Stone Soup (comic strip)
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Stone Soup is an internationally syndicated American comic strip written and illustrated by Jan Eliot. The comic strip debuted in November 1995.
The unwieldy Stone brood is depicted as falling out of the norm of the "perfect" family; i.e. husband, wife, 2.5 kids, and a white picket fence. The strip's name comes from the stone soup fable.
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[edit] Characters
[edit] Main Characters
- Valerie (Val) Stone is a 30-something 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 disconcerted by her co-workers' political machinations. Her home life, however, is the greater source of aggravation, especially when dealing with her daughters. Her idea of cooking usually consists of pre-packaged dinners. 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. She rarely passes up an opportunity to challenge her mother (she taught Alix to say 'Muhhhtheer') and sees almost everything in terms of herself ("In what universe is tuna noodle surprise a reward?").
- 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, most 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 aide organization. She has since returned.
[edit] Secondary characters
- Joan Stone is Val's younger sister, rarely seen without her glasses on. Abandoned by her first husband, Joan and her son initially lived with Val to save money. She is a home-based freelance copywriter. Joan moved next-door when she married Wally. An October 2006 storyline established that she is pregnant.
- Wally Weinstein is Val's next-door neighbor and Joan's husband beginning in early-2000s strips. A balding and bespectacled office worker, he can cook and is handy with tools. He thinks hot chocolate is a panacea.
- Max is Joan's and Wally's preschool son. 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).
- Andy is Wally's teenage nephew, who doesn't think too highly of rules but has no qualms about playing hard rock music at earsplitting levels. He has endeared himself to Holly in countless ways.
[edit] Recurring characters
- Phil Jackson 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.
- Dickerson is Val's coworker and adversary. When he's not he's brownnosing the boss he tries to impress Val with tales of entertaining their boss on his (Dickerson's) boat.
- Rena is Val's office buddy and confidant. Working with Val reminds Rena to enjoy being single and childless.
- Leon is Joan's first husband and Max's biological father. He went out for milk one night and ended up in the Virgin Islands.
[edit] Biscuit
The apple of Max's eye, but to everyone else, a "yappy little mutt". Officially Holly and Alix's dog, Val provides care and Max provides adoration. During the first week of 2006, Biscuit was clearly defined as a female.
[edit] 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 from Rose Is Rose. Strips featuring the book club have appeared on at least two occasions and are republished in the 2005 trade paperback collection. (See below.)
[edit] Stone Soup collections
- Stone Soup: The First Collection of the Syndicated Cartoon Strip with a foreword by Lynn Johnston. ISBN 0967410223
- You Can't Say Boobs on Sunday, (1999), ISBN 0967410207
- Stone Soup The Comic Strip : The Third Collection of the Syndicated Cartoon, (2001), ISBN 0967410215
- Road Kill in the Closet, Book Four of the Syndicated Cartoon Stone Soup, (2003) ISBN 0967410231
- Not So Picture Perfect : Book Five of the Syndicated Cartoon Stone Soup, (2005) ISBN 0967410258
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- Stone Soup home page
- 2004 Associated Press story on the comic strip and its creator
- Creator bio at Universal Press Syndicate
