Stone Soup (comic strip)

Infobox Comic strip
title=Stone Soup
creator=Jan Eliot
current=
status=Running
syndicate=Universal Press Syndicate
comictype=print
genre=Humor, Politics, Family
first=November, 1995
last=

"Stone Soup", named for the "stone soup" fable, is an internationally syndicated American comic strip written and illustrated by Jan Eliot. The comic strip, set in Eugene, Oregon, began as a weekly in 1990. [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A59819-2003Oct21.html Washington Post chat transcript] , October 24 2003, retrieved on July 8, 2007.] The syndicated daily strip debuted in November 1995.

The Stone family features a family headed by single mother Val, an uncommon contrast with the ordinary nuclear family depicted in more traditional strips. As the author explained,

:When I write I am writing first and foremost for single and working parents. I often felt very isolated and "put down" because of my circumstances (I was a single working mom for 10 years). I even had a teacher tell me that their school "was a better place before all the single moms arrived". My daughters both turned out fabulously, thank you, and I think I was a good parent. [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A59819-2003Oct21.html Washington Post chat transcript] , October 24 2003, retrieved on July 8, 2007.]

It is not uncommon for strip storylines to consist of household squabbles and arguments that are not resolved. Unlike many strips, the characters do age, but at a very slow rate. Val has celebrated her 38th and 39th birthdays in the strip; Alix and Holly were 9 and 12 when the strip began, and are now 10 and 13.

Characters

Main Characters

*Valerie (Val) Stone is a 39 year old widow with two young daughters. She has a professional job which allows her to help support her mother and, in the early years, her sister Joan. On the job she is openly disconcerted by her co-workers' political machinations. Her home life, however, is the greater source of aggravation, especially when dealing with her daughters. She loves women's sports.
**Holly Stone is Val's 13-year-old daughter, prone to vanity, entitlement, and getting into fights with her younger sister Alix. She is the stereotypical teenager, viewing her family as "abnormal." She rarely passes up an opportunity to challenge her mother (she taught Alix to say 'Muhhhtherr') and sees almost everything in terms of herself ("In what universe is tuna noodle surprise a reward?"). She loves dressing in revealing or provocative clothes.
**Alix Stone is Val's 10-year-old daughter, a blissfully naive (and pugnacious) tomboy mystified by her sister's histrionics, but often easily influenced by her illogical behavior (like wearing flip-flops in the November cold). She still has the innocence of youth but Holly tries to teach her cynicism and sarcasm. Val considers her the model of calm and reason among the chaos, almost all of which comes from Holly ("I dress like someone who values freedom and mobility over style").
*"Gramma" Evie Stone lives with her daughter Val and granddaughters. She comes across as crotchety and overly stern with her family, but cuts loose in Reno or when painting. She has no patience for modern parenting methods and rarely passes up the chance to express her views on anything. The kids regard her as a mixed blessing, especially since underneath it all she can often be a barrel of fun. In 2006, she went abroad to Uganda to build houses for an aid organization. She has since returned.

econdary characters

*Joan Stone is Val's younger sister, rarely seen without her glasses on. At the start of the strip, Joan was an unemployed single mother and dependent on Val. Joan starts her own freelance copywriting business, working from home. Joan took back her maiden name after her divorce, and kept it when she married Wally in strips that ran on Oct 14-15, 2001. ["Road Kill in the Closet", pp 6-7, 188.]
*Wally Weinstein, introduced in 1995, [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A59819-2003Oct21.html Washington Post chat transcript] , October 24 2003, retrieved on July 8, 2007.] is Val's down-to-earth next-door neighbor. Wally married Joan in 2001 after a long engagement. A balding and bespectacled office worker in insurance, he can cook, loves being a dad, and is handy with tools. He thinks hot chocolate is a panacea.
**Andy Gilburt is Wally's 15-year-old nephew, who doesn't think too highly of rules but has no qualms about playing hard rock music at earsplitting levels. Andy moved in with Wally during Wally and Joan's engagement. ["Road Kill in the Closet", pp 5-22.] He has endeared himself to Holly in countless ways. Recently his parents decided to divorce and Andy chose to live permanently with Wally and Joan. [ "Desperate Households" ]
**Max Krabowsky is Joan's preschool son from her first marriage. He has two stock emotions: thrilled with life or utterly miserable. He worships action figures, as evidenced by his sudden comprehension of potty training simply by wearing superhero underwear (much to Joan's dismay).
**Luci Stone Weinstein, Wally and Joan's daughter, was born in strips that ran on July 6-8, 2007 (although her birth certificate stated that she was born on July 8, at 1:30 AM, weighing 9 lbs., 8 oz.) after a pregnancy storyline that began in October 2006.

