Lynn Johnston, one of Canada’s most celebrated cartoonists and author of the popular comic strip For Better or For Worse, is getting ready to retire within the next five years.

Johnston’s announcement may seem too soon, but for millions of her readers, it may just be enough time to say goodbye to the Patterson family.

For Better or For Worse is unique because it's one of the only comic strips whose characters grow up with its readers. While the Peanuts gang and Family Circle kids stayed frozen in time, the Patterson kids went through many changes.

Johnston began the strip in 1979 and since then the fictional Patterson family has dealt with many issues such as death, marriage and homosexuality.

In 1991, the comic artist even introduced the birth of April, the youngest child of the bunch.

Johnston believes that her retirement will come at a good time as the lives of her characters are coming full circle. April, for instance will be going off to university by the time the strip ends. Elizabeth, the middle child, will be off to the work force. And Michael, the oldest child, is soon to be a parent with his wife Deanna.

"You know, she's (April) growing up too fast. It's really too bad. But Michael is going to have a baby sometime in October, and that's going to rejuvenate my interest a little bit, and bring the strip back to family and little kids again, which is going to be a lot of fun," Johnston said.

"Michael's family will be the same age as he and Elizabeth were when they first started the strip. So it will be a full cycle of the family and I think it's a good time to wrap it up," she added.

A true-to-life comic strip

Johnston used her real family as the inspiration for her comic characters, the Pattersons.

When she started the comic, her own family was just beginning to grow, having two young kids born in the early 70s. In the strip, John and Elly Patterson also had two young children of their own, until the addition of April more than a decade later.

In fact, when Johnston first submitted her work to Universal Press Syndicate, her comic strip was entitled "The Johnstons." Even the names of her characters were taken from her husband and children's second names, except for Elly, who was named after a close friend who died of brain cancer.

Real-life success

Johnston has achieved many career heights and distinctions. In 1985, she was awarded Outstanding Cartoonist of the Year by the U.S.-based National Cartoonist Society, becoming the first woman to be given the honour. In 1992, she became a member of the Order of Canada. Johnston was also nominated for a Pulitzer Prize in 1994.

But, her career as a syndicated comic strip artist didn't come as soon as her accolades.

In the early 70s, Johnston worked as a medical artist at McMaster University in Hamilton. And during her days as a freelancer, she got jobs drawing almost everything -- from cereal boxes to billboards.

Johnston continued to draw about various subjects and even published three humorous books based on her experiences in parenting. By the time Universal Press Syndicate took an interest in her work, Johnston already had a solid foundation for the characters of what would become the For Better or For Worse series.

The popular syndicated comic strip now appears in over 2000 papers in Canada, the U.S. and 23 other countries and has been translated into eight other languages.

So with a proven successful career, her own kids all grown up and the Patterson family gracefully handling life's transitions, Johnston is ready to try something else.

"I'd like to try something big for a change, like a mural or big painting or something. Who knows?"