9 CHICKWEED LANE
What’s going on in Brooke McEldowney’s ground-breaking precedent-shattering strip? When last we looked in, Edda and Amos, childhood sweethearts, had at last consummated their love in the usual way — although not usual for a comic strip in a family newspaper. Nothing explicit, mind you — but the circumstances don’t leave us in any doubt. This signal event in their young lives took place during a musical competition in Brussels where Amos on his cello would be accompanied by Edda on piano.
Unfortunately — but delightfully so and unbeknownst to the most involved parties — the two young lovers were videotaped during their “most intimate moment” by people drifting by their twelfth floor window in a hot-air balloon.
The film was then broadcast all over the world in the Belgian version of Funniest Home Videos. Subsequently, when Edda and Amos performed in the competition, they were extravagantly applauded by the audience, all of whom recognized them as the lovers in the video: everyone loves young lovers. And Amos won the competition. Then, almost at once, the jury reneged and withdrew the award, explaining, “Because you and your pianist were captured on camera and broadcast worldwide in flagrante delicto, an allegation of unfair bias has been directed at the jury.” They were permitted, however, a “do-over” against their chief rival — this time, behind a screen so none of the jury could see who was playing. And Amos won again.
This took place just before Christmas. Admittedly, a long time ago, but the epoch-making enterprise continues in other ways, hence this notice. The tale of Edda and Amos and their love had not yet run its course. There was more to come. Alas, McEldowney missed his deadline for the January 5-10 strips, and, overwhelmed with remorse, he posted the following missive on his officialpibgorn.livejournal.com website (which you can find a link for hereabouts on the GoComics menu); here ’tis in its entirety, a history-making event:
Important Chickweed Bulletin
“Next week, January 5th through 10th, 9 Chickweed Lane will appear for those six days in reruns. On January 12th, the present story will resume. First I must apologize to all of you who come to 9 Chickweed Lane every day. Second, I must explain: I was a half hour late in getting my week's worth of Chickweed completed, and, by so doing, transgressed the sanctity of the deadline. Wheedling and pleas were useless. The syndicate people were intransigent, and imposed reruns, mumbling something, in passing, about God, mercy and my soul. This devastated me, because the story of the competition in Brussels is not over. I did not intend a pause. However, I found myself laboring over some little nuances that might help convey the romance and suspense of the story, and the deadline overtook me, baying and snapping.
This is where you must understand something about syndicate people: they look upon cartoonists who violate the deadline the way state troopers regard a motorist who has been changing into a wedding tux while steering the car with his knees (not that I would personally have experience with such a thing). They — the troopers and the syndicate people — are implacable, narrow-eyed, unsmiling. You cannot beg. You cannot bribe. You cannot charm. And, when all is said and done, you cannot snivel, at least excessively, when it is all your own fault. And that brings me to the third point: I must apologize again, and ask your indulgence. The cartoon was finished a half hour after the deadline rumbled past; and it has been sitting in the can, ready to be seen ever since. It will return to comics.com on the 12th. Meanwhile, Amos and Edda are not done yet. Consider next week but a hiccup (not one of Amos's, unfortunately, or it would be remedied so much more agreeably).”
McEldowney’s distress may seem a bit extreme — until you consider where the “rerun” strips landed in the continuity. Saturday’s strip concluded with the audience showering Amos and Edda with flowers and other congratulatory missiles. Monday, then, they would be declared winners for the second time. But instead, Monday began a rerun segment that effectively undermined the emotional current that McEldowney had created. Okay: the Sunday strip, which is not at all part of the continuity, does the same. But in the cartoonist’s mind, Saturday flows into Monday, the same unfolding story.
In any event, McEldowney’s communique must be unique in the annals of comic strip cartooning. And now you have a copy for your file of a genuine unvarnished historical event. (In case you aren’t up-to-date on Amos’ hiccups: it was to cure his hiccups that Edda took him to her bed. It worked.)
The current series about Gran and her WW2 adventure is the most engaging and interesting of all the ones i have seen so far!
Posted by: billy | January 14, 2010 at 09:04 PM