Pibgorn by Brooke McEldowney

Tags: Am I still a Demon ?, Infernal Introspection, A Lovely Loving kind of Demon, You are my favorite demon., Demon with a heart of gold?, An excellent Demon-stration. Add Tags

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fear-ciuil said, 8 months ago

If you would like to ‘favorite’ the strip, (and maybe the sketch, too), simply log in and click on the ‘Favorite’ star directly above the strip. Mr. McEldowney very kindly asked for us what purpose is served by favoriting, and this was the answer:
I asked my editor at Gocomics about the purpose of “favoriting” a strip. Her answer was this: “‘Favoriting’ allows people following you to see what comics you like. ‘Favorited’ comics also show up under your profile, and allow us to see what comics people are enjoying.”
Basically, I think it provides a method for spreading the word.
Brooke

ccdesan has been kind enough to provide several resources:
Pibgorn in-depth background info, strip history, synopsis of story arcs, etc.
• http://home.comcast.net/~ccdesan/Pibgorn/Pibgorn.html

9 Chickweed Lane in-depth background info, strip history, synopsis of story arcs, etc.
• http://home.comcast.net/~ccdesan/Chickweed/Chickweed.html

GoComics comments posting guide to special formatting: italic, bold, indents, large fonts, etc.
• http://home.comcast.net/~ccdesan/Pibgorn/StyleGuide.html

fairportfan has samples and a guide for converting 2D comics to 3D and for “flicker” comparisons:
3D conversions of a couple of Pibgorn panels, go to:
• http://electronictiger.net/stereo/dru.htm
How to Commit 3D - quick-and-dirty guide for stereo images:
• http://electronictiger.net/stereo/demo.htm
Index of “flicker” images:
• http://electronictiger.net/avail/flick/
Flicker Picture Tutorial:
• http://electronictiger.net/avail/how2

Joe_Minotaur has a number of fan fictions based upon Pibgorn and TV police dramas:
• http://home.earthlink.net/~joeminotaur (start reading at the bottom of the page!)

Free registration to participate in a forum dedicated to Brooke McEldowny’s work:
• http://www.talkaboutcomics.com/phpBB2/viewforum.php?f=568 [link to forum]
• http://marmoe.livejournal.com/34590.html [for registration assistance]

Brooke McEldowney info at:
• http://officialpibgorn.livejournal.com/ [Brooke’s Pibgorn blog]
• http://chickweedcafe.blogspot.com/ [Brooke’s Chickweed blog]
• http://www.wuky.org/tonicarchivesvisual [WUKY NPR interview (audio)]
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brooke_McEldowney

Come one and come all, de-lurk and join in!
Add your own voice to our great, joyous din!
Just one bit of wisdom ere joining our game:
Read the comments! All of them! Or you’ll miss something! (Shame!)
(No trolls need apply.)
And please do not feed the cuisine-challenged bridge substructure symbionts.
http://picayune.uclick.com/comics/pib/2002/pib021218.gif
http://chickweedcafe.blogspot.com/2009/02/on-return-of-loons.html

Today’s 9 Chickweed Lane can be found at:
http://www.chron.com/apps/comics/showComic.mpl?date=2009%2F3%2F4&name=9_Chickweed_Lane
An index of old 9 Chickweed Lane strips, 2001-present, can be found at:
http://www.comicstriparchive.com/9_Chickweed_Lane/
txmystic said, 8 months ago

So rather than despair or being weakened, it seems Dru’s collapse was possibly the act of confronting the idea that she really can care for humanity in spite of the Spitcock mojo…i.e.is this the sign that she has successfully transmuted the poisonous mojo like a reverend mother does the waters of life?
Sisyphos said, 8 months ago

Has Geoff just idly strolled away from Pib, only to chance upon Dru? Did he search her out? –Something is missing, in effect, from between yesterday’s strip and today’s….
Sisyphos said, 8 months ago

@txmystic: not only ruby but also a Duniac!
Gweedo Murray said, 8 months ago

The kids are off the marriage carriage, for now… let the insanity continue.
Mikkail said, 8 months ago

A demon with a soul…
Fairportfan said, 8 months ago

Oh lor. Pib and Dru are both getting all introspective.

