# I am smitten by a fairy.... **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 31, 2004, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-smitten-by-a-fairy/257679 "2004-07-31T01:18:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2004, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-smitten-by-a-fairy/257679/1 "2004-07-31T01:18:49Z")
…who goes by the name of [Pibgorn](http://www.comics.com/comics/pibgorn/html/originals1.html). The allure may be that Geoff, the “action hero” of the comic strip, is a cardiganed, half-spectacled organist at an Episcopal church. Whose girlfriend, Drusilla, is an evil succubus. With some really nasty magical powers, plus the ability to play the violin. Although I’m rooting for Pibgorn to steal him away from her. Got damn, this Brooke McEldowney is a contemporary genius of the graphic novella. His [9 Chickweed Lane](http://www.comics.com/comics/chickweed/index.html) is already the only comic strip I bother to read on-line. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2004, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-smitten-by-a-fairy/257679/2 "2004-07-31T01:21:59Z")
Oh, how I _wish_ there was a printed Pibgorn collection! ---
**Author:** ![Muad\_Dib](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/35a633/32.png) [@Muad\_Dib](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muad_Dib)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2004, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-smitten-by-a-fairy/257679/3 "2004-07-31T01:37:37Z")
Huh, I thought that you were coming out. My bad. ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2004, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-smitten-by-a-fairy/257679/4 "2004-07-31T01:59:23Z")
You wish, meatball. Hmmmm…I see, after a quick search, that **RealityChuck** is a huge Pibgorn fan. Hope he reads between the lines in the thread title. This thing has been going on for three years, and I’ve only been able to access the first few weeks of it through [Comics.com](http://Comics.com). ---
**Author:** ![Sattua](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sattua/32/11906_2.png) [@Sattua](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sattua)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2004, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-smitten-by-a-fairy/257679/5 "2004-07-31T02:42:25Z")
9 Chickweed Lane has been my favorite since it first came out. Pibgorn has the same Jane-Austen-reading levity about it, which I appreciate, but I’m pretty bored with the plots. I can never figure out what’s happening and why. Several years ago there was a 9CL strip about Dr. Burber and the “sophomore hunkoids in the first row.” He apparently got a lot of flack over it. Poor Brooke, chaining his sense of humor to please the masses… ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2004, 3:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-smitten-by-a-fairy/257679/6 "2004-07-31T03:46:40Z")
I thought you were going to come out and say that IRL, your name is Christopher Farney. ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2004, 11:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-smitten-by-a-fairy/257679/7 "2004-07-31T11:12:12Z")
I first saw 9CL shortly after it began, in the _Miami Herald_ or something around 1994, on a business trip. Dr. Burber was all excited over wearing a leopard-print half-slip underneath her dowdy academic clothes at some faculty meeting, and my response was, “What the hell IS this?” It took a while to get into it, reading it online…but after figuring out Edda and Gran and Amos and Thorax and what makes them tick, it’s now a complete daily addiction. > [@Sattua](#): > > He apparently got a lot of flack over it. I was thinking about that a month or two back, during the storyline about the young nun (one of Edda’s teachers) and her budding lust for the young visiting priest. – he must have caught all kinds of shit for THAT. “I told him my hair was red under the wimple because I wanted him to think of me as a desirable woman with long flowing red hair!” And her hair was really brown. It was a shockerino to learn that Brooke is a MAN. The women in his various works are the real centers, and the strongest characters…his men are all either wimps or complete screwballs. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2004, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-smitten-by-a-fairy/257679/8 "2004-07-31T18:28:30Z")
Yes, I am a big fan – there’s some great fantasy showing up, the art is great, and Dru is one of the sexiest women in comic strips. I’ve been skipping the reruns, but will be back as new story lines begin. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2004, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-smitten-by-a-fairy/257679/9 "2004-07-31T23:19:24Z")
> [@Ukulele Ike](#): > > Hmmmm…I see, after a quick search, that **RealityChuck** is a huge Pibgorn fan. As am I. I posted a thread about Pibgorn when it first started but evidently it hasn’t been indexed. ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2004, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-smitten-by-a-fairy/257679/10 "2004-08-01T16:51:52Z")
Well, come _on_, boys, give us some details, some information! Right now all I have is a profound ignorance of Pibgorn, thirsting to be quenched. Given the paltry smattering of reruns on [comics.com](http://comics.com), I know that she had a flying mishap and was taken to Geoff’s porch, that she changed size a few times and then shrunk Geoff down to fairy-size…lots of _baisers de la fee_ going on, many not connected with spell-casting…that they survived an execution attempt by some guy who looks like Gandalf…that they returned to the cottage and Drusilla showed up and started trying to kill Pib. Does Geoff know that she’s really a sorceress? Great line from Dru, BTW: “I knew what was happening as soon as I walked in…Geoff is such an idiot…he _reeked_ of fairy.” ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2004, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-smitten-by-a-fairy/257679/11 "2004-08-01T21:45:18Z")
> [@Ukulele Ike](#): > > Well, come _on_, boys, give us some details, some information! Right now all I have is a profound ignorance of Pibgorn, thirsting to be quenched. > > Does Geoff know that she’s really a sorceress? Not yet. Pib will show him when they get back from their walk. I don’t know how much of their adventures will be shown prior to the start of new strips but Pib and Dru reached an agreement. Pib gets Geoff while Dru loves him from afar. The trio has battled vampires, a vengeful Victorian spirit who had been ensconsed in a piano, and assorted demons. One demon in particular had been plotting revenge on Dru ever since she caught him witing plays by stealing Shakespeare’s thoughts. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d26b3c/32.png) [@Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Blue_Sky)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2004, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-smitten-by-a-fairy/257679/12 "2004-08-01T22:20:14Z")
