For Better or for Worse 3/26/93 by Lynn Johnston - Lawrence's Coming Out
Artist: Lynn Johnston (All)
20 Comments - 512 Views - 10 Likes
Artwork Details
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DescriptionWhen I saw this show up at auction a few weeks ago I almost had puppies! Hold crap...no way this is coming up for sale and what was even more shocking is that the auction house didn't know what it was they were selling! It said nothing about the story line which is the second most important story line in the strip (the death of Farley being the most important) but in terms of comic history, this is the sequence when Lawrence comes out and this is the first daily in that sequence. This is the most landmark and controversial strip in the series and I believe the first time any strip had a character come out and it would be years before others were this open with LGBQT2S themes. This is stuff that I figured the Billy Ireland Museum or other such places would have. I stalked this one carefully and only let one friend in on what it was as I watched. A few hours before it went live it was still under $100 and even pre-live bidding didn't get very high. I had put in a fairly large proxy bid once live bidding started just to ensure if there was some sort of internet or cellular service disruption i'd have a bid in. I also watched live and was waiting to have my proxy out bid as I was going to go pretty deep for this one. Thankfully I got this one for a lot less than I should have and well under my proxy or threshold. It still wasn't cheap but this will be one of the defining pieces of my collection. There have been essays and doctorates that have centered around this strip and its impact. I remember very clearly reading this one in the paper in 1993 so I'd have been in the tail end of first year Med school and after reading this first strip I was floored thinking ...no f$#@ing way they are going there and they did and Lynn handled it so well. It made national and international news at the time. Michael's reaction to the revelation was quite heartfelt and emotional with a lot of initial anger and denial and later acceptance. I am thrilled to have this coming my way.I love FBOFW anyways. I grew up reading it here in Canada and Michael and I were about the same age and the parallels in our lives were uncanny. I had younger sisters, we got our milk in bags, our dog died not long before Farley did(that sequence still makes me cry) and I had a good friend start to come out around this same time too. My life and memories of growing up are woven with Lynn's strip. When I read it I am suddenly 13 years old again laying on the living room floor on a Saturday morning carefully pulling out the Color comic section of the Calgary Herald and containing my anticipation of the contents(in Canada we had Saturday color sections instead of on sunday). I have some fun examples already but this one is transcendent. If it isn't in a museum, I am glad it is here. This will be a piece that I will eventually donate to one of the comic art museums but hopefully that plan is still a number of decades away. You can read more about this sequence and hear Lynn talk about it here. Sooo.... a bit of an update. When the art arrived, I opened the package and was so going to be so excited to see it in person. It was too good to be true and that saying proved to be correct. It was a signed print. The Comic Art Museum in San Francisco had a special show some years ago of this sequence and sold off a few limited prints and that is what this was. I knew it the instant I saw it, I was so deflated. The zipatone is printed, the text is printed. The signature is original pencils. I contacted the auction house and back it went for a full refund and a proper listing. I bought it again when it came up listed properly for the peanuts. The image still means a lot to me and in some ways I am glad the art is in a better place. Social/Sharing |
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Comments on this Artwork
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Rubén DaCollector's Paperback Art
Member Since 2005
1 - Posted on 10/5/2023
An excellent daily with an even better description.
Steven Dilworth
Member Since 2012
1 - Posted on 10/5/2023
Congratulations on obtaining this historic strip.
Marcus Wai 
Member Since 2005
4 - Posted on 10/5/2023
Johnston's courage to make this reveal came at a time when there was still significant societal stigma for gay people and cost her part of the readership. However, it showed the power of the medium to be change attitudes and do humanitarian work for the greater good.
Satya Chetri
Member Since 2006
1 - Posted on 10/5/2023
This strip deserved to be part of a museum-worthy collection, and it found its way there. Congratulations on a historic acquisition and for having a great eye.
Steven Ng
Member Since 2005
1 - Posted on 10/5/2023
The Cartoon Art Museum in San Francisco displayed this original and the entire Lawrence sequence for many months in the early nineties. Lynn Johnston came for a talk and signing. Congratulations on acquiring a historic piece.
Chris C
Member Since 2004
1 - Posted on 10/5/2023
Landmark strip. Great addition. Nice eye spotting it.
Bob Kopman
Member Since 2007
1 - Posted on 10/5/2023
Congrats on getting this important strip, Jeff. It goes to show you how important it is to go through all lots in an auction. You never know what you might have missed. Great writeup also.
Alex Johnson
Member Since 2006
Forum Moderator
1 - Posted on 10/5/2023
I'm thrilled it came to the right home. You are correct - it was a beautifully told story; second only to Farley's death for making me cry. Congrats and thanks for sharing.
James Dornoff
Member Since 2019
1 - Posted on 10/5/2023
Wow! What a catch, sounds like it found the exact right place to be in your collection. Enjoyed your story and connection with it. Huge congrats!
Chris K.
Member Since 2008
1 - Posted on 10/5/2023
This could not have ended up in a better collection! Nicely done - it's an amazing piece.
Duke Fleed aka #1 Groo Fan
Member Since 2013
1 - Posted on 10/5/2023
Congrats on picking up a nostalgic strip!
S. H!!
Member Since 2023
1 - Posted on 10/5/2023
That's awesome that this has so much significance: personal, cultural, and historic. Writing a story about the road to queer acceptance in a very mainstream comic strip back in '93 is definitely admirable.
I've also got a lot of memories of bag milk and digging through Saturday papers for the colour comic strips too so this was a very cool trip through memory lane. Kudos on your eventual museum plans but hopefully you'll have many years of enjoyment first!
Mark Levy
Member Since 2004
1 - Posted on 10/9/2023
Congratulations - great to see a piece end up in the right place!
Kin Wong
Member Since 2007
1 - Posted on 10/14/2023
Even after going through the full auction listings each week, I didn't know the significance of this strip, so good for you for catching it. Congrats on the find!
Simon Ma
Member Since 2013
1 - Posted on 10/16/2023
I don't know this storyline and I am not too familiar with the strip but your knowledgeable and impassioned write-up is making me resolve to try to find my one 25-year old FBOFW paperback reprint collecton to re-read. Bravo!
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