Caroline Small reads Moore's Swamp Thing for the 1st time

Ahh, you can't go home again - but you can vicariously enjoy the thrill of Caroline Small's discovery of Swamp Thing via the good offices of her buddy Chris (who's leading her down the comics primrose path - it's no longer "I'm just here to see Craig Yoe to keep Chris company..."). Read their dialogue at Muck-Encrusted Mockery of a Roundtable: Liberty, Fecundity, Perversity

9 Chickweed Lane continues to push the envelope

Last year, I blogged about 9 Chickweed Lane's virginity losing strips. Apparently that storyline was a success for creator Brooke McEldowney because he's now got Grandma reminiscing about her first boyfriends (two and a time! warring countries!) and 'feeling a salute,' if you know what he means...

Chickweed makes reading the comics feel like watching modern tv, not Ozzie and Harriet!

Weingarten's Chatalogical Humor chat on some comics

Here's some comments on comic strips from Gene Weingarten's January 6th chat that mirror some of the concerns of this blog lately:

2D, color on Sunday: You once called 9 Chickweed Lane "reprehensible." Why? Is it the pseudo-sophistication? The unbearably snotty and phony way the characters speak? The lack of chins?

While we're there, have you followed the latest story, in which Amos and Edda finally have sex? I wonder: Is this the first time a character has lost his or her virginity ("maidenhood" in the strip) in the comics?

And finally, I had to laugh when I saw this,* in which McEldowney whines about the cruel realities of deadline to explain why the loss-of-virginity storyline is on hiatus.

Gene Weingarten: Interestingly enough, we appear to be watching the deflowering of Cory this very week in "Watch Your Head."

Liz, can we link to one or two?

washingtonpost.com: Watch Your Head: Jan. 3 | Jan. 5 | Jan. 6

_______________________

comic,AL: What's your opinion on the "pseudo-affair" plot line in Sally Forth? Although it would be scandalous, and since the strip is called "Sally Forth," unlikely, for Ted to take Aria up on her offer I think it would be a huge improvement to the strip for him to develop a backbone. Otherwise I think Sally will just say "walkies!" and he will follow her home like the good dog that he is.

Gene Weingarten: I am annoyed by possessiveness in marrige, so I am annoyed by this plot line. Having said that, it is an interestingly ambiguous dynamic, and I respect the writers for it: Nothing is "going on," and yet both parties are disturbed. So is, in fact, something "going on"?

To me, the great part of the Sally Forth storyline is Sally's ma constantly intimating that Ted is a woman.


*one of our famed local comic strip artists was also caught short by his syndicate deadlines, but worked through a family vacation to stay on time...

Another virgin gone

After 9 Chickweed Lane's characters experienced their shared joy, perhaps it was inevitable that others on the comics page should lose their virginity as well. Today's example is apparently Watch Your Head with a 27-second life-changing moment.

And while I don't want to take over Comic Riffs role, I can't help but note the flat-out sincere insincerity of Wiley's Non Sequiter today.