Recurring characters

*Phil Jackson, introduced in "Stone Soup The Comic Strip", is a motorcycle police officer who fears the world is becoming too hurried for his liking. He is Val's on-and-off boyfriend and the campus cop at Holly's school. He and Val broke up when he "freaked out" about dating someone with children. In "Desperate Households" they are reunited.
*Dickerson is Val's coworker and adversary. He is the stereotypical "suck-up" in the office. When he's not the boss, he tries to impress Val with tales of entertaining their boss on his (Dickerson's) boat. In "Desperate Households" Dickerson is laid off as was Val, but she gets re-hired after the company starts to spiral downward. Dickerson has yet to return.
*Rena is Val's office buddy and confidante. Working with Val reminds Rena to enjoy being single and childless.
*Leon Krabowsky is Joan's first husband and Max's biological father. He went out for milk one night and ended up in the Virgin Islands. Leon and Joan are divorced when the strip begins, but he occasionally drops by to mooch.
*Susan is the neighborhood vet who also coaches the girls basketball team. She once dated Wally but they broke up when he found out that she didn't want kids and he did. Sometime while Val and Phil weren't together, she and Phil dated (this was never seen in the books).

Biscuit

The apple of Max's eye, but to everyone else, a "yappy little mutt". Officially Holly and Alix's dog, found as a stray, the girls bring her home and promise to take care of the little pup - originally named "Lily" but the family decided on "Biscuit" since she seems to answer to the name. Val provides care and Max provides adoration. Biscuit has a thing for Val's bunny slippers. During Biscuit's first visit to Susan the vet, it is revealed that Biscuit is female. ["You Can't Say Boobs On Sunday", p 78. ]

Val's book club

Val belongs to a book club with an assortment of characters from other strips, including Elly from "For Better or Worse", Alice from "Dilbert", and Rose/Vicki the biker chick from "Rose Is Rose". "Cathy" was mentioned, but "couldn't come till she found the right man and lost 10 pounds." ("She did attend the baby shower for Joan.") The book club also threw a baby shower for Joan, which takes place in "There's No "WE" in Crowning" (published in 2007). This is a short collection that takes the reader from the first onset of Joan's pregnancy till the birth of Luci by a midwife at home. Strips featuring the book club have appeared on at least two occasions and are republished in the 2005 trade paperback collection. (See below.)

"Stone Soup" collections

# "Stone Soup: The First Collection of the Syndicated Cartoon Strip" with a foreword by Lynn Johnston. ISBN 0-9674102-2-3
# "You Can't Say Boobs on Sunday", (1999), ISBN 0-9674102-0-7
# "Stone Soup The Comic Strip : The Third Collection of the Syndicated Cartoon", (2001), ISBN 0-9674102-1-5
# "Road Kill in the Closet, Book Four of the Syndicated Cartoon Stone Soup", (2003) ISBN 0-9674102-3-1
# "Not So Picture Perfect : Book Five of the Syndicated Cartoon Stone Soup", (2005) ISBN 0-9674102-5-8
# "Desperate Households: A Stone Soup Collection", (2007) ISBN 978-0740764295
#"There's no "WE" in Crowning!", (2007) ISBN unknown

ee also

*List of women in comics

Notes

References

* [http://www.stonesoupcartoons.com/ Stone Soup home page]
* [http://www.showmenews.com/2004/Jan/20040104Ovat015.asp 2004 Associated Press story] on the comic strip and its creator.
* [http://www.amuniversal.com/ups/features/stone_soup/bio.htm Creator bio at Universal Press Syndicate] .