Stone Soup by Jan Eliot for August 22, 2009

Obviously she’s been reading the comments. [jumps up and down and waves] Hi, Jan! Will you please sign the inside of my screen?

She does so on every strip :D :D :D

This is a pleasant surprise.

Of course the comics are smaller. You need room for only three walls, now.

I hope this isn’t the last Stone Soup strip, is it?

Hi Jan, nice to see you :D Yours is one of my absolute favourite strips, thanks for all the fun!

Hi Jan! - The wife and I follow your family daily!! (I see SOOoo much of OUR kids in their escapades!)

Keep ‘em laughing!!

Hi Jan! I love Stone Soup and I too have loved comics since I was a kid. The only trouble with the comics is - I keep changing characters. I started out as one of the kids and now I’m the grandma. Keep up the good work and I love it when grandma acts up a little. I’m always seeing my family in your strip.

Three rules about jokes

1) They are suppose to be funny 2) After the third telling, jokes cease to be funny and become annoying 3) If you have to break the 4th wall, you’re failing at your art.

The shrinking comics shtick and last week’s “Gotta love August” borefest both violated rule #1 and proved rule #2. Today you did #3, think about it, Jan.

…ask anyone on gocomics..comics are alive & well..the cartoonists on the other hand are eating saltines with water-tap water-unfiltered and the satines aren’t even name brand..and they’re stale..no crunch left..I read them for free so that the art will come first…crunchy saltines,the next thing you know the cartoonist will start doing repeats..that’s what happened to Calvin & Hobbes and The Boondocks and Foxtrot and Preteena and..well,let’s just say we should keep cartoonists on stale crackers and tap water for the good of all that’s comics…

Nice to see a rendition of you Jan and I agree with your views on this issue. Comics are the best part of any paper and online versions are the first part of my morning. I hope someone on high heard you and might see it in their hearts to let comics go back to a larger size.

Ooooh….Jan looks like she could be hot in real life. I dig the librarian look! :)

Looks like Jan is writing Val to be a bit like herself. In fan fiction they call that a Mary Sue.

wonderful comic…started reading it in the Seattle P-I; still do, read it twice.

Jan keep doing what you do….ignore people like “eattea”, mean remarks not needed.

i luv it!! i luv the comic you! ‘ve been enjoying your strips since grade school. they make my days! :)

keep ‘em comin’!! xoxo

Maybe she does read the comments, but aren’t comic strips drawn and submitted something like 6 weeks in advance, to simplify the syndication logistics? That is, I doubt Jan’s comic-persona appearance in this strip is in response to comments that have appeared this week.

I thought it was fun to see Jan in the strip! and I thoroughly enjoy the “Ya Gotta love August” strips.

Head on over to Jan’s blog to find pictures of her. You might have to scroll down a bit:

http://www.stonesoupcartoons.com/

You’ll also find out what inspired this series of cartoons.

eatteaphonenome -

Why is breaking the fourth wall indicative of failure? It’s a device that goes back at least to classical Greek theater, and has been used regularly in all sorts of media throughout history. The pinnacle of artistic achievement (in my opinion), Shakespeare’s “To be or not to be” soliloquy, is often presented as breaking the 4th wall, when/if the actor playing Hamlet delivers his lines directly to the audience.

Besides, what we have here is not simply a 4th-wall gag, the term is called “author intrusion”, and it can be very effective. Michaelangelo painted himself as a flayed skin on his Judgment Day painting. Kurt Vonnegut wrote himself into “Breakfast of Champions” as the creator of the events being told (seriously freaking out Kilgore Trout). Comics strips in particular have OFTEN had visitations by their creators, going back to Winsor McKay.

The 4th wall is broken quite frequently with Overboard, Pearls Before Swine & Piranha Club to name a few. I decided to join the Genius membership to help in a small way to keep the comics we all love to read. For those who read Rudy Park last week they literally went dark to say financially they may need to stop the strip after being around for a decade. There looking for ways to stay afloat as many newspapers including the Seattle P-I stop printing

Yes, I LOVE your comic also, Jan!! You make our ordinary lives seem entertaining, and you know how to say what I struggle to put into words. Thank you!! I subscribe to our local newspaper only for the comics, and think that it’s a shame that print papers are going out of business (BTW, I’m under 40).

hey, this is not the place for your right wing rants

Thanks Jan, for all you do! Enjoyed “seeing” you today, and ignore the jerks who posted above!

eatteaphonenome said

Three rules about jokes

1) They are suppose to be funny *2) After the third telling, jokes cease to be funny and become annoying * 3) If you have to break the 4th wall, you’re failing at your art.

