For Better or for Worse

For Better or For Worse
The Patterson family, the center focus of For Better or For Worse
Author(s)	Lynn Johnston
Website	www.fborfw.com
Current status / schedule	concluded; reruns
Launch date	Sept. 9, 1979
End date	Aug. 31, 2008 (original) July 11, 2010 (new "reruns")
Syndicate(s)	Universal Press Syndicate (1979–1997, 2004–present) United Feature Syndicate (1997–2004)
Publisher(s)	Andrews McMeel Publishing
Genre(s)	Humor Family Drama Slice of Life

Aug. 31, 2008 (original)

For Better or For Worse is a comic strip by Lynn Johnston that ran originally from 1979 to 2008 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. Now running as reruns, For Better or For Worse is still seen in over 2,000 newspapers throughout Canada, the United States and about 20 other countries.

Johnston's strip began in September 1979, and ended its original daily black-and-white run on August 30, 2008, with a postscript epilogue (as a full-colour Sunday strip) running the following day. Starting on September 1, 2008, the strip began re-telling its original story, using a mixture of straight reruns and retouched strips which featured altered dialogue. This new format, however, was dropped after less than two years and in July 2010, the strip switched entirely to reruns (with some minor alterations; see below). The strips seen in papers in 2016 were originally from 1987.

A signature element of For Better or For Worse during its original run was that the characters aged in real time. The strip's title is a reference to the marriage service found in the Anglican Book of Common Prayer as well as in the wedding ceremonies of other faith traditions:

Johnston's work on the comic strip earned her a Reuben Award in 1985 and made her a nominated finalist for a Pulitzer Prize in editorial cartooning in 1994. The strip led the Friends of Lulu to add Johnston to the Women Cartoonists Hall of Fame in 2002. In the same year, Will Eisner described For Better Or Worse as "the best strip around currently," saying "It's humane, human, it has humor to it, and good artwork."