This was a contemporary obsession of mine, too-large child in pushchair. I kept seeing them but I think it might have been a “cluster” because post-pandemic I’ve not spotted one.
I don’t usually say anything about the comics but this is a good example of me attempting to put more into a page of a daily (or near daily, I think these ran Mon-Thu originally) than anyone has since “the olden days”. I can’t believe I drew this exactly eight years ago (but I did).
If it helps explain my antipathy to this story, I don’t remember any of the plot points you describe here: the names of the chapters, the various staff movements, the surnames of the new characters, any of it. I was writing two monthly series for Boom Studios at the same time and struggling very badly with a crushing workload. I think The Great Unboxing could have been a great story if it had been all I was working on at the time.
I love this new character. I hope that like Nancy in Fritzi Ritz, eventually she becomes the whole comic. Luann had a good run but Stress Mom is a breakout.
Find out more about my work at scarygoround dot com and badmachinery dot com or look for my series Giant Days, Steeple, Wicked Things or Great British Bump-Off in bookstores and comic shops.
The meat men, drawn some time after the end of the online Bad Machinery, have never been considered too deeply. Until now.