This cannot end well for Geoff.
Margueritem said, 8 months ago

Dru is sad and confused. <:-( I love what she did to the jets, a much more devious plan than simply blowing them up. Dru, it was a lovely bit of evil.
Sisyphos said, 8 months ago

(Repost)
–Answer: a demon with a heart!

[EDIT: this was my first post on this page, and originally second overall; the infernal SAS have made it my “3rd” and at least “9th” overall!]
txmystic said, 8 months ago

margueritem: it was evil with a higher purpose, a sense of restoring the greater good…so is it still evil?

To the couch!!

EDIT—SHEESH! I had to post this 5 times over about a 10 minute span before this comment would come in after margueritem’s and thus make sense as a response…
Fairportfan said, 8 months ago

9CL: yay
Fly Guy said, 8 months ago

For the newbies…..SAS = Stupid Assynchronous Servers!
txmystic said, 8 months ago

margueritem: did you see the comment from cobass?? We have been christened by the Master himself as the Order of The Couch! Sweet!

We need something like an OTC crest now, so we can get like some polo shirts made, yuk yuk yuk

(EDIT–see FlyGuy’s comment above and the position of this comment to understand SAS)
Fairportfan said, 8 months ago

I see people were having problems getting various comics tonight; i got Girl Genius at about four minutes past midnight EST.
CoBass said, 8 months ago

Re: The “Edda gets shot at school” story arc.

I commented yesterday that the Saturday 13 Sep 1997 panel was missing from the strips that Mr. McEldowney posted at his 9CL blog. I emailed him about it. His response is below.

That particular cartoon was a Saturday cartoon. At the time, I had a habit of drawing cat, or cat-and-dog, cartoons on Saturdays. There was a belief, adhered to be a lot of editors, that people following a particular arc might miss Saturdays because they weren’t buying their usual paper as they began their commute to work. I don’t know where that idea came from. Anyway, when I looked through the School Shooting series today, I saw that the September 13 cartoon was a cat-and-dog gag unrelated to the story, so I dropped it from the series as I posted it on my blog. I have no idea why I interposed that cartoon on that particular Saturday, inasmuch as I didn’t do it on the other Saturdays.

If you wouldn’t mind conveying this answer to the Order of The Couch, I’d be most obliged.
fear-ciuil said, 8 months ago

In case anyone missed it, Mr. McE posted the 9CWL school shooting arc yesterday to his Chickweed blog, the link to which is in the Brooke McEldowney info section of the boilerplate.

Good night, folks!
paciii said, 8 months ago

Thanks, MrMcE for taking the time to post the early arc and for explaining the missing day. Your graciousness is only matched by your talent, both of which are overwhelming.

9CwL: Edda’s response in panel 4 is so… deserving of a plastic ring! As is Amos’ response!

I was also wondering about how Geoff got from Pib to Dru so fast. Can there be two of him, split somehow amidst the confusions? That would solve who gets him - the each get one!! I can hear the explanation now: “Hello church officials, this is my long-lost, identical twin Jeff.”
paciii said, 8 months ago

fearciuil says:
If you would like to ‘favorite’ the strip,

Thanks for so faithfully posting links at the end of each yesterday and the boilerplate at the beginning of each today. And I like the re-worked favorite comment!! Enough to nudge us that forget on a regular basis and welcoming to new folks! Bravo!!
fatuncle said, 8 months ago

fairportfan

Here on the coast of North Carolina, at 0142, Girl Genius is still returning Internet Explorer cannot display the webpage when I attempt to connect …
txmystic said, 8 months ago

This is going to be totally awesome to see how easily Dru now can dispatch minions of evil (if what she did to Tom Torquemada is any indication)…

…unless something goes horribly awry…

GoodNightNow!
GrumpyOldbear said, 8 months ago

@fearciuil thanks for the favorite reminder. It slips through once in a while.
Margueritem said, 8 months ago

txmystic says:

margueritem: it was evil with a higher purpose, a sense of restoring the greater good…so is it still evil?

~Ah, but it will lead to more creative evil on the parts of the various countries.
Margueritem said, 8 months ago

txmystic says:

margueritem: did you see the comment from cobass?? We have been christened by the Master himself as the Order of The Couch! Sweet!

