Comic Reality

Yesterday morning I was having breakfast with B and N.  The topics of conversation bounced around a bit but at some point N made a reference to the book he was reading.  He's been reading "Remembering Farley", a collection of comics from the "For Better or Worse" strip by Lynn Johnston.  The point he brought up was something about the characters being different than they are in the newspaper.  I pointed out that, unlike "Peanuts" or "Garfield", the characters in "For Better or Worse" age and change.  B and I then tried to figure out where N was in the timeline.  Had April been born yet?  Was Grandpa sick?  Had Farley died?

That last question stopped the conversation cold.  N looked at us with shock and trepidation.  "Farley dies?", he asked quietly, not really wanting an answer.  B was only too willing to fill in the details and point out that the book title, "Remembering Farley", should have been a hint - so much for brotherly love and compassion.  I stifled B and tried to comfort N.  He was doing his best to hold it together at the table but his eyes were glistening and red.

After we left the table, N took the book to bed and began frantically flipping pages, looking for the account of Farley's demise.  He found it, near the end, and confirmed that B had described it accurately.  He was sobbing when I sat down next to him.  He declared that he was not going to read anymore from the book.  Up to this point he had really been enjoying the book and I think giving it up made him as sad as anything else.  This is the same boy who refuses to even watch a commercial for the movie "Marley and Me" because he heard about the fate of the dog from a friend.

I tried to explain that the comic tried to reflect real life and sometimes, in real life, dogs die.  He told me rather indignantly that he knew that dogs died in real life, but that they shouldn't in the comics.  Comics are supposed to be funny, he continued, what's funny about a dog dying?  I conceded that there was nothing remotely funny about the passing of a dog, or any pet for that matter.  I explained that some comics aren't always trying to be funny.  Sometimes they are more serious.  He didn't like that answer at all.  He felt it was sneaky and mean for them to be funny most of the time and then suddenly kill the dog.

In essence, that is the distinction he draws between real life and comics or movies or books.  He understands that in real life we lose things, dear pets and people we love.  It is sad but it happens and we cannot change it.  I know he gets that.  But, at eight years old, he is unwilling to accept these losses when they can be avoided by simply changing the story.  To him, every comic dog should be like Snoopy, ageless, always able to battle the Red Baron or dance on Schroeder's piano.