Lynn Johnston
Encyclopedia
Lynn Johnston, CM
, OM
(born May 28, 1947) is a Canadian
cartoonist
, well known for her comic strip
For Better or For Worse
, and was the first woman and first Canadian to win the National Cartoonist Society's Reuben Award.
, Ontario
, she was raised in North Vancouver, British Columbia
. She attended the Vancouver School of Art with hopes of making a living as an artist. After working briefly in animation, she married in 1969, and moved back to Ontario, where she worked as a medical artist at McMaster University
for five years. Johnston's illustrations are currently in storage in McMaster's medical archive. They include depictions of routine hospital happenings, such as a father smoking in the waiting room.
While expecting her first child, she drew single-panel cartoons for the ceiling of her obstetrician's office. Those drawings were published in her first book, entitled David We're Pregnant, which was published in 1973. After her divorce, she did free-lance commercial and medical art in a greenhouse which was converted into a studio. Hi Mom! Hi Dad!, a sequel to David, was published in 1975. Shortly thereafter, she met and married dental student Rod Johnston.
, Manitoba
. She was asked by Universal Press Syndicate
if she was interested in doing a comic strip. She sent off twenty copies of a strip called The Johnstons, based on her own family "since we were the only people I knew I could draw over and over again with some consistency." Much to her surprise, the syndicate approved of the initial strips and offered her a twenty-year contract. After a six-month "work-up" period, the strip first appeared in newspapers throughout Canada under the title For Better or For Worse. The strip is currently carried by about 2000 newspapers in Canada, the U.S. and 20 other countries.
Many story lines draw from her family's real-life experiences. Her main characters are named after the middle names of her husband and children. Elly is named after a friend who died when Johnston was young. Her brother-in-law Ralph Johnston inspired the controversial story about Lawrence's coming out
. Deanna was based on Johnston's son's high school sweetheart, who died in a car accident years after her relationship with Johnston's son ended. Johnston's niece Stephanie is developmentally handicapped and her experience is shared in recent story lines on the integration of developmentally handicapped students in April's class.
The characters in For Better of For Worse have aged in "real time". On August 31, 2008, Johnston herself appeared in the Sunday strip, which was supposed to be the end of the cartoon, and announced that she would take the story back nearly 30 years to soon after its beginning, with half of the material to be new and the other half repeats. The "new" material was actually reworked versions of older strips with retouched artwork and new dialogue; as of July 12, 2010, this practice was abandoned, and the syndicated strip now consists strictly of straight reprints of Johnston's early 1980s-era work.
of The Globe and Mail
, reprinted in Lunch With Jan Wong disclosed Johnston's difficult personality and considerable irascibility, and provided an alternate insight into her some of her complaints of being victimised by persons in her life.
Johnston now resides in the Northern Ontario
town of Corbeil. Her daughter Katie lives in Corbeil and works at the For Better or For Worse studio, while her son Aaron works in the television industry in Vancouver, BC. In September 2007, Lynn and Rod Johnston announced their separation and intention to divorce. Johnston had talked about either ending For Better or For Worse or handing it off to another cartoonist, but changed her mind as a result of her split from her husband of over 30 years.
Johnston had a close friendship with Charles M. Schulz
, creator of Peanuts
. She wrote the introduction to The Complete Peanuts: 1981-1982.
Order of Canada
The Order of Canada is a Canadian national order, admission into which is, within the system of orders, decorations, and medals of Canada, the second highest honour for merit...
, OM
Order of Manitoba
The Order of Manitoba is a civilian honour for merit in the Canadian province of Manitoba. Instituted in 1999 when Lieutenant Governor Peter M...
(born May 28, 1947) is a Canadian
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
cartoonist
Cartoonist
A cartoonist is a person who specializes in drawing cartoons. This work is usually humorous, mainly created for entertainment, political commentary or advertising...
, well known for her comic strip
Comic strip
A comic strip is a sequence of drawings arranged in interrelated panels to display brief humor or form a narrative, often serialized, with text in balloons and captions....