We need something like an OTC crest now, so we can get like some polo shirts made,

~ I looked down and found the comment. OTC, I like it. Yes, polo shirts with crests it is!
The Old Wolf said, 8 months ago

9CWL: Resolution without closure. Satisfaction without conclusion. Consummation without termination. It doesn’t get any better than this. Excelsior!

Pib: Setting the stage either for a significant continuation of this arc, or things to play off in future ones. This makes the storyline much more significant in terms of the love triangle. Words are inadequate to express my satisfaction.

School Shooting: <Troi>Joy and gratitude! Joy, and gratitude!</Troi> Thanks, Brooke! :D

*RL*: Decided to take the southern route home from San Francisco, driving down to LA and then swinging back up through St. George. Truckee looked hideous, and I didn’t want to risk having to eat my own arm for donner. Unh, I mean, dinner. Just got past Lebec, and there’s the most horrific traffic jam northbound on I-5 due to a hazardous material spill at the summit. Trucks and cars lined up for miles… glad I’m headed south.

‘Night, everyone.
Sisyphos said, 8 months ago

OTC polo shirts? –YES!

paciii7223, I like your Geoff & Jeff twins idea, though I think it improbable.

Kali nycta!
GrumpyOldbear said, 8 months ago

Mr McE add another thank you for the shooting arc- just the right touch all around.
Gweedo Murray said, 8 months ago

Safe driving, navigating .cc.
BJamesB86 said, 8 months ago

A demon with a heart. <3
AliKzam said, 8 months ago

I just caught up with Tuesday’s and Wednesday’s strip, and HOLY COW! I love these new developements! There are tons of possibilities, it just boggles my mind!
Sisyphos said, 8 months ago

–I had to return briefly to make a post that I had forgotten to do earlier, which I hope may be of use to some of the Order of the Couch.
It is in fact possible on the Houston Chronicle site to access individual daily (i.e., not Sunday) 9CWL strips back to as early as 28 September 1998, with some gaps (e.g., the first few days of October that year) even if one is not a member, by using the column of year-dates in the right-hand column and following the prompts to the desired strip. I am not sure if this was generally known to OTC, since the cumulative archive page seems to start with 2001….
Saskfan said, 8 months ago

Just read the school shooting arc. THANK YOU, Mr. McE for posting it. It’s beautiful.

I note it was also nine years after the massacre at Montreal’s Ecole Polytechnique. A goodly amount of time to allow passions to cool.

OTC, or OCD? :)
‘Night all!
paciii said, 8 months ago

You’ll have to go to my profile and zoom in, but here’s a start for the OTC crest…

/<———

This is a quick, first pass, NOTHING is set, suggestions for content is encouraged. (and a better artist volunteer welcome!)
Story Teller said, 8 months ago

Owlsly Whistlepig says: ““look deep into my legs”….sheesh…and Ida Lupino….double sheesh..I know I am layte…but I have to work tyll layte and I crawl to the couch after all the good stuff go’s on…
so my comments go some what un- noticed…but this tayle is awesum”

Not so late after all, eh? Welcome to the Confusion Lounge, Newcomer! Pull up a pillow in the couch or park your bunyons in the hot tub or pool. There is a poolside bar for your potable pleasure and always an assortment of snacks and eats brought about by the couchies. Mind the squirrels, they cannot seem to decide whether to get into the espresso beans on the Glen Blarney so they do a little of both…Scotch Espresso, anyone?
Gunnr said, 8 months ago

In ref: The Wyeth painting, Christina’s World. Christina Olson, the subject of the painting had lost the use of her lower body due to paralysis. She is sitting in the picture because she could neither walk nor stand. Wyeth used a room in the Olson house as a studio for many years and knew Christina and her brother well.

There is a classical era statue with that same pose called “The Dying Gaul” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dying_Gaul

In reading the 9CWL school shooting arc, I notice that Amos has since acquired a chin. It suits him. Sister Mary Caligula appears not to have changed at all – Much Thanks to B. McE for the posting, et. al. for the heads up…

N.B. The first bearded iris of the season is unfurling it’s delicate yellow frills in my front flower bed, a gladsome reminder that life goes on.
Story Teller said, 8 months ago

paciii7223 says: “You’ll have to go to my profile and zoom in, but here’s a start for the OTC crest…
this is a quick, first pass, NOTHING is set, suggestions for content is encouraged. (and a better artist volunteer welcome!)”