Does this strip suffer from the same problem (IMHO) as _9 Chickweed Lane_? That is, it doesn’t go anywhere? At least with strips like _Doonsesbury_ and _For Better or For Worse_, the characters age and move on. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2004, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-smitten-by-a-fairy/257679/13 "2004-08-01T22:37:00Z")
> [@Mr. Blue Sky](#): > > Does this strip suffer from the same problem (IMHO) as _9 Chickweed Lane_? > > That is, it doesn’t go anywhere? Two of the main characters are, for the most part, immortal. Aging isn’t an issue. ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2004, 1:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-smitten-by-a-fairy/257679/14 "2004-08-02T01:09:13Z")
**Mr. Blue Sky** : Oh, hell…aside from “Gasoline Alley,” and the two examples you mention, hardly ANY comic strip changes from year to year. Remember the classic MAD magazine article “What if Comic Strip Characters Were as Old as Their Strips” ? I’m not going to give “9 Chickweed Lane” a buncha shit because Edda’s not a 27-year-old soccer mom in suburbia, Juliette’s not all wrinkly, and Gran and Thorax aren’t dead and moldering in the grave. **Jeff** : “Pib and Dru reached an agreement. Pib gets Geoff while Dru loves him from afar.” My, my, how con-_veeeeen_-ient. For Geoff, at least. How come Pibgorn gets to have and to hold him, seeing that Dru was there first? More to the point just what exactly DOES Geoff bring to this little crew, aside from his pianistic talents? Pibgorn has wings and magical powers, Drusilla has LOTS of magical powers, and they’re both hotter’n two-dollar pistols. Just what _is_ their erotic attraction to this Church Organist in a Cardigan? And does he wield any magic aside from Bach’s _Well-Tempered Clavier_? ---
**Author:** ![Sofis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Sofis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sofis)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2004, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-smitten-by-a-fairy/257679/15 "2004-08-02T02:12:40Z")
> [@Ukulele Ike](#): > > Just what _is_ their erotic attraction to this Church Organist in a Cardigan? Maybe Pigborn likes having access to an (occasional) twelve inch pianist? ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2004, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-smitten-by-a-fairy/257679/16 "2004-08-02T02:32:34Z")
> [@Ukulele Ike](#): > > “Pib and Dru reached an agreement. Pib gets Geoff while Dru loves him from afar.” > > My, my, how con-_veeeeen_-ient. For Geoff, at least. How come Pibgorn gets to have and to hold him, seeing that Dru was there first? It has to do with Dru’s nature. She’s a succubus; her love is fleeting. Pib really is smitten with Geoff. > [@](#): > > More to the point just what exactly DOES Geoff bring to this little crew, aside from his pianistic talents? Pibgorn has wings and magical powers, Drusilla has LOTS of magical powers, and they’re both hotter’n two-dollar pistols. Just what _is_ their erotic attraction to this Church Organist in a Cardigan? And does he wield any magic aside from Bach’s _Well-Tempered Clavier_? Music has charms to soothe the savage demon. Especially accordian music. Dru had trapped a bunch of demons in a pulp detective novel and placed the book on Geoff’s shelf. Pib found the book, started reading it, then both were attacked by a Sam Spade-esque demon. This started a fire, which attracted a bugbear in a firefighter’s suit. The bugbear attacked Pib while trying to get the book. She flew off and used a _baiser de la fée_ to shrink the bugbear but dropped the book in the process. This led to thousands of demons, in the guise of characters from the book, emerging from the East River. Putting the demons back in the book required the use of accordion music, which Geoff provided with his keyboard talent. Picture Geoff - dressed as Rambo - with Pib, Drew, and a borrowed magically-amplified accordian at the top of the Empire State. Why they were in the Big Apple in the fist place is another story. ---
**Author:** ![TPWombat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbce88/32.png) [@TPWombat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TPWombat)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2004, 1:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-smitten-by-a-fairy/257679/17 "2004-08-02T13:08:27Z")
> [@Ukulele Ike](#): > > This thing has been going on for three years, and I’ve only been able to access the first few weeks of it through [Comics.com](http://Comics.com). **Ike** , you know you can get access to the full archive by signing up, yesno? Only a few bucks for a year’s access. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2004, 1:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-smitten-by-a-fairy/257679/18 "2004-08-02T13:15:19Z")
> [@Ukulele Ike](#): > > **Jeff** : “Pib and Dru reached an agreement. Pib gets Geoff while Dru loves him from afar.” > > My, my, how con-_veeeeen_-ient. For Geoff, at least. How come Pibgorn gets to have and to hold him, seeing that Dru was there first? [spoiler]A spell, IIRC. Dru falls deeply in love with Geoff, and will do anything for his happiness. Since being with Pib makes Geoff happy, she must acceed to his wishes. (I really loved that). She has threatened to kill them both once the spell wears off. I like that, too.[/spoiler] ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2004, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-smitten-by-a-fairy/257679/19 "2004-08-02T15:07:33Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > A spell, IIRC. Dru falls deeply in love with Geoff, and will do anything for his happiness. Since being with Pib makes Geoff happy, she must acceed to his wishes. That, too. ---
**Author:** ![tracer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tracer/32/20578_2.png) [@tracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tracer)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2004, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-smitten-by-a-fairy/257679/20 "2004-08-02T15:08:03Z")
> [@Ukulele Ike](#): > > It was a shockerino to learn that Brooke is a MAN. The women in his various works are the real centers, and the strongest characters…his men are all either wimps or complete screwballs. Maybe he does it to get the chicks. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-smitten-by-a-fairy/257679.md?page=2)