9 Chickweed Lane

9 Chickweed Lane

Over the past few years, this has developed into one of my favorite comic strips. From the perspective of a single, middle-aged guy with no kids, the choice of a strip whose main characters are a single, university professor mother raising a ballerina daughter might seem a bit odd, a bit hard for me to relate.

Thorax is certainly one of the characters I relate to. More than any other portrayal in the media, it Thorax I see when I look into my own future as an old man. Depending on the day, that either reassures me or scares the daylights out of me. Thorax' philosophical musings … the above is an EXCELLENT example … are a huge part of the draw for me, but they are only a part of the reason the strip is worth checking out.

Overall, the characters are some of the most real, lifelike characters I've seen, in comics or out. Of course, as a comic strip, McEldowney uses the absurd to his advantage, and Thorax is as absurd as they come. But as any cat lover can also attest, the strips occasional "Hallmarks of Felinity" go beyond an understanding of feline psychology into the almost uncanny territory of being inside the head of a cat. To say he 'nails it' in these strips is a serious understatement.

Not sure how widely syndicated the strip is, but if you have a paper that carries it I suggest you check it out. I read it in the Calgary Sun where I live … I dunno if all Sun's in Canada run it or not, but that's a good start for Canadians.