For Better or For Worse
For Better or For Worse
For Better or For Worse is a comic strip by Lynn Johnston that ran for 30 years, chronicling the lives of a Canadian family, The Pattersons, and their friends. The story is set in the fictitious Toronto-area suburban town of Milborough, Ontario. Johnston's strip began in September 1979, and ended...
, and was the first woman and first Canadian to win the National Cartoonist Society's Reuben Award.
Early life
Born Lynn Ridgway in CollingwoodCollingwood, Ontario
Collingwood is a town in Simcoe County, Ontario, Canada. Geographically, it is situated on Nottawasaga Bay at the southern point of Georgian Bay.-History:...
, Ontario
Ontario
Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....
, she was raised in North Vancouver, British Columbia
British Columbia
British Columbia is the westernmost of Canada's provinces and is known for its natural beauty, as reflected in its Latin motto, Splendor sine occasu . Its name was chosen by Queen Victoria in 1858...
. She attended the Vancouver School of Art with hopes of making a living as an artist. After working briefly in animation, she married in 1969, and moved back to Ontario, where she worked as a medical artist at McMaster University
McMaster University
McMaster University is a public research university whose main campus is located in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. The main campus is located on of land in the residential neighbourhood of Westdale, adjacent to Hamilton's Royal Botanical Gardens...
for five years. Johnston's illustrations are currently in storage in McMaster's medical archive. They include depictions of routine hospital happenings, such as a father smoking in the waiting room.
While expecting her first child, she drew single-panel cartoons for the ceiling of her obstetrician's office. Those drawings were published in her first book, entitled David We're Pregnant, which was published in 1973. After her divorce, she did free-lance commercial and medical art in a greenhouse which was converted into a studio. Hi Mom! Hi Dad!, a sequel to David, was published in 1975. Shortly thereafter, she met and married dental student Rod Johnston.
For Better or For Worse
In 1978, the Johnstons and their two children relocated to Lynn LakeLynn Lake, Manitoba
Lynn Lake is a small town in the northwest region of Manitoba, Canada, 1,071 km from Winnipeg. The town was named after Lynn Smith, chief engineer of Sherritt Gordon Mines Ltd. There are numerous outfitters in the Lynn Lake area...
, Manitoba
Manitoba
Manitoba is a Canadian prairie province with an area of . The province has over 110,000 lakes and has a largely continental climate because of its flat topography. Agriculture, mostly concentrated in the fertile southern and western parts of the province, is vital to the province's economy; other...
. She was asked by Universal Press Syndicate
Universal Press Syndicate
Universal Press Syndicate, a subsidiary of Andrews McMeel Universal, is the world's largest independent press syndicate. It distributes lifestyle and opinion columns, comic strips and other content. Popular columns include Dear Abby, Ann Coulter, Roger Ebert and News of the Weird...
if she was interested in doing a comic strip. She sent off twenty copies of a strip called The Johnstons, based on her own family "since we were the only people I knew I could draw over and over again with some consistency." Much to her surprise, the syndicate approved of the initial strips and offered her a twenty-year contract. After a six-month "work-up" period, the strip first appeared in newspapers throughout Canada under the title For Better or For Worse. The strip is currently carried by about 2000 newspapers in Canada, the U.S. and 20 other countries.
Many story lines draw from her family's real-life experiences. Her main characters are named after the middle names of her husband and children. Elly is named after a friend who died when Johnston was young. Her brother-in-law Ralph Johnston inspired the controversial story about Lawrence's coming out
Coming out
Coming out is a figure of speech for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people's disclosure of their sexual orientation and/or gender identity....
. Deanna was based on Johnston's son's high school sweetheart, who died in a car accident years after her relationship with Johnston's son ended. Johnston's niece Stephanie is developmentally handicapped and her experience is shared in recent story lines on the integration of developmentally handicapped students in April's class.
The characters in For Better of For Worse have aged in "real time". On August 31, 2008, Johnston herself appeared in the Sunday strip, which was supposed to be the end of the cartoon, and announced that she would take the story back nearly 30 years to soon after its beginning, with half of the material to be new and the other half repeats. The "new" material was actually reworked versions of older strips with retouched artwork and new dialogue; as of July 12, 2010, this practice was abandoned, and the syndicated strip now consists strictly of straight reprints of Johnston's early 1980s-era work.
