Cross-posted from Nicola Rose at Substack.

Brooke McEldowney is the artist responsible for 9 Chickweed Lane, a syndicated comic strip that started out as a gag-a-day exploration of the lives of three generations of women living under the same roof – Gran, Juliette, and her daughter Edda. Now over thirty years in publication, the strip has morphed into something else entirely, with long (sometimes years-long) arcs of character development and relationships fraught with humor and pathos both. GoComics link: https://www.gocomics.com/9-chickweed-lane

Mr. McEldowney (he’s a he, yes, despite people wanting to claim that “Brooke” is a woman’s name) is also the author of the online-only webcomic Pibgorn, the wild and wooly saga of a fairy who longed to exceed her limits of lugging dewdrops and hobnobbing with bumblebees. The stories, many of which have been published in book form, have almost entirely conformed to the admonitions of Mark Twain in Huckleberry Finn:

Persons attempting to find a motive in this narrative will be prosecuted; persons attempting to find a moral in it will be banished; persons attempting to find a plot in it will be shot.

In other words, just go with the flow.

Is it exciting? (You gotta read this next paragraph in Peter Falk’s voice): Are you kidding? Fairies (whole and cyborg), demons, succubi, historical figures (people like Mozart), evil little girls, mechanical aliens, accordions cum weapons of destruction, film noir episodes, talking animals, hellish game show hosts… the list goes on. Don’t try to figure it out, just enjoy the stories and the captivating, luscious artwork. You can read Pibgorn here:

The authoress of the blog mentioned, who happens to be McEldowney’s daughter, pinned him down for an interview, and asked questions culled from readers across the internet. I was one of them, having been a fan of Brooke’s work since at least 2002 and possibly earlier; I’ve since met Brooke and his delightful wife a number of times and have tried to be one of his most ardent supporters in the face of some serious unpleasantness from those who should have been entirely in his corner.

Link to the current Pibgorn strip: https://www.gocomics.com/9-chickweed-lane. Because of time constraints, Pib has been on hiatus for quite a while, but it’s the artist’s intention to end the current saga and begin another. Sadly, the archives are now only available at GoComics to paid subscribers (greedy sods), but a number of Pib’s adventures (as well as 9 Chickweed Lane collections) are available at Pib Press.

Nicola’s interview can be found here. You are welcome.