Interview with ‘9 Chickweed Lane/Pibgorn’ comics creator Brooke McEldowney

Not all comics are meant to be funny, but if not humorous or entertaining they’re at least provocative. Some are set in reality, while others are more surreal and incorporate some fantastical elements. All of these components exist simultaneously within the work of Brooke McEldowney through syndicated strip 9 Chickweed Lane and webcomic Pibgorn. He also has been known to break the fourth wall and acknowledge the audience.

McEldowney took the time to speak with Michelle Tomkins about his work, some details about his story lines, advice to aspiring cartoonists, as well as telling us what he says to people who ask him to dumb down his work.

MT: When did you start drawing?

BM: When I was a little kid, back in the mists of time, when the dinosaurs roamed the earth, and a cup of coffee cost a nickel …well, possibly a dime.

MT: Do you think comic strips are in danger of extinction?

BM: No, but the traditional substrate of the art — the newspaper — has been circling the drain for quite a few years, and there the threat of extinction lies. The internet is where cartooning has migrated. Journalism is going its own direction, which, apparently, is determined to be down.

MT: What would be your sentence or two description of both works for those who have never heard of them?

BM: 9 Chickweed Lane began as a story about the relationship between Edda Burber and her mother Juliette, added to which was Juliette’s mother, Gran. When the story started, Juliette had just emerged from a very acrimonious divorce. It has now greatly evolved.

MT: Why do you think comic strips are relevant?

BM: Comic strips, in the U. S. and abroad, have always been pertinent to the human life swirling about it because they comment and entertain. At its best, it is high art of the most remarkable sort. I have received mail over the years from people in the military services in Afghanistan, working for the IRS in New York, in prison, in rehab, in hospital, stuffed into corporate cubicles, in retirement, holding down jobs, happy, sad, depressed, elated — all of whom wrote because something I drew gave them cause to care, to argue, to laugh, to feel buoyed, to tell me to go to hell. In all cases, it sparked intense reactions, which is a good sign.

Read more from this interview on Stars and Celebs here.