Stone Soup by Jan Eliot for January 15, 2010

Gasp! never go home?!

Sounds good to me (says the expatriate who decided to stay in China after her stint as a volunteer ended).

Looks like Grandma may be driving off into the sunset….

Well, they’re IN Thailand, it’s NOT like theres a shortage of rice!

Well, this is going either end with heart break or its going be ending with Evie not being featured character anymore.

I hope not. At the least, it would show Evie in her many adventures all over the world with her “companion”.

sigh Arnold is fantastic…sounds like I proposition that came to me a few months ago…but alas..I have to play the hand God dealt me…

I love the Tuk-Tuk. Those are a blast to ride in!

She’ll go back to her family but continue to take these trips from time to time.

ejcapulet I’d be interested to know what took you to China and what’s made you stay. It sounds interesting.

The world sure needs people like her. Volunteers willing to join elsewhere at the drop of hat.

Maybe Evie is up for contract renegotiation, and Jan is laying the groundwork for writing her out of the strip rather than paying her more money…

Maybe Evie wants to focus on her film career, or possibly direct…

Maybe Evie’s got an unscripted pregnancy, and Jan needs to keep her under wraps for a while…

Maybe Val and Evie have had an off-the-set blowup, and Val has played the “Either she goes, or I go” card…

Maybe Jan’s setting up a spin-off strip, “Arnie&Eve@Paradise”…

If Evie’s long-lost sister Wacky Aunt Lilith suddenly turns up and moves in to help Val with the family, that’s a sign of desperation (as well as a classic shark-jump).

It would actually be a very smart way for the author to highlight various problems around the globe. Certainly things like the recent earthquake in Haiti, but I’m thinking more of the less well known areas that need our help everyday, but rarely get any press.

thats not going to go so well with the fam!

There’s something I don’t like about the way he is drawn - I don’t know what it is - his beard, maybe?

(I seem to find him too young for Evie! Not so much that I disapprove, as that I just can’t believe in it. It has no credibility with me - I can’t believe it would happen.)

That he’s half bald? but Wally has less hair. That his eyes are just dots? is that true of anyone else?

A lot of people seem to be hung up on his beard, calling him “unshaven” or “scruffy”, but to me it looks like a well-groomed facial hair of a style that an old(er), somewhat stylish gentleman might wear. It may be a regional thing, but he looks quite respectable to me.

Next stop Haiti. I think they’re going to need your help too.