John Patterson, Captain of the Starship Satyriasis

One thing that Lynn does seem to get right (or as right as possible for her) is the fact that people's characters start to take some odd and somewhat unpleasant twists as they age. A case in point is John; he started out as a basically well-meaning, caring but essentially clueless boomer husband and father. The twenty-five-odd years of time gone by in the strip has had a rather, ahhhhhhh, sad and unpalatable effect on his personality. Not only does he retreat into a silly fantasy land with his idiotic and annoying model train fixation to avoid dealing with the messy real world, he's taken a rather unhealthy interest in his oldest daughter's love life. When he was a younger man, he wouldn't have DREAMED of going all creepy-stalker-perv-job like he did with Liz recently NOR would he have got all huffy and defensive. I would also surmise the main reason his younger partner is counting the days until Johnny hangs up his dentist drill is that the man dreads the combination of Ol'Doc Patterson, attractive young women and general anesthesia. The message Lynn sends here is as alarming as John's behavior. Not only his slow but steady conversion into a superannuated sex fiend seen as a normal part of aging, it's also depicted as an infinite well of harmless whimsy!