Stone Soup is full of my favorite comic characters! When I lived in Japan, I didn’t have access to this strip. Now, I will really miss the weekday ones, but am relieved that the Sunday ones will continue. Thank you for your top notch comics, Jan!
Phil is often good at saying the right thing at the right time. Looks like he will be the strong man who can deal with this somewhat dysfunctional family.
Perhaps Mai’s grandfather was talking about Karl’s nose (not as high or pointed as some foreigners) and/or that Karl’s eyes were dark brown like Japanese. However, the comments I got in Japan the most were something like: “I didn’t expect an American to be so sensitive.”
A wrinkled shirt and unpolished shoes are not a problem, but changing his tie would have fixed him for church. What bothers me is young women in short shorts and low necked shirts in church. One woman dressed in the shortest of shorts and she was barefoot. If you ask why a ninja like person is bothered by this, it is true that in Japan people dress more conservatively at church, even though teenagers are allowed to be more casual.
Most certainly, Luann and her brother have gone through the greatest artistic changes, and that includes their parents transition to cartoon characters in their own right (rather than the view of their legs on a chair).
There’s no way that Phil’s high forehead (as it is drawn now) could have been scrunched into his police helmet in this drawing. Even his nose is a different shape. Well, I guess there must have been an ‘art evolution’ as TEMPLO S.U.D. said.
This saves us time. i think all your fans must appreciate this!