• Nov. 15, 2006 | 6 a.m. PT

‘For Better or For Worse’ to end? Or morph? Or something?

Till death do us part?
My favorite comic strip, bar none, is Lynn Johnston's family saga, "For Better or For Worse." Not as funny as "Fox Trot," not as political as "Doonesbury," not as lasagna-filled as "Garfield," but still a daily satisfying story about a Canadian family growing up. Johnston, unlike the wonderful late Charles Schulz, a friend of hers, allows her characters to age and change. Sometimes that frustrates we comic fans: Mike's portrayal as the Perfect Father and Journalist is a little trying, and Liz's recycled boyfriends (Anthony! Don't get me started...) can be annoying. But the strip manages to be both family-friendly, interesting, and sometimes even funny.

Johnston's been dropping hints for years that she'll end the strip soon, and now there's a report that the clock has started ticking: As of the fall of 2007, the Patterson family will stop aging.

This article in the Grand Rapids Press is not quite clear as to whether the strip will end, go on hiatus, or what. Sounds to me like the strip will end at least for a while, possibly to  return in some format -- I'm just guessing here, but maybe via occasional Web updates, or a TV show or a Sunday-only strip? (nooo! Learn from "Outland" and "Opus"!)? In any case, the characters will freeze in time as of next fall.

There've been rumors aplenty that the final strip will be a wedding, and its last words will be the title of the strip (probably spoken by Patterson daughter Liz, since Michael is already married and April is too young).

This rumor might be too cliched and predictable to actually happen, but realistically, it would be fine by me, as long as the groom is someone worthy of her. Paul, the cop from northern Ontario, a.k.a. "Mr Wright"? OK! Warren, the helicopter pilot who hasn't been heard from in a while? OK! Some new guy? Possibly OK! But Johnston had Michael Patterson marry the girl next door, childhood crush Deanna, and I from the way recent plotlines have gone, it would seem she likes Liz with her own childhood beau, squirmy Anthony, a recently divorced dad who convinced his wife to get pregnant even though she'd told him she didn't want kids.

Run, Liz, run! He's definitely on the For Worse end of the spectrum.

GREAT COMIC-STRIP LINKS:
• The “FBOFW” official site offers monthly letters from the characters with extra info that's not in the strips
• The FOOBiverse, hilarious and irreverent site dissecting "FBOFW" every day
• The Comics Curmudgeon, Josh dissects the good, the bad, and the ugly of daily comics
• Ever read a comic and wonder if everyone but you is in on the joke? The Comics I Don't Understand page can relate.

• Nov. 13, 2006 | 6 a.m. PT

Multi-link Monday

Now that I've been turning Test Pattern back into more of a traditional Weblog, with multiple short topics each update, Multi-link Monday may seem superfluous. It's not. I still think of it as the place for those fun links, often including online games or quizzes, that are less about news of the moment and more about a quick distraction when you need it. Not that any of us ever surf the Web from work, of course. With that said, here are the latest five. Remember, you too can send in link suggestions.

• The late Jack Palance had an impressive resume, but I'll always remember him most fondly for hosting "Ripley's Believe It Or Not" in the 1980s. That wonderfully serious, yet somehow creepy voice delivered just the perfect narration for that show. "Ripley's" has a Web site chock full of unbelievable goodness, too.

• It can be hard to find online games for kids that are both classy and fun. National Geographic comes through, with everything from MadLibs to photo quizzes to virtual pets.

• Fifty worst-ever video-game names. So awesome. The author's great comments add so much. For a game called "Twin Eagle: Revenge Joe's Brother," he notes "It's bad enough to name a helicopter Revenge Joe, but it's even worse when you claim it has a brother. And it's doubly worse when you consider that this is actually the first Twin Eagle game. Revenge for what?" (Via Metafilter.)

• Everyone looks for recipes online, but if you're ever hunting for a recipe that's decades older than you, check out Peggy's Antiquated Recipes, sorted helpfully by decade. Beef Heart Soup? Carrot Loaf? Marrow Balls? I'll stick to modern food, thanks.

• Reader-submitted link: Haley in Indiana writes "Ever wonder how each of the Presidents died? There they are, right up to Nixon. I live in territory capital W.H. Harrison governed. We get a kick out of his short-lived term. (We're morbidly punny, too.)" McKinley's death is the most interesting, in that it appears he easily could have been saved, had his doctors been at all on the ball.