Personal life
Since the 1990s, Johnston has been notably forthcoming in her discussion of the abuse inflicted on her by her mother, her first husband, and being unprepared to be a mother to her son Aaron—topics which have also been reflected in the strip. A column by Jan WongJan Wong
Jan Wong is a Canadian journalist of Chinese ancestry. Wong worked for The Globe and Mail, serving as Beijing correspondent from 1988 to 1994, when she returned to write from Canada....
of The Globe and Mail
The Globe and Mail
The Globe and Mail is a nationally distributed Canadian newspaper, based in Toronto and printed in six cities across the country. With a weekly readership of approximately 1 million, it is Canada's largest-circulation national newspaper and second-largest daily newspaper after the Toronto Star...
, reprinted in Lunch With Jan Wong disclosed Johnston's difficult personality and considerable irascibility, and provided an alternate insight into her some of her complaints of being victimised by persons in her life.
Johnston now resides in the Northern Ontario
Northern Ontario
Northern Ontario is a region of the Canadian province of Ontario which lies north of Lake Huron , the French River and Lake Nipissing. The region has a land area of 802,000 km2 and constitutes 87% of the land area of Ontario, although it contains only about 6% of the population...
town of Corbeil. Her daughter Katie lives in Corbeil and works at the For Better or For Worse studio, while her son Aaron works in the television industry in Vancouver, BC. In September 2007, Lynn and Rod Johnston announced their separation and intention to divorce. Johnston had talked about either ending For Better or For Worse or handing it off to another cartoonist, but changed her mind as a result of her split from her husband of over 30 years.
Johnston had a close friendship with Charles M. Schulz
Charles M. Schulz
Charles Monroe "Sparky" Schulz was an American cartoonist, whose comic strip Peanuts proved one of the most popular and influential in the history of the medium, and is still widely reprinted on a daily basis.-Early life and education:Born in Minneapolis, Minnesota, Schulz grew up in Saint Paul...
, creator of Peanuts
Peanuts
Peanuts is a syndicated daily and Sunday American comic strip written and illustrated by Charles M. Schulz, which ran from October 2, 1950, to February 13, 2000, continuing in reruns afterward...
. She wrote the introduction to The Complete Peanuts: 1981-1982.
Awards and honours
- 1985 - Reuben Award, the first woman and first Canadian to win
- 1987 - Gemini AwardGemini AwardThe Gemini Awards are annual television broadcasting industry awards in Canada.First awarded in 1986, the Geminis celebrate the achievements of TV members of the Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television. Essentially, it presents awards for the best television productions in Canada. Awards are...
, Best Cartoon Series - 1990 - Honorary Degree, Doctor of Letters, Lakehead UniversityLakehead UniversityLakehead University is a public research university in Thunder Bay, and Orillia, Ontario, Canada.Lakehead University, shortened to 'Lakehead U', or 'LU', is non-denominational and provincially supported. It has undergraduate and graduate programs and a medical school.The school has more than 45,000...
, Thunder BayThunder Bay-In Canada:Thunder Bay is the name of three places in the province of Ontario, Canada along Lake Superior:*Thunder Bay District, Ontario, a district in Northwestern Ontario*Thunder Bay, a city in Thunder Bay District*Thunder Bay, Unorganized, Ontario...
, OntarioOntarioOntario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa.... - 1991 - National Cartoonist Society Newspaper Comic Strip Award
- 1992 - Made a Member of the Order of CanadaOrder of CanadaThe Order of Canada is a Canadian national order, admission into which is, within the system of orders, decorations, and medals of Canada, the second highest honour for merit...
, the country's highest civilian honour - 1993 - Honorary Degree, Doctor of Laws, McMaster UniversityMcMaster UniversityMcMaster University is a public research university whose main campus is located in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. The main campus is located on of land in the residential neighbourhood of Westdale, adjacent to Hamilton's Royal Botanical Gardens...
