Between Friends is dealing with Kim’s son heading for college, which, by the way and not at all by coincidence, is happening in cartoonist Sandra Bell-Lundy’s life as well, though not — as in Kim’s case — for the first time. Yet they both face the empty nest.There are so many ways I’m already enjoying […]
I’m still tied up with young journalist workshops. Here are some cartoons I would have blogged about if I’d had a blog about cartoons back when they ran, with dates if I marked them, without if I didn’t. I just kept’em ’cause I liked ’em. I didn’t know I’d ever actually use them for anything. […]
Between Friends eases into a storyline that reminds us that the term “helicopter parent” came into vogue through its use by college administrators.I say “eases into” because, while the strip does have well-defined story arcs, it also has a type of continuity that absorbs these stories into the overall setting. Sandra Bell Lundy works in […]
“Between Friends” is more a “chuckle of recognition” than “burst of laughter” strip, a genre which takes a certain touch of insight if it’s going to rise above “guys always leave the toilet seat up” observational so-whatness. Sandra Bell-Lundy, fortunately, has that touch.Which is to say, sometimes it’s more of a sigh than a chuckle. […]
So I’m pretty much okay with growing old, and, no, not “older” in the chipper, gray-haired Peter-Pan jogger sense but in the sweaty, foam-flecked “past the clubhouse turn and into the stretch” sense. I was taking a shortcut through the cemetery yesterday and noted that there are people there who were kids for the War […]
I’ve never quite gotten the conventions over naming names in the comics.For instance, in today’s comics, both Baby Blues and Between Friends name “Victoria’s Secret,” which was stranger than usual in that they appear one after another on my (alphabetically arranged) DailyInk page.And they both kind of played on the shocking nature of the store, […]
Between Friends bemoans what is, IMHO, not the degradation of our culture so much as the revelation of it.I suspect we’ve always had roughly the same total number of brain cells globally, but simply weren’t hearing from everyone.Think of it as a liquid, once kept in a tall vase with a narrow neck, the exposed […]
A bit of well-timed subtlety from Sandra Bell Lundy at Between Friends. Subtle in that you may have to look twice to get the point and I suspect a lot of readers will be scratching their heads over this one. “Subtle” is not much prized in mass media, especially when the artwork is shrunken down to […]
I hate Wednesday. Never mind Monday, though I do enjoy a nice plate of lasagna now and again.But Wednesdays are the worst day of the week, an embarrassment of riches with which I cannot cope. On Monday, cartoonists are introducing new arcs and the set up is not always a good stand-alone. Friday can be […]
Between Friends is always good reading, and I like the current arc, where Susan is in the midst of a deep dithering period and Maeve has become the voice of reason.Mostly, I like the idea that Sandra Bell Lundy has created characters with enough nuance that, while the idea of Maeve being “the voice of […]
My life, as drawn by Sandra Bell-Lundy in today’s “Between Friends.”And it’s worse than this.The best part of telecommuting is that you can sit at your computer all day in your sweats. And, since everyone who knows your work is hundreds of miles away, if you need to go out and buy groceries, you don’t […]
Today’s triple-feature starts out innocently enough, in Between Friends: Kids take for granted the technology they have known most of their lives.Admittedly, it’s a bit of a stretch to assume Danny doesn’t know people who don’t have multiple cell phones (grandparents?). But, even if he wouldn’t likely be unaware of the concept of a home with […]
Friend-of-the-blog Sandra Lundy is in the process of giving the ladies of Between Friends a bit of an update. I guess it began with Maeve’s new haircut, but now she’s making Susan try to climb out of schlumpdom.Which is sorta-kinda an ongoing theme in the strip, except that there was a recent series that, she […]
There are half a dozen strips in the “Pick me! Pick me!” folder today, and whatever distractions may be driving your actions, and despite the fact that Saturday is traditionally the place cartoonists dump their least-of-the-week nominees, you should go read the funny pages. I didn’t spot any fruit cake gags and there were quite […]
Sandra Bell Lundy is an expert at capturing small moments, and today’s “Between Friends” is a good example of how she likes to celebrate and deflate the absurdities and inconsistencies of life.It took me awhile to get into this strip, because she employs a realistic level of self-deprecating humor that is not the norm, even […]