History ComicStrip / NineChickweedLane

* AuthorTract: And how! Once Thorax, the dairy farmer from another galaxy, became prominent, the readers were treated to strip after strip detailing [=McEldowney's=] take on the world. Lately it seems that Seth is taking over that role

The comic strip ''9 Chickweed Lane'' was started by Brooke [=McEldowney=] in 1993. Originally a gag-a-day strip about three generations of women in the Burber family: biology professor Juliette Burber; her teenage daughter, Edda, and her mother, Edna O'Malley, whom everyone calls Gran. (Gran has been written out of the strip after the end of a year-long flashback.) It gradually turned into a platform for the creator to express his views on culture, politics, religion and gender relations. Since 20-year-old Edda seems to have been promoted to being the central character, it also allowed [=McEldowney=] to indulge in his love of odd camera angles, polysyllabic words and barely legal soft-core pornography.

* AllWomenAreLustful: It is impossible to name a female character in the [=McEldowney=] universe (pregnant nuns included) that isn't obsessed with having sex in some way or another; either they're getting it and happy or not getting any and being bitter shrews because of it. Considering that the author has two young daughters makes this trope a tad on the creepy side.

* AuthorAppeal: [=McEldowney=] loves the female form (especially the legs) and isn't shy about it. It's a pity he can't actually draw it properly.
** [[http://i.imgur.com/Kg7Xl.jpg Yeah, that's a nice rear end on Edda, the best in her dance company, it sure is]] (a running gag on SA is that to Brooke hates butts because "it's the end of the gam").
* AuthorAvatar: Amos, the nerdy cellist, is basically [=McEldowney's=] way of projecting himself into his screwy fantasy world of vindictive sex kittens. Juliette's (second) husband, a nerdy professor, is also lookalike for Brook. Some haters even think that the ''female'' protagonists are avatars. In his other daily comic, Pibgorn, the male lead Geoff is Brooke's mode d'emploi for his creative, and often blatantly sexual, fantasies.
* AuthorTract: And how! Once Thorax, the dairy farmer from another galaxy, became prominent, the readers were treated to strip after strip detailing [=McEldowney's=] warped take on the world.
** Lately it seems that Seth is taking over that role
* BatmanGambit(?): [[spoiler: Apparently Edda's apparently tyrannical director has been wanting to get rid of her for a while (she hates authority, but I don't recall seeing much of it when she's doing ballet) so he pushed her to the Nicolette Cygnet guys hoping she'd either ditch ballet for fashion or screw up so badly she wouldn't be welcomed back. Neither happened but she did give a scathing interview to a magazine, which the director hopes will be enough to fire her.]]

* CallingTheOldManOut: [[spoiler: Old woman, anyway. Roger, Edna's son with Bill, isn't as [[AngstWhatAngst happy]] with things as his sister -- I mean ''half-sister'' and niece are.]]

* CosmicPlaything: Implied to be why Gran is a [[PerpetualFrowner pessimistic bundle of negativity]]; not only was she [[StrawmanHasAPoint branded a double agent]] by the EvilBrit DesignatedAntagonist, her future husband spent ten years in a psych ward due to having his brains scrambled on Omaha beach. He wouldn't have been there if he hadn't put the British guy in hospital for a week, so.....
** Worse still, when he recovered, he'd gotten her to settle down in Omaha to live in the suburbs. Since she's a Creature of Pure Art, you can see how living in the presence of mundanes is a horror beyond comprehension.

* EternalSexualFreedom: Some of the [=PDAs=] Edna (Young Gram) and Lt. Kiesl got up to would get you tossed out of most places today. (Or at the very least a pointed "{{Get a room}}!"). In 1950s New York City, you'd get the cops called on you.
** They did get the attention of a cop when Kiesl's ice cream cone melted and Edna cleaned his fingers with her tongue.
* [[EvenTheGirlsWantHer Even The Gays Want Her]]: Seth "falls in love" with Fernanda - specifically her tango skills. Apparently he can't judge the talent of ''his ballet partner'' while "working". [[spoiler: And then he sleeps with her, I mean her "skills"]].

* {{Expy}}: Isabel seems to be an expy of ''Pibgorn'' succubus Drusilla only with short hair.

* FanHater: Brooke McEldowney has a long-standing history of loathing his own fanbase, even going so far as to personally harass any would-be critics on wikipedia and comics.com, and frequently takes jabs at them in the commentary of his other comic, [[http://www.gocomics.com/pibgorn/2012/03/30 Pibgorn]].

** When [[http://i.imgur.com/5byYz.jpg this Sunday strip]] got pulled for implied sexual content [[hottip:(click) this was the author's response:In January of 1996, I drew this innocent (to my mind) little cartoon. It went past my syndicate editors at the time, who, I admit, possessed the combined I.Q. of drain hair, however, they - as I - saw nothing wrong with it. It passed the scrutiny of features editors both in North America and abroad, also without hiccup. Then it appeared in print, and Sunday schools country wide were curtailed so their teachers might retire to restroom stalls and object in hyperventilating privacy. Chickweed was canceled forthwith, most noticeably at the Houston Chronicle. A letter sent to my syndicate, and speaking for many like-minded people, blurted, "THAT IS THE LAST STRAW!" Previously, I gathered, I had been providing enough straw to supply a good sized dairy farm and have enough left over for a tableau vivant nativity crèche; but the very last straw was this one. For those of you who cannot see the cause of the objection, you are fine, unsullied people, most likely dull company, but fine nonetheless. For those of you who see an act of oral sex, shame on you. Your Sunday school class is waiting.]]. [[TooLongDidntRead The short version]]: "It's not my fault the stupid editors didn't notice anything offensive. If you saw something offensive go be a MoralGuardian somewhere else and if you didn't notice anything you're rather unimaginative."

* InsaneTrollLogic: Brooke's supporters don't like the SomethingAwful Goons, who they consider to be trolls. The Goons pointed out that they've only been complaining in their own forum while actual trolls would have caused trouble on ''their'' forum. They also note that their complaints do [[LazyArtist have]] [[SesquipedalianLoquaciousness some]] [[WallOfText merit]].

* ManipulativeBastard : O'Malley's superior officer, Colonel Yancey. It was revealed that he decided a long time ago that O'Malley and Edna had to get married no matter what the cost to themselves or their children simply to make himself feel better about being the incompetent buffoon who set everyone up to fail in the first place. The problem is that we know he succeeds so we have to give the flashback [[IdiotPlot a name befitting the complete stupidity]] of everyone involved.
* MayDecemberRomance: When Amos and Gran got into an IM relationship. I can't remember specifically what he posed as (I think it might've been a military officer), but Gran posed as a hot Portuguese woman.

* MoodDissonance: A common criticism lately is that Brook seems to have no clue how real people react to things. Later, [[spoiler: when Juliette and Edda meet Kiesl, they seesaw between liking him, feeling sorry for him, and thinking he's an idiot for letting Edna get away.]]
--->[[spoiler: '''Edda''': I told him he was a fool, then I kissed him and called him grandfather.]]\\
[[spoiler: '''Juliette''': Oo! Stick in the knife and twist it.]]
** Edda making sexual fantasies about Seth after hearing about his attempt to "date himself straight". If I recall correctly, she already knows about this.
** Edda [[spoiler: sneaking into Seth's room the morning after he made love to Fernanda to tease him. Fernanda hugging Seth while wearing only an open bathrobe while Edda's still there. Edda leaning (?) over Seth while he's being hugged by Fernanda...]]

* MoreTeethThanTheOsmondFamily: A frequent knock on [=McEldowney's=] art: grinning characters appear to have triple the normal number of teeth. There's also this bizarre impression he has that women bare their teeth and/or snarl when they're in a sexy mood, so whenever the characters get frisky, the women always look like they're about to tear out the men's throats.

* [[OnlySixFaces Only One Voice]]: ''All'' the characters are [[BigWords exceptionally verbose]], so instead of sounding like individuals they all sound [[AuthorAppeal like the author.]] It makes sense for Juliette to speak like this since she's a professor who routinely thrashes med students verbally [[SadistTeacher and academically]], but it never seemed as though Amos and Edda's Catholic school was quite that posh.
** They also look alike: Juliet's husband is ''Pibgorn''s Geoff with grey hair; Young Gran is a dead-ringer for Edda; there's three identical brunettes (Drucilla the succubus, Isabel the pianist, and Fernanda the ballerina) and at one point Edda is talking to Isabel (Portuguese/older/worldly/short curly hair) and this reader was trying to remember when Edda was ever Fernanda's (South American/younger/"innocent"-ish/long wavy hair) saucy protege.

* SesquipedalianLoquaciousness: Edda -- no, ''every damn character'' loves to show off their vocabulary almost as much as she loves to show off her figure. This seems to be one of the things that makes everyone think [[spoiler: Roger]] is gay. It would have more impact if, as stated above, ''everyone'' didn't talk like this, and if taken too far (IE calling whoopee-cushions "rubber bladders that simulate the sound of acute flatulence") it can sound like DelusionsOfEloquence.

** [[FetishRetardant They're]] [[ScrewYourself both]] [[NightmareFuel Brooke's]] [[{{Squick}} hands]].
* SexyPriest: One shows up and falls in love with/seduces (I'm not sure which) a nun at Edda's school. She rejects him, but after they quit their respective orders they fall in love.

* ShowDontTell: [[SarcasmMode Impossible. One would require a visual medium for an endeavor of that nature!]]

* TakeThatCritics: Every so often, Thorax will appear to deliver an angry tirade about the beefwits and prudes who don't approve of the proceedings.
** Brooke also posted a blog entry defending his right to believe that 2010 morals applied in 1955, to pretend that specifying a character's birth date meant that that person could be whatever age he decided on and, of course, to be insufferable, ignorant and pretentious.
** He doesn't even like ''fans'', saying that their only job is to read his works and any input or constructive criticism is the same as trying to design something by committee, or as he put it (paraphrased) "the only thing you can expect from the herd is manure".
** He's taken this to the funny pages with [[GettingCrapPastTheRadar Sphinxster]], the internet comment Sock Puppet (a literal puppet, ''technically'' not [[SockPuppet the internet kind]]) whose criticisms begin and end with "YOU SUUUUUUUUUCK!!!!".
** If you saw anything objectionable in the infamous under-the-table at a restaurant strip you're a MoralGuardian. If you ''didn't'' see anything wrong you have no imagination. You just can't win with this guy!
* TallDarkAndSnarky: Juliette, Gran, Edda, Seth, Sister "Caligula", Roger; Drucilla, "Death", and lately Pibgorn (I guess all those misadventures can take their toll on even the genki-est of GenkiGirl[=s=]).

* WholePlotReference / {{Homage}}: "Sister Caligula" is currently in an extended tribute to ''TheOwlAndThePussycat'' with God/"God" and Thorax as a third wheel.
* WriteWhatYouKnow: Brooke really did attend Julliard, though as an oboe player (I think), not a cellist.

** BabyGotBack: Edda, allege-- I mean, at least compared to the rest of her ballet company.

* Reader Hate: Brooke McEldowney has a long-standing history of loathing his own fanbase, even going so far as to personally harass any would-be critics on wikipedia and comics.com, and frequently takes jabs at them in the commentary of his other comic, [[http://www.gocomics.com/pibgorn/2012/03/30 Pibgorn]].

* Reader Hate: Brooke McEldowney has a long-standing history of lashing out at his own fanbase, even going so far as to personally harass any would-be detractors on comics.com, and frequently takes jabs at them on his other comic, [[http://www.gocomics.com/pibgorn/2012/03/30 Pibgorn]].

* GettingCrapPastTheRadar: The stunningly blatant [[UnusualEuphemism "handjive"]] strips, which the author is keen to remind his readers that they are, in fact, his hands.

* Reader Hate: Brooke McEldowney has a long-standing history of lashing out at his own fanbase, even going so far as to personally harass any would-be detractors on comics.com, and frequently takes jabs at them on his other comic, Pibgorn.

The comic strip ''9 Chickweed Lane'' was started by Brooke [=McEldowney=] in 1993. Originally a gag-a-day strip about three generations of women in the Burber family: biology professor Juliette Burber; her teenage daughter, Edda, and her mother, Edna O'Malley, whom everyone calls Gran. (Gran has been written out of the strip after the end of a year-long flashback.) It gradually turned into a platform for the creator to express his views on culture, politics, religion and gender relations. Since 20-year-old Edda seems to have been promoted to being the central character, it also allowed [=McEldowney=] to indulge in his love of good girl art, odd camera angles and polysyllabic words.

* AllWomenAreLustful: It's difficult to name a female character in the [=McEldowney=] universe that isn't obsessed with having sex in some way or another; either they're getting it and happy or not getting any and being bitter shrews because of it.

* AuthorAvatar: Amos, the nerdy cellist, is basically [=McEldowney's=] way of projecting himself into his screwy fantasy world of vindictive sex kittens. Juliette's (second) husband, a nerdy professor, is also lookalike for Brook. Some haters even think that the ''female'' protagonists are avatars.

* GettingCrapPastTheRadar: The stunningly blatant [[UnusualEuphemism "handjive"]] strips.

The comic strip ''9 Chickweed Lane'' was started by Brooke [=McEldowney=] in 1993. Originally a gag-a-day strip about three generations of women in the Burber family: biology professor Juliette Burber; her teenage daughter, Edda, and her mother, Edna O'Malley, whom everyone calls Gran. (Gran has recently been written out of the strip after the end of a year-long flashback.) It gradually turned into a platform for the creator to express his views on culture, politics, religion and gender relations. Since 20-year-old Edda seems to have been promoted to being the central character, it also allowed [=McEldowney=] to indulge in his love of good girl art, odd camera angles and polysyllabic words.

* SiblingYinYang: Juliette was until recently a divorced mother of one while her brother Roger seems to be a HappilyMarried father of ''[[HaveIMentionedIAmHeterosexualToday eleven]]''. [[spoiler: Juliette is also proud to be a literal love-child while Roger has issues with his mother's past; Juliette is a uninhibitedly passionate woman while Roger is a stereotypically conservative Catholic (and if Seth is right, a closeted one).]]

** Brooke also recently posted a blog entry defending his right to believe that 2010 morals applied in 1955, to pretend that specifying a character's birth date meant that that person could be whatever age he decided on and, of course, to be insufferable, ignorant and pretentious.

** He's recently taken this to the funny pages with [[GettingCrapPastTheRadar Sphinxster]], the internet comment Sock Puppet (a literal puppet, ''technically'' not [[SockPuppet the internet kind]]) whose criticisms begin and end with "YOU SUUUUUUUUUCK!!!!".

* BatmanGambit(?): [[spoiler: Apparently Edda's apparently tyrannical director has been wanting to get rid of her for a while (she hates authority with a passion, but I don't recall seeing much of it when she's doing ballet) so he pushed her to the Nicolette Cygnet guys hoping she'd ditch ballet for fashion. She didn't, but she did give a scathing interview to a magazine, which will be enough to fire her.]]

** The Nicolette Cignet clothing corp is described by Edda as a cabal of blood-drinking demon-worshipers [[ShowDontTell but we never see them actually demon-worshiping]] and [[UnreliableNarrator Edda has a long-established hatred of authority]] (they are at least revealed to be pretty huge jerk asses).

