Not Giving Up Yet

As previously posted, I have ended my near decade-long Dilbert habit, mostly due to the new, awful website layout, but partially due to the fact that I haven't had a genuine laugh at a new Dilbert strip in a couple of years.

Now, I've been considering giving up on another strip that I've been following for only a few years now, 9 Chickweed Lane, by Brooke McEldowney (I spent a good year reading this thing thinking that Brooke was a woman... if you've read the strip, you might understand why). The strip is often worth a look for it's "Hallmarks of Felinity" alone.

If you're not familiar with it, it's more of a serialized, soap-opera strip than one with set-ups and punch-lines. That format makes it (often) more rewarding, but lately he's been messing with his relationships in ways that have thrown believability out the window. I know what he's doing; he's creating short-term drama (IMHO at the expense of his characters). He probably thinks that his story-lines have grown stagnant. But the break-ups he's induced have been so contrived and forced, that I seriously thought about throwing in the towel on this strip too. In the end though, I'm too much a creature of habit. I'll keep tuning in, but maybe not every day for a while. Here's hoping the final product of this arc justifies it's awkward and seemingly gratuitous beginning.

Here's a recent (generally unremarkable) strip. The fourth panel proves (to me anyway) that Brooke is a Stephen Donaldson fan. Chronicles of Thomas Covenent readers will know exactly what I mean.