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Maybe it’s the approach of yet another announced “sell-by” date, or the challenge to “knock [its author] off the page”, but suddenly everybody in the comics is trying to muscle in on the territory of For Better or For Worse. And since the funny page is such a vicious nest of vipers, every strip has picked out its own vulnerability to exploit:

Judge Parker, 7/1/2008

“Twenty-five thousand and one dollars, Sam, not a penny less! Real money, too — I mean Canadian dollars.”

Spider-Man, 7/1/2008

Meanwhile, Spidey hones his use of wordplay as a substitute for plot development. With his back to the audience and botched delivery, he looks like a strong contender to snatch Foob‘s crown.

Sally Forth, 7/1/2008

The Forths’ strategy targets the famed Foob flashback technique. Sorry, Forths — yours is still far too effective to compete.

Mandrake, 7/1/2008

Hey, look who’s here! Mandrake retains the egregious stereotyping of founding author Lee Falk, but it’s not aiming for The Phantom, or even Foob. With its dapper hero, hot babe, and low-water-pressure storyline, this strip has Rex Morgan, MD squarely in its sights.

Hey! Too much comic goodness for just one post today — stay tuned!

— Uncle Lumpy

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Congratulations to faithful reader Joshua at comment #97 for his quick win! The dedication and knowledge of Foob fans continues to amaze! Sheesh, eleven minutes!

OK, here we go! This is the Foob trivia quiz with questions by True Fable and ChattyGenes, for the amazing Foob DVD prize. Contest rules are listed below. Please post your answers in the comments of this thread, and be sure to number them.

If you have a question about the contest or any quiz item, post it in a comment or mail it to me at bio@jfruh.com. I’ll get back to you as soon as I can, and post any clarifications of general interest under “Updates” at the bottom of this post. You may want to check there from time to time.

Enjoy, and good luck!

For Better or For Worse Trivia Contest

1. April stole a bag of candy hearts from a store, and later paid the owner back. Who was the owner?
2. Kortney goofed off on this Web site instead of working at the bookstore. What was the site’s full name?
3. Paul gave something to Liz when they first met face to face. What was it?
4. To be closer to Liz, Paul asked to be transferred to this place. What is the exact spelling of its name?
5. Michael took over as editor of a magazine. Whom did he replace (first and last names)?
6. Rebekkah went “roadside” with this Senior boy. What was his name (first and last)?
7. Paul left Liz for her. What was her name (first and last)?
8. Liz has a “spirit name.” What is it (in English)?
9. Shawna-Marie married him. What’s his first name?
10. Elizabeth attended Anthony’s wedding with an escort who played a sport. What was his first name, and what was his sport?

And don’t forget to keep your eyes on the prize:

This is the two-DVD box set of the For Better or For Worse Family Album, ©2000, with eight half-hour episodes from Season 1 and another eight from Season 2. Every episode has an introduction by Lynn Johnston, and stories from “The Early Years” (before April), “The Growing Years” (April as a baby), and “The Later Years” (Mike/Dee, Liz/Anthony). The stories are well-produced, true to the strip, and really very charming.

Here’s the plan:

Did I miss anything? Post questions below; I’ll answer them up here. Invite all those fanatics from binky_betsy your friends! Have fun, and good luck!

— Uncle Lumpy

Updates:

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Today’s comics contained something that we all should have expected, but that was nevertheless shocking and, to some, horrifying. Certainly everyone who loves newspaper comics strip is buzzing about it. I’m talking, of course, about today’s Snuffy Smith.

Barney Google and Snuffy Smith, 3/13/08

Fellas! Of course, we all long to see our inamoratas in the super-classy see-through nighties of the kind found in mail-order catalogs and the Fredrick’s of Hollywood store. They’re hot because you can see your partner’s boobies but she’s still wearing clothes! But isn’t there something that isn’t quite perfect about those garments? Of course there is! They’ve been stitched together from some kind of non-edible artificial fiber, when they could be made out of delicious meat!

Seriously, this is one of the vilest things I’ve ever seen or read.

For Better Or For Worse, 3/13/08

Oh, also, Liz and Anthony are going to get married or whatever. You might think that this foobrosal (in the lovely formulation of faithful reader Gabe) is a bit lackluster; indeed the first three panels seem to merely depict two numb characters recognizing that the machinations of their universe are pushing them inexorably together, and that no free will they exercise could possibly change their preordained fate. But in panel four, said Foobiverse suddenly remembers that Liz is supposed to be happy about this, and you see her eyes glowing with some kind of creepy, supernatural illumination. Then she desperately tries to get Anthony to nuzzle her breasts. It won’t be the first time she fails.

Mary Worth, 3/13/08

Mary Worth’s flashback is finally underway, and we learn that Mary is totally OK with throwing around terms like “broken home” in 2008. We also learn that she was a hungry, hungry little urchin with a terrible haircut. Will this sequence end with young Mary in a back alley somewhere, desperately chewing on the bones of a stray dog that she killed with her bare hands? We can only hope!

Mark Trail, 3/13/08

Speaking of eating dogs, Mark Trail has apparently travelled to the big bad city with an agenda of handing out free puppies to eight-year-olds. I’m guessing that the sort of little kid who would write a passionate entry about pet ownership for a contest is exactly the sort of little kid whose parents won’t let have a dog. I sure can’t see anything going wrong this this plan! Also, since the magazine Mark writes for is named Woods and Wildlife and not Domesticated Animals, I’m hoping the “puppy” will actually be a wolf cub, or maybe a coyote pup.

Luann, 3/13/08

Ha ha! It turns out that when Brad heard his captain say he was bringing Toni to the ball, he meant that he was bringing Tony to the ball! Oh, the Three’s Company-style misunderstanding-derived hilarity!

This could be some sort of vaguely daring attempt to make a totally colorless supporting character in this comic gay; on the other hand, since he’s using the vague term “friend” and the battalion captain is bringing his sister, I suppose Tony really could be just his friend because, hey, they’re modern, sensitive new-age guys, and Tony always wanted to see what a real firefighter’s ball was like (and who wouldn’t)? Or, since Brad couldn’t tell “i” from “y” in speech, Tony Gale could really be Toni Gale anyway. I could get further into this, but I just realized that no matter how much I think about it, it isn’t going to get any more interesting, so I’ll stop.

Family Circus, 3/13/08

For those of you not up on the Shakespearean family drama beneath the surface of the Family Circus (and really, why would you be), Billy is actually based on strip creator Bil Keane’s son Glen, who is in fact an animator at Disney today; Jeffy is based on Jeff Keane, who has taken over the Family Circus from his dad. You could see this is some sort of dig at Glen for being a moron, but really a better way to go about that would have been something like, “Someday when I’m an animator at Disney, I’m going to help make a movie that will lose more than $100 million!”

UPDATE: Going over comments from the last thread, I see that the Spectacular Spider-Brick beat me to the “Foobocalypse now” joke … so a hat tip to the SSB as well!