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For Better or For Worse: The Complete Library #2
For Better Or For Worse: The Complete Library Vol. 2
Since their debut in 1979, the world has watched the Pattersons grow up in real time—and to many readers, they feel like family. The cast expands, and roles that will play a big part down the road are just starting to bud. New adventures await Elizabeth as she enters kindergarten and has to spend some time in the hospital. Michael has to deal with a bully at school and takes a flight to Vancouver—all by himself! John has an unfortunate accident and is arrested for breaking and entering! And Elly finds a worthwhile cause in heading up a campaign to save the historic city hall that has been scheduled for demolition. Volume Two collects the complete daily and Sunday comics from January 1983 through July 14, 1986, with all Sunday comics printed in color.
- GenresComicsHumorComic Strips
562 pages, Kindle Edition
Published July 11, 2018
49 people are currently reading
681 people want to read
About the author
Lynn Johnston
141 books134 followersLynn Johnston CM OM is a Canadian cartoonist, well known for her comic strip For Better or For Worse, and was the first female cartoonist to win the Reuben Award.
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
August 5, 2020
Soothing comfort food in comic strip form. Nice Canadians are nice to each other, with the occasional soap opera relationship development to add just the tiniest bit of spice. Elly takes on some more part-time jobs to break out of her housewife rut, and hubby John remains a bit of a jerk. The kids are in turn cute and irritating. At the end of the volume there's a bit of a cliffhanger as a neighbor's child is born with a minor birth defect.
March 15, 2022
It is such a delight to spend time with the Patterson family. I find these so comforting to read especially when I'm not feeling well.
April 26, 2024
I’ve been obsessed with this strip since I was Michael’s age.
September 13, 2019
The second volume in the Complete Library series for the For Better or For Worse series continues the early years of the comic strip.
The Patterson family spends time on a family farm, Elizabeth starts school while Michael passes through to the fifth grade. Elly starts writing for a local newspaper and starts volunteering at the library. John continues to work as a dentist while dealing with his family and friends in varying ways.
There is a lot of adventures to be had as the supporting cast changes. Friends move away, new cast members join the strip. Elly's brother Phil moves to town, starts teaching Michael the trumpet and finds his life changing with giving up smoking and starting a serious relationship.
All along the way, there's a real sense of the family growing together while having their own separate adventures as well. Reading the notes from Lynn Johnston and the book's editor help flesh out some of the behind the scenes stuff for different panels.
As a devoted fan of the series, getting to read these strips once more brings me back to when I was reading them the first time around in the daily newspaper. And that is a good thing in my book.
What Lynn Johnston created with the For Better or For Worse comic strip was a family that readers felt a part of. They shared in the love, laughter, tears and even fears. The Pattersons were a story worth telling and now well worth reliving too.
The Patterson family spends time on a family farm, Elizabeth starts school while Michael passes through to the fifth grade. Elly starts writing for a local newspaper and starts volunteering at the library. John continues to work as a dentist while dealing with his family and friends in varying ways.
There is a lot of adventures to be had as the supporting cast changes. Friends move away, new cast members join the strip. Elly's brother Phil moves to town, starts teaching Michael the trumpet and finds his life changing with giving up smoking and starting a serious relationship.
All along the way, there's a real sense of the family growing together while having their own separate adventures as well. Reading the notes from Lynn Johnston and the book's editor help flesh out some of the behind the scenes stuff for different panels.
As a devoted fan of the series, getting to read these strips once more brings me back to when I was reading them the first time around in the daily newspaper. And that is a good thing in my book.
What Lynn Johnston created with the For Better or For Worse comic strip was a family that readers felt a part of. They shared in the love, laughter, tears and even fears. The Pattersons were a story worth telling and now well worth reliving too.
October 15, 2020
Rereading these comics is like slipping into a warm bath of nostalgia and remembering simpler times. The stories hold up well and I can see them being enjoyed by kids of today if they had access to the comics.
October 10, 2020
Loved this!!
December 29, 2025
Ok, so as a kid I loved this series and every year from 1985 to 1993 I would by the yearly collection of all the comics that came out that year. I would spend many Saturday afternoons just reading these books (along with Fox Trot by Bill Amend).
I am in a major book slump and was poking around on Libby and discovered that the author continued the series much longer than when I left off - and had put the books into large collections.
I noticed that Libby carries these collections - and now I am reading them.
I don't care that this is a Sunday Comics series - this is a family saga series that takes place over decades and allows the characters to grow up and age. I am the same age as one of the children in the series (Michael), and had the same milestones in my life as were shown in his.
This series isn't "comic" it's very real, and touching, along with humorous - of course it's funny, but it deals with issues that have NEVER been in the Sunday comics, they deal with real life.
Anyhow, I am including them in my Goodreads library because I keep track of books in my Calibre library - and because I am re-reading them - I figured they belong here. I only hope I don't get a ton of recomendations on future comic books because it's just these ones I like.
I am in a major book slump and was poking around on Libby and discovered that the author continued the series much longer than when I left off - and had put the books into large collections.
I noticed that Libby carries these collections - and now I am reading them.
I don't care that this is a Sunday Comics series - this is a family saga series that takes place over decades and allows the characters to grow up and age. I am the same age as one of the children in the series (Michael), and had the same milestones in my life as were shown in his.
This series isn't "comic" it's very real, and touching, along with humorous - of course it's funny, but it deals with issues that have NEVER been in the Sunday comics, they deal with real life.
Anyhow, I am including them in my Goodreads library because I keep track of books in my Calibre library - and because I am re-reading them - I figured they belong here. I only hope I don't get a ton of recomendations on future comic books because it's just these ones I like.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews