I know there are fans of the strip on this board. A few questions, comments and such:
What do you think of the new “development” with Edda and Amos? Will Amos do the right thing? How will Seth react? Will the kid be born before the decade begins?
Did you know that Pib Press now has three collections of strips available? The first 2 years and Edie’s Wartime Adventures.
Brooke McEldowney answers his email quite promptly. I sent him a missive last night around 8:30pm, and he had replied by 9pm. Friendly chap, too.
Amos will absolutely do the right thing, if Edda lets him. If there is no abortion (which seems likely, although Edda may make a “not ready/finish career” type decision), then I’d think the baby will be born sometime in 2013?
And how will this tie into the ad campaign people looking to get rid of Edda? Amos will absolutely do the right thing, and Seth will be all “tough guy” before breaking down completely.
Considering how long Sister Whatsherface was preggers, I doubt this kid will be around any time soon.
That’s assuming that she’s actually pregnant, however. In what universe does the proper response to “I think I’m pregnant” involve flying to fucking Vienna to let Grandma know in person and get Womanly Advice On How To Cope With Unplanned Pregnancy before something like oh, I don’t know, maybe going to the drugstore to buy a goddamned pregnancy test? Apparently stupidity runs rampant in this family.
My money’s on the standard wimp-out scenario, as follows: Edda won’t have an abortion, because comic fictional characters (even socially liberal ones) never do have abortions, even if they’re unmarried and less than financially secure and unprepared for motherhood, and an abortion would be a perfectly reasonable and wise choice.
For some reason, such characters consider it more ethical (and not in the least sexist) to dragoon the baby daddy into a good old-fashioned shotgun marriage instead, complete with hilarious threats and menaces from the bride-to-be’s relatives and friends. :rolleyes:
But I don’t think the artist really wants his title character settling into a “Baby Blues”-type domestic role instead of having her rooming with Seth and dancing with the ballet and modeling lingerie and occasionally traveling to Europe and doing all other sorts of exciting single-girl things. Plus he doesn’t want to spoil her allegedly amazing figure. Plus he just recently went through another whole pregnancy and childbirth story arc with Diane, and it would get old.
So Edda’s going to have a miscarriage. Not immediately; there will be plenty of time for dramatic clashes with her various employers and amusing attempts to coerce and/or shame Amos into overcoming any reluctance he may feel about immediate marriage. But ultimately, before any irrevocable step is taken, the problem is just going to go away.
I didn’t see that Sunday strip mentioned by Tom Tildrum, and before that I was just assuming it would be the standard sitcom scenario where the woman panics because she’s a few days late, and then it’s a false alarm. I’m still thinking this is what probably happen. In any case, I agree with you, we won’t be seeing an abortion on the comics page. The problem will go away “naturally” somehow.
ETA: At least I like this storyline better than the previous one where Edda was some type of lingerie model. Maybe I got it wrong, but I thought she was hired because of her fantastic derrière, not her face. But then why was she appearing in all the ads as herself?
I stopped reading when Edda moved to New York, and this storyline (which I just went backwards about a week in time to read) just makes me feel good about that decision. TAKE A HOME PREGNANCY TEST YOU STUPID bleep.
I just love(d) Edda’s fashion ads! She would make a great paper doll (do they still sell paper doll sets?) I predict this pregnancy and eventual miscarriage (which would be 2-1/2 - 3 months in real life) will go on for a solid year. And though Edda won’t get rid of it (as she most likely would do in real life), she won’t be TOO devastated - she will be ambivalant to slightly annoyed and impatient. That’s about as far as B. McE. would dare to go.
No, there would be a Sunday strip with a single panel showing her sitting down alone with her hands over her face, lots of moody shadows, probably windows with a storm outside–or the city by night.
Buy a pregnancy test, pee on it, and…tell the prospective father! Just maybe???
I also feel that this storyline will end with a Convenient Miscarriage. I don’t think a baby would fit into the strip at all, and we all know, especially with Edda being Catholic, that an abortion storyline will never happen.
And Catholics do have abortions. I don’t remember any storyline where Edda practices her faith. But I agree that her Catholicism would at least lean her against the option more than some other people in the same situation.
I’m not sure where (or whether) it’s defined in the canon, but I recall reading that while Edda went to Catholic school for academic reasons, the Burbers are not themselves Catholic.
