A blinkered vision of the past....

As you will recall, I've always thought that when Lynn dipped into the well for flashbacks, she should have done so by selecting strips from 1982 onwards. Not only is the artwork similar to the retcon style she uses when she discusses the past, the storyline is in the same continuity we see now. I also used to think that the gag-a-day era was non-stop nastiness until I actually re-read the first collection of strips. I'd forgotten that there were a lot of neutral and benign gags from that era. The reason, of course, is simple. As the years grind on, it seems as if Lynn has developed a lot of misgivings about her past. Showing upbeat, optimistic material clashes with the regret she feels about how things have turned out.