Today, Lynn Johnston ended "For Better or For Worse". It was one of the few comics that I've followed since I was young. I grew up with the characters and never seemed to tire of them or the stories they told. They were very realistic characters, well, as realistic as comic characters can be. A great number of issues were discussed, some of which I'd never seen before in comics.

It was a surprisingly soft ending.  http://www.fbofw.com/strip_fix/

They've had a good run, and while the story is ending, the comic will still run older strips, possibly with some additions. For me, The Pattersons will always hold a special place in my heart.

I can't imagine a comic like Archie ending, but, I imagine, sometime in the (hopefully) far distant future, it *will* have to end. I imagine that even in that final story, we'll be left with many an unanswered question, and we'll never figure out who Archie chooses. I don't know that, after all the years of "what if's" we'd be content with any sort of conclusion.

Well, maybe TuxedoMark would, and it would likely feature Archie miserably alone!

Wow, I didn't know it ended already.  I used to sort of follow FBOFW in the newspaper but I lost track since I moved, about 2 weeks ago.  I understand Lynn Johnston had some sort of illness that made it hard for her to keep up doing the comic?  It was a really great strip, I know a lot of people will be sentimental about it ending.

I do not want to see Archie come to an end

I wouldn't worry about that, as long as there's comics in some form, they'll be Archie!

I was following the cartoon strips online for a few years but as the strips I liked shrinked, the need to follow them daily waned. I think the breaking point for me was when Boondocks went on hiatus and then Foxtrot went on a Sunday schedule. I loved FBOFW, with all it's soap opera dramas and stuff. The last time I read these on a consistent basis, I think Lynn Johnston was going to retread some of her earlier material for some reason. I'm sad to see it go, but happy it lived as long a life as it did.

Archie is a tried and true franchise with an almost 70 year track record. Executive will come and go, but as long as the franchise keeps making money, I doubt anyone is going to be doing much tinkering with it's success. I think one of the smartest "changes" Archie ever made was get into grocery store checkout lines with their digests. A great impulse item.
MJB

I don't see that happening. Archie is large and successfull, and well run. I don't think anyone is going to let that change. As many folks as do work for the company, all of them are NOT family members. They are work for hire like most people in any job. Look at Disney. It's stronger than ever and there is nary a Disney to be seen in corporate.
I do think the company needs to make a serious effort to expand out into other media besides comics. the Sabrina and Josie names have done well in TV and movies, but I think more could be done with Betty and Veronica in particular. Animation is a fairly easy step, and with hundreds of cable channels hungry for content, I think Archie needs to hire someone well versed in TV and animation do do nothing but court TV, movie and now VIDEO GAMES exects with Archie concepts.
MJB

I was keeping up with FBoFW largely online, but, I followed it via the newspaper when I was younger. I really liked how personal the stories were and that, while there was continuity, the strips could stand alone. The characters were inspired by Lynn's own children, and family friends and she tackled a lot of serious topics that I hadn't seen in any other comics prior. (Granted, I'm not well versed in every comic ever made, so I can't very well say that she was a pioneer)

Another appealing aspect of the comic (for me) was the overall feeling of politeness with the characters. Occasionally, a rude, deceptive or just difficult character was introduced, most notably in one storyline where Liz had a stalker, Micheal's dealings with his neighbors and mother-in-law, April confronting a thief, etc. Each difficulty was dealt with but provided an added angle to the characters' development. The dramatics were believable as were the characters responses and the characters themselves.

The end, to me, just seemed rather abrupt, and, while I knew it was coming, I don't really know what I'd been expecting for the "final" strip. I'll just really miss them.

Calvin & Hobbes has 2 fan-made comics of "How it Could/Should Have Ended" that acknowledge that Calvin has grown up and no longer believes Hobbes is real. It's a bittersweet ending and it serves to reinforce how much you grow to care for simple ink-on-paper characters. It's always sad to see them go.

With - and - without record players, telephones with cords, black and white t.v.'s, and all the miscellaneous other dated objects therein, Archie comics remain a fun, easy read. I've gotten my younger cousin into reading Archie comics, and hope to one day introduce my kids to Archie and his friends.

Frank - There was also a lot of Canadian facts sprinkled throughout the comic, and Lynn would also write about some of the events, their significance, even holidays when the comic went online.