Are those fish in the lower left? Or chicken legs? Hard to tell, my zoom function only applies to verbage, not graphics. If I did not have two major projects due in the next two weeks at school, I’d take a crack at it. Photoshop is like a second home to me. I would like to suggest at least one question mark denoting confusion, however.
Fairportfan said, 8 months ago

New flicker pic!
http://electronictiger.net/avail/flick/theme_index.htm (look for the red “Updated” marker).
3Xp4t said, 8 months ago

I’m really struck by the turns the story has taken this week. I don’t even want to speculate much; I’d rather hold my breath and let the scene play out so as not to ruin the beauty …

BUT, jumping in on details is still fair game. Geoff just showing up is the sort disconnect that has a pretty obvious mechanism, so no need for extra panels. Pib would have brought him to Dru, one way or another. The girls always know where each other are, except under very unusual circumstances.

I like that the story has entered a timeless space. Days or hours could have passed; the backgrounds are not filled with distracting details but, rather, glorious palettes of color. A hush is on the stage and I don’t want the inevitable curtain to fall; I’m hoping for one more Act to resolve some loose ends.

But this scene is magic.
SirMirom said, 8 months ago

A kinder, gentler Dru.

Kinda makes you get all choked up, you know?
Buggerit said, 8 months ago

paciii7223 Not a bad first effort.

In heraldic terms, you should try to avoid having two colours next to each other, they should be seperated by one of the two ‘metals’ ‘or’ (gold) and ‘argent’ (silver).

Having the field divided into three makes this problematic, so I would suggest replacing it with a horizontal band (called a ‘fess’) which would keep the three divisions simpler, and more in keeping with traditional heraldry. Perhaps three question marks across it would represent the confusion of the couch.

I think the crest should be the head of a minotaur.

The supporters either side of the shield should be Dru and Pib, of course.

So in heraldic terms it would be: Azure on a fess argent three question marks gules. In chief a couch or, above two fish or naiant.

I’ve changed my avatar to look like my suggestion. Any other takers out there?
Buggerit said, 8 months ago

Sorry, make that three fish!

(Naiant means swimming horizontally, by the way.)
Buggerit said, 8 months ago

The crest needs a motto as well. They are usually three or four words long, such as “Dieu et Mon Droit” (“God and my right”) or “Ich dien” (“I serve”).

How about “veni vedi confusus” (“I came, I saw, I got confused”)?
zaphire said, 8 months ago

Bugerit

I like the motto and the design. When will be the voting?

The Order of the Couch
“veni vedi confusus”
Yeah, I can live with that.
Buggerit said, 8 months ago

Thinking about it, Pibby is a green fairy, so perhaps the blazon should reflect that.

I’ve changed the field from ‘azure’ to ‘vert’.
MasterDiver said, 8 months ago

Interesting…Pip is having doubts about the depth of her ability to love; while Dru is discovering she may have, (dare I say it?) a CONSCIENCE????
jamodio said, 8 months ago

Oh how lovely. Pib absorbed a little bit of Dru and Dru got a bit of Pib.
If you average a Demon and a Fairy do you get a dairy, faimon, or what?
And Geoff will be twice as well loved.
zorchon said, 8 months ago

Crest Buggerit, you’re read my mind: One must have Pib and Dru flanking the shield, and the Latin scroll underneath. How about “Together, we are confused?” Something like “E pluribus confusus”?
The three “?” are perfect, but I’d put the minotaur in the lower triad.
papa smurf said, 8 months ago

Any Order of the Couch crest must include ‘squirrels rampant!’
papa smurf said, 8 months ago

Any Order of the Couch crest should also incorporate a symbol of confusion, preferably covert.
papa smurf said, 8 months ago

50
ThatCat said, 8 months ago

Sisyphos:
–Something is missing, in effect, from between yesterday’s strip and today’s….

Or he is giving us the head and the tail on purpose - he does so love to titillate our Spidey sense. I’m with whoever said (Fairportfan?) that the three of them are just adjusting to new realizations - not that anyone will leave someone. Perhaps they will just become closer.