years, Sharon inspired her in two ways -
for building a teaching career despite being a
paraplegic (she was badly injured in a motorcycle
crash as a teenager) and for inspiring her to
become a teacher herself. Recently married and is
now Sharon Taylor. 
Shawna-Marie Verano 
A high-school classmate of Elizabeth. 
Steve Nichols 
Anne's husband and the Pattersons' neighbor. His
wife once caught him in an affair and the marriage
has never fully recovered. 
Thelma Baird 
A kindly old woman who was the Patterson family's
first neighbor. A breeder of English sheepdogs,
Thelma gave a puppy to her neighbors, who named
him Farley. (Johnston chose the name to honor the
Canadian writer Farley Mowat.) Her death in 1987
was the first in FBorFW and served notice the
strip would not shy away from serious topics.) 
Thérèse Caine 
Anthony's wife, she has been shown as jealous of
his spending time with Elizabeth -- and recently
it's been revealed that perhaps the jealousy has
due cause. 
Tracey Mayes 
wife of Gordon and a former classmate of Michael.

Vivian Crane 
Warren Blackwood 
a helicopter pilot who has kept up a long-distance
friendship with Elizabeth. 
Wilfred Sobinski 
Mira's father; a hardware store owner. 
William Patterson 
John's father; a retired farmer in Manitoba. 

Millborough
The fictional town of Millborough is located near
Barrie, Ontario. Deanna described the drive up to
the Pattersons' house as a two-hour drive up
Yonge Street.


Distribution
The strip is now seen in over 2,000 newspapers
throughout Canada, the United States and about 20
other countries, and is translated into eight
languages from its native English.


Animated series and specials
In the late 1980s, CTV produced an animated
special starring the Patterson family, called A
Christmas Angel. The special soon became a fairly
long-running series of mini-movies.

In 1999 Teletoon, a cable-TV cartoon channel, had
Ottawa's Funbag Animation create an animated
series. Hosted in introductions by Lynn Johnston
herself, the show looked at three related
storylines from three different eras of the strip.
While the series never really caught on, many
Canadian children know the television series
better than the originating comic strip.