For Better or For Worse not forever????

OK, so until about six years ago, I was an avid comic page reader. I had fully bonded with the comics as provided by the Tacoma News Tribune, the newspaper I used to work for. Those comics were in color, and included all my favorites, especially For Better or For Worse.

FBoFW tells a family's story, with characters that "age" and seem to live real -- albeit wrapped up in a few panels -- lives. Family dynamics. Love. Loss. Sickness. Health. And a lot of fun. When I started working for the Seattle P-I, I quit reading the comics. They weren't in color anymore, and a lot of my faves were in the competing paper.

But I did keep reading FBoFW ... via the Internet (http://fbofw.com/). Creator Lynn Johnston has her own Web site, where I can gorge myself on the comic. But it's not a daily habit, or even necessarily a weekly habit, so I always end up devouring months worth at a time. In fact, I'm due, which is the second thing I thought after reading this:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4326967/

Johnston's been dropping hints for years that she'll end the strip soon, and now there's a report that the clock has started ticking: As of the fall of 2007, the Patterson family will stop aging.
This article in the Grand Rapids Press is not quite clear as to whether the strip will end, go on hiatus, or what. Sounds to me like the strip will end at least for a while, possibly to return in some format -- I'm just guessing here, but maybe via occasional Web updates, or a TV show or a Sunday-only strip? (nooo! Learn from "Outland" and "Opus"!)? In any case, the characters will freeze in time as of next fall.
There've been rumors aplenty that the final strip will be a wedding, and its last words will be the title of the strip (probably spoken by Patterson daughter Liz, since Michael is already married and April is too young).

OK, I just checked. I haven't read FBoFW since December! I have almost a year's worth to catch up with, which is both exciting and daunting. ...

LATE ADD: OK, for a minute I thought I was crazy .... the comic characters blinked. And their thought bubbles moved. But I'm not crazy! They're just subtly animated. Very cool.