* {{Spinoff}}: His webcomic, ''{{Pibgorn}}''.

** He's recently taken this to the funny pages with [[GettingCrapPastTheRadar Sphinxster]], the internet comment SockPuppet (a literal puppet, not made-up fan) whose criticisms begin and end with "YOU SUUUUUUUUUCK!!!!".
** If you saw anything objectionable in the infamous restaurant strip you're a MoralGuardian. If you ''didn't'' see anything wrong you have no imagination. You just can't win with this guy!

* [[WhiteVoidRoom White Void World]]: With the occasional gradient; where much of the action takes place. Brooke was kind enough to put in some effort when Juliette and Edda visit Kiesel's grave in Vienna. Has become a very dark grayscale world in newsprint since Brooke started using color, starting with a strip ''that takes place at night and shows two characters from the waist down''. Lately, pretty much all you can see is the characters faces and limbs (although that may just be the LA Times).

* DeadGuyJr: She's not dead at all but "formerly-pregnant nun" named her daughter after Sister Caligula (AKA Sister Stevens). If I recall correctly her name is Gloria and it was her name before she joined the nunnery.

** [[DetractorNickname Gam-ma]], and by extension Gampa for Bill and Kiesl.

* {{Squick}}: Brooke is his own [[SexyDiscretionShot hand-jive model]] and Edda is based on his daughter, who is a ballerina and allegedly as wordy as her dad.

* GetARoom!

* [[WhiteVoidRoom White Void World]]: With the occasional gradient; where much of the action takes place. Brooke was kind enough to put in some effort when Juliette and Edda visit Kiesel's grave in Vienna. Has become a very dark grayscale world in newsprint since Brooke started using color, starting with a strip ''that takes place at night and shows two characters from the waist down''. Lately, pretty much all you can see is the characters faces and limbs.

** The Nicolette Cignet clothing corp is described by Edda as a cabal of blood-drinking demon-worshipers [[ShowDontTell but we never see them]] and [[UnreliableNarrator Edda has a long-established hatred of authority.]]

* ForTheEvulz: The CorruptCorporateExecutive[=s=] decide to mess around with the fine print in Edda's contract [[spoiler: after she spent all her advance money on a cello for Amos]] 'cause it's funny.

* ScrewTheRulesImBeautiful!: This is pretty much Edda's philosophy; [[FamilyUnfriendlyAesop simply put, she can do things we can't because she's pretty and young.]] Similarly, Juliette can get away with a lot because she's beautiful, smart, and can put the fear into the Good Old Boys at her school.

* [[WhiteVoidRoom White Void World]]: With the occasional gradient; where much of the action takes place. Brooke was kind enough to put in some effort when Juliette and Edda visit Kiesel's grave in Vienna. Has become a dark grayscale world in newsprint since Brooke started using color, starting with a strip ''that takes place at night and shows two characters from the waist down''.

* [[MotherOfAThousandYoung Father Of A Thousand Young]]: Roger, father of eleven "[[TheStepfordWives Stepford]] [[VillageOfTheDamned Children]]". Seriously, they come in batches of identical blonde twins and triplets and when Seth goes to Roger's place they appear ''en masse'' out of nowhere and just ''stare''.

* {{Spinoff}}: His webcomic, ''Pibgorn''.

** They did get the attention of a cop when Kiesl's ice cream cone melted and Edna helped clean his fingers.
* [[EvenTheGirlsWantHer Even The Gays Want Her]]: Seth "falls in love" with Fernanda - specifically her tango skills. Apparently he can't judge ''his ballet partner''[='s=] skills while "working". [[spoiler: And then he sleeps with her, I mean her "skills"]].

** He's recently taken this to the funny pages with [[GettingCrapPastTheRadar Sphinxster]], the internet comment SockPuppet (a literal one, not made-up fan) whose criticisms begin and end with "YOU SUUUUUUUUUCK!!!!".