(Strip Number 6143, Original Publication Date, 28 October 1984)
Panel 1: We begin the strip with Elly putting the finishing touches on the "Saving Michael From Being Gunned Down By The Police For Dressing As An Enemy Of All That's Good" Halloween costume.
Panel 2:: She smiles a satisfied smile as she thought-bubbles that she's finished.
Panel 3: She then asks Mike if he can come down to her tailor shop of witlessly doing too damned much despite not having to and try on the costume of wasting money, effort and peace of mind.
Panel 4: Having gotten him to wear the cute, not-getting-arrested-and-bringing-shame-o
Panel 5: Since it's just a costume, Mike is muted in his praise.
Panel 6: Since Elly wants a damned ticker tape parade and a freaking Nobel Prize for every little thing she does, she takes this as yet another personal affront and starts berating him for not noticing the hard work she's put in on his great costume.
Panel 7: She then mommyjacks the conversation by condemning other mothers for being too lazy and uncaring to not do needless chores like this.
Panel 8: The end result is that their poor, unloved children have to wear awful, generic store bought costumes.
Panel 9: Since she THINKS that she's convinced him that wanting a costume from Zellers is the moral equivalent of stabbing his pooooor, unappreciated mother in the heart, she asks him to reconsider things.
Panel 10: Elly slumps her shoulders in defeat and despair because Mike's telling her that he'd like one of those awful plastic ones that come in a box clearly means that he hates her and rejects all that she does for him.
Summary: While the Lynnsight will vaguely reference Lynn's distaste for not being allowed to give vent to her creative impulses, it kind of misses the real point. Just as tomorrow's example of boomer lens-cap stupidity ascribes wanting to dress up as punk rockers to nihilistic rage that the kids don't feel, today's strip is predicated on a rejection that isn't actually taking place. Elly seems to be put on this Earth to stress about things that aren't actually happening and everyone around her is the worse for it.