The Vancouver Sun recently talked to cartoonist Lynn Johnston about her “retirement.”
Q: For Better or For Worse still runs in about 1,600 newspapers worldwide. Do you oversee the reprints?
A: Yes. We have to do some editing. We have to put helmets on the skiers, we have to put seatbelts on people in cars, we have to remove cigarettes if somebody’s smoking. We’re being politically correct for the 2021 era.
But I’m excited because they’re running in sequence and the coming-out story about Lawrence is coming up. It was groundbreaking for its time (1993) and I was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize in Editorial Cartooning. I don’t think things have changed that much.
The seatbelts comment was probably fresh in her mind since the For Better or For Worse comic strip just ran the Michael-gets-a-driver’s-license arc.
© Lynn Johnston
Q: What are you working on now?
A: I’m doing a lot of painting and imagery for printing on clothing and for turning into posters. I’m also doing what’s called surface design, for fabric.
I’m working on that with my daughter, Katie Hadway, an Emily Carr grad and graphic artist. We have a studio in the Lower Lonsdale area where we work together every day. We’re also working with IDW Books out of San Diego on a series of For Better or For Worse volumes that are going to be the definitive collection of the strip.
It’s interesting that they’re trying to be current when running reruns that are nearly 30 years old (a recent strip had Michael saying he was born in 2005 for example) but surprisingly Lynn opted not to go with face masks when people are out in public (even Jeff Keane of The Family Circus does that!)