Okay, I know this strip is heavy-handed and soap boxy. But this is something I’ve wanted to address for a while now.
I-and a lot of my family members-have a sensory integration issue with things like gum chewing. Seriously. If you don’t have it, you have no idea how irritating it can be. Seeing someone chewing gum (or worse, hearing them) is like having someone scrape their nails up the base of your skull. It really drives me nuts.
So, the next time you’re chewing gum, there might be a very good reason why the person waiting on you won’t look at your face.
Ah, but enough of that.
Couple of cool cameos in that last panel. Chana, from Nate the Robot, one of my favorite comics over on Tapastic. And K.A. from Neil’s cool new comic “We Are the WyreCats,” one you really should check out.
Oh, and you’ll see we’re just a couple of strips away from our 500th!
I’m tossing around some ideas for that landmark strip. And I promise that I’ll try to keep it from finally arriving in October.
Thanks for reading, and thanks for understanding.
But you’re so right at home on a soap box, Charlie. Artists make the best soap boxers, because the people they’re ranting about turn into cows. 🙂 So good to see you back on top form. You’re the master of expressions, and Reade just gets better and better each time you draw her. And her straight-woman’s little side-eye. So good.
Can’t wait to see what you have cooking for 500. Can’t believe it’s been that many. It’s been a while since I went back and read it from the start. Maybe it’s that time again.
Oh, and uh… It looks like your eraser slipped a little on panel3.
She could’a spat it out, in her general direction…
I’m not quite as offended by all the chomping and slurping as I am by people spitting their cuds out on the floors and sidewalks–especially the ones I have to clean. ><
This strip is an excellent example of why political and/or issue oriented cartooning is a time honored feature of editorial pages in newspapers the world over. Images are powerful things.
Especially when done by your hand, Charlie. The gathering-storm feel of the background in Panel 3 is priceless. ^^
It’s rude to obnoxiously chew gum loudly like a teenager anyway. And besides, why risk bringing gum around all those precious books!? I try to keep gum away from my own books, personally, and most food stuffs so that they don’t get stained or damaged.
What a relief to read what prompted this strip; I was afraid it was a flashback!
I do love Reade…
In my whole life (and I just turned 64) I’ve chewed perhaps 20 pieces of gum. Well, not true, come to think. When I was a child, my grandmother would buy me Black Jack chewing gum every Sunday, but that’s more like licorice than you’d guess. I THINK I went so far as to swallow it, but memory is one of those things that doesn’t stand the test of time, I’m afraid.
My real point (which I lost track of rather quickly) is that I dislike gum chewers, by and large. I’m not sure it’s possible to chew modern gum without the whole mouth-open, snap-cracking, saliva-slurping ugliness of it. So I agree with the point of this comic.
It’s just a bonus that it’s so nicely put together. 🙂
Glad I don’t chew gum, then. 😀
I spotted Nate right away, but didn’t recognize K.A.
I would’ve put “We are the WyreCats” on the shirt, but there just wasn’t room.
Not a massive fan of gum chewing, but it does help reduce the effect of tiredness while on a long drive home, for me at least.
Also helps keep people awake in “Death by PowerPoint” training sessions.
I agree. And it’s great to help your ears adjust to the change in pressure when the plane’s landing.
I just wanted to point out, that for some of us, it’s more than just a tasteless display. It’s an aggravating, annoying, irritation that we really can’t help much.
An author meta-comment with a meta-cow
A meta-cow-ment?
I wonder how Reade will react if ‘Bossy’ starts a protest and a boycott of the store.
Oh snap, how’d I miss this?! Thank you!
And this could either be great mockery of loud gum chewers, or anti-cow propaganda. that’s not a very nice moooove.
Eat mor chiken…