, Hamilton, OntarioHamilton, OntarioHamilton is a port city in the Canadian province of Ontario. Conceived by George Hamilton when he purchased the Durand farm shortly after the War of 1812, Hamilton has become the centre of a densely populated and industrialized region at the west end of Lake Ontario known as the Golden Horseshoe... - 1993 - Nominated for the Pulitzer PrizePulitzer PrizeThe Pulitzer Prize is a U.S. award for achievements in newspaper and online journalism, literature and musical composition. It was established by American publisher Joseph Pulitzer and is administered by Columbia University in New York City...
for a story on Lawrence's coming out - 1999 - Honorary Degree, Doctor of Laws, University of Western OntarioUniversity of Western OntarioThe University of Western Ontario is a public research university located in London, Ontario, Canada. The university's main campus covers of land, with the Thames River cutting through the eastern portion of the main campus. Western administers its programs through 12 different faculties and...
, London, OntarioLondon, OntarioLondon is a city in Southwestern Ontario, Canada, situated along the Quebec City – Windsor Corridor. The city has a population of 352,395, and the metropolitan area has a population of 457,720, according to the 2006 Canadian census; the metro population in 2009 was estimated at 489,274. The city... - 2000 - Honorary Degree, Doctor of Letters, Nipissing UniversityNipissing UniversityNipissing University is a public liberal arts university located in North Bay, Ontario, Canada, on a site overlooking Lake Nipissing. The university's unique character is defined by its location in Northern Ontario, and a large and highly respected faculty of education...
, North Bay, OntarioNorth Bay, OntarioNorth Bay is a city in Northeastern Ontario, Canada. It is the seat of Nipissing District, and takes its name from its position on the shore of Lake Nipissing.-History:... - 2000 - Honorary Degree, Doctor of Letters, Emily Carr Institute of Art and DesignEmily Carr Institute of Art and DesignEmily Carr University of Art and Design is a public post-secondary University located on Granville Island in Vancouver, BC, Canada...
, VancouverVancouverVancouver is a coastal seaport city on the mainland of British Columbia, Canada. It is the hub of Greater Vancouver, which, with over 2.3 million residents, is the third most populous metropolitan area in the country,... - 2001 - Comic of the Year, Editor and Publisher
- 2003 - A star on Canada's Walk of FameCanada's Walk of FameCanada's Walk of Fame , located in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, is a walk of fame that acknowledges the achievements and accomplishments of successful Canadians...
in TorontoTorontoToronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from... - 2004 - Debwewin Citation from the AnishinabekAnishinaabeAnishinaabe or Anishinabe—or more properly Anishinaabeg or Anishinabek, which is the plural form of the word—is the autonym often used by the Odawa, Ojibwe, and Algonquin peoples. They all speak closely related Anishinaabemowin/Anishinaabe languages, of the Algonquian language family.The meaning...
Nation for excellence in Aboriginal-issues journalism - 2007 - the Order of ManitobaOrder of ManitobaThe Order of Manitoba is a civilian honour for merit in the Canadian province of Manitoba. Instituted in 1999 when Lieutenant Governor Peter M...
- 2008 - Inducted into the Canadian Cartoonist Hall of FameCanadian Cartoonist Hall of FameThe Canadian Cartoonist Hall of Fame, formally known as Giants of the North: The Canadian Cartoonist Hall of Fame, honours significant life-long contributions to the art of cartooning in Canada....
- Date unknown - Inducted into the National Cartoon MuseumNational Cartoon MuseumThe National Cartoon Museum was an American museum dedicated to the collection, preservation and exhibition of cartoons, comic strips and animation. It was the brainchild of Mort Walker, creator of Beetle Bailey. It opened in 1974, went through several name changes and relocations, finally closing...
Hall of Fame
Selected bibliography
- David We're Pregnant, 1973
- Hi Mom! Hi Dad!, 1975
- Do They Ever Grow Up?
- Leaving Home (With Andie Parton)
- See For Better or For WorseFor Better or For WorseFor Better or For Worse is a comic strip by Lynn Johnston that ran for 30 years, chronicling the lives of a Canadian family, The Pattersons, and their friends. The story is set in the fictitious Toronto-area suburban town of Milborough, Ontario. Johnston's strip began in September 1979, and ended...
for compilations of the comic strip