9 Chickweed Lane
By Brooke McEldowney | 18.8K FollowersAbout 9 Chickweed Lane
A rarity in the comics, "9 Chickweed Lane" spotlights music and dance with superb artistry that complements Brooke McEldowney's strong-minded characters. A popular comic strip about three generations of family, "9 Chickweed Lane" features strong characters, flights of fancy, and an intuitive grasp of all kinds of relationships. The strip was recognized in 2006 for its brilliant artistry and intellectual humor when it was named Best Newspaper Comic Strip by the National Cartoonists Society. The strip appears in 60 newspapers worldwide, including the "Los Angeles Times," "Houston Chronicle," "Calgary Sun," and "Columbus Dispatch."
Central character Edda Burber is dancing to the beat of a different drummer these days as McEldowney focuses "9 Chickweed Lane" more on the story of a young woman who moves away from home to perform with a prestigious metropolitan ballet company in New York City. Although it may seem like a completely new strip, "9 Chickweed Lane" is peopled with very familiar friends, like furry feline Solange, and Edda's childhood friend and recent love interest, Amos.
You can buy dozens of McEldowney's books at his online bookstore, Pibpress.
Meet Brooke McEldowney
Brooke McEldowney, standing at 6 feet and 8 inches tall, is an artist through and through. He is the creator of the comic strips "9 Chickweed Lane" and "Pibgorn," as well as a professional musician. "9 Chickweed Lane" spotlights music and dance with superb artistry that complements McEldowney's strong-minded characters. This year will be the 20th anniversary for the strip. "Pibgorn" is a magical tale of fairies, love, and high adventure.
Originally from Charleston, West Virginia, McEldowney followed his musical talents to The Juilliard School in New York. After creating his comic strip "9 Chickweed Lane," he received the National Cartoonist Society award for Best Newspaper Comic Strip in 2005. McEldowney now lives in Kennebunk, Maine.
Cast of Characters
Edda Burber
Fresh to New York City, Edda is a young, newly employed dancer in a prestigious metropolitan ballet company, embarking on a life of her own, with her own loves, hopes, ambitions, and tax forms.
Amos
Edda’s friend since childhood, Amos studies cello at The Juilliard School, in the same performing arts complex where Edda dances professionally. One of the biggest and newest conflicts in their friendship is that they have fallen in love and handle the situation rather badly.
Seth Appleby
Seth, a native of Waco, Texas, is Edda’s dance partner in the ballet company and her roommate. An unabashed wearer of the Green Carnation, Seth is a romantic, plunging into love at the drop of a hat. He looks upon Edda and Amos, as he does all his friends, both maternally and with the protective instincts of an Irish Wolfhound.
Gran
Gran lives with Juliette, her daughter, and assists in running the farm, although she finds livestock disappointingly unresponsive to guilt as a motivator.
Solange
Residing in New York with Edda, Solange brings feline entropy to preexisting human disarray.
Thorax
Gran’s beau, and the former owner of Juliette’s farm, Thorax sells strange goods and services from roadside stands when he isn’t ruminating on his alien origins or dusting off the quantumanomaly in the tractor shed. He moves through life as if from dimension to dimension and often appears in other cartoons.