The shrinking comics shtick and last week’s “Gotta love August” borefest both violated rule #1 and proved rule #2. Today you did #3, think about it, Jan.

Rule #1 has some validity, the others, like “Don’t split infinitives” and “Never use a preposition to end a sentence”, are hard prescriptives laid down by people with no imagination.

Someone who has never watched Who Framed Roger Rabbit, or failed to take that film’s most important punchline to heart: “Only when it’s funny.”

If you don’t find like the way this strip operates, why don’t you read Beetle Bailey - it only violates Rule #1.

Macushlalondra said

Looks like Jan is writing Val to be a bit like herself. In fan fiction they call that a Mary Sue.

No, a Mary Sue is when the character who saves the day and wins the love of the Gallant Captain (or the Alien Science Officer) is based on the author. Basing the leads on yourself is something entirely different.

camelsamba2 said

Maybe she does read the comments, but aren’t comic strips drawn and submitted something like 6 weeks in advance, to simplify the syndication logistics?

Two weeks to two months, i think, for print - it varies. There are exceptions and timing can vary. Apparently Brooke McEldowney submits the Sunday pages for 9 Chickweed Lane a month or moe in advance, but the dailies are only two weeks ahead. (He does Pibgorn the day before it runs, but it’s online only.)

Foxtrot featured the first comic-strip reaction to 9/11 that i saw, on 9/24 {http://picayune.uclick.com/comics/ft/2001/ft010924.gif}, i think, which indicates a two-week lead-time there. (And, not knowing it was a 9/11 reference, what would you make of that strip?)

The_JAM said

Maybe the artists union should ask the Obamessiah for a bailout. Those seem to be rather popular as of late.

Go peddle your papers on Fatso or Whiney Sean’s radio programs.

What do you political trolls (and that includes far-Left types too) do, read all the comics to find ones you can, somehow, manage to relate (in your own heads) to your political obsessions?

I have a friend here in Atlanta who writes movie reviews for a local publication. Every one he writes reveals how the movie in question is part of the Evil Hollywood Plot To Destroy The True America.

Shinking comic strips don’t play well out here in the real world on the internet.

You can deny the wave but it is still coming. You can only ride the wave of the future for so long before it rolls you under. Swim back up, get on your board and ride the next big on. Cowabunga, tubular and Rock-On.

Thanks Jan, it’s always good to “see” you.

James R: Thanks for the link- it was very informative, to say the least (Jan - “No Boobs On Sunday” - LOL). I knew, of course, the comics had been downsized, but hadn’t realized just how MUCH.

Jan: I think you must realize how many dedicated fans you have, that read and appreciate Stone Soup every day. Thank you very much.

Heh, I actually think this is funny. Breaking the 4th wall here isn’t done very often, and when it is done, I think it is done effectively. Jan is definitely protesting within the comic medium here.

There is no Mary Suism going on here…Val is cracking jokes about Jan, here! Every writer uses themselves to some degree in creating characters. It’s when they start breaking the laws of human interaction in their favor that they start becoming Mary Sues.

Our local paper does not carry Stone Soup. I only started this a year ago and find it really relates. Although my own mom is nothing like daughters mom on the strip. Also the paper started shrinking and has laid off editors and moved the comics strips. The economy has taken a major tole on everything. For customer service the ones who worked there where let go and India gained the contract. I am glad also the creator has got in on the scheem of downsizing.

Don’t ya just hate it when you step into your created world in order to make a point but one of your fictional characters keeps interrupting your speech and your train of thought with their thought balloons?

I wish I could buy a newspaper with JUST comics, and maybe the local ads (Target, Cub, etc).

habamom, I agree, except I like Annie’s Mailbox too. It would have to have that.

Stone Soup is my favorite. I buy all the books too, so I can read any strip again any time I want.

Mmmmmmmmmmmmm! Glad to see you!! Yours is my MOST FAVOURITE comic strip! Keep it up!!!

Hate to say it, Jam, but you pulled a RH.

We love you Jan! Its great how the situations in your comics fit the ones in my life perfectly! When I read them its like you completely understand my life.