The fact that Eve used to be grumpy is known to everyone who reads the comic; here I guess is my acknowledgment of it. I had the tricky job of drawing "old" Eve without betraying her current shape. "Megatoad" is a reference to yet another competitive eater, throwing back to Eve's first Coney Island visit where she was equally unprepared for the cold.
Coney Island has always been a bittersweet, nostalgic thing, a dream built on dreams. I always end up a little sad by the time I'm there. It represents something to my parents' generation, which is why they brought me. In turn it represents something to me, and that's probably why I went for years as a NYer, and still dream about going. Like all parts of Brooklyn there's been an aggressive injection of developer money to ensure that people never stop dreaming about going, but the facade has its limits. It's still possible to find yourself at a grey and empty beach, with hot dogs and cruddy ketchup dispensers as your only comfort.
The fries line is a little math joke, ho ho, suggesting Eve can chill and eat the fries, or not chill and not eat the fries. Eve is already anxious that her friend group never goes anywhere anymore, an anxiety that is almost a self-fulfilling prophecy.
9 thoughts on “#850 – our last hurrah”
John
Haha, it's the "only if Hanna's not invited" gang. Is this Eve's entire social group at this point? People who can't be around her roommate while she's becoming more involved with the only person who stays at Hanna's side through any conflict? What a line to straddle.
TRA
I think I get the math joke.
I once took a course in Logic, which was kind of a math-like course.
So, in the Logic class you'd have to do problems like: "you can do x, or y, but not both."
So, in this situation, Eve's choices are- You can [eat the fries], or [chill], but not both.
[I'm interested in logic puzzles, like that one].
Tangerine
This confuses me though. Wouldn't Marigold WANT the fries to be absolute? Everyone wants Eve to be chill, and she's eating the fries. . .
TRA
Oh Man.
I just remembered this story, from when it first came out!
It's kinda sad, but it's a very good story.
I remember Eve getting upset, and then, I guess, wondering if her friends will support her, and stuff like that. It's a good story.
Melonby
It really drives home how much Eve changes from the earlier strips! I don't think anyone's asked this yet but, what was it about her original personality you consciously kept the same?
granulac
That's a good question. I don't know that any of it was conscious, but Eve's always been a meek, unassertive person who explores the world through personal relationships. At times she's been grumpy or brave or wild or even overbearing, but it's always a reaction to the timidity that underlines her life and the chances she feels she's missed.
C E
I'm only a recent NYer, and Coney ends up being a very weird thing to me. I don't have any nostalgia for the place, and my father's notion of it as a fun place to go is entirely from memes he heard fifty years ago. I go and it's just first-hand decay. I love watching the struggle to stay classic without simply becoming history, and it is only half-successful. The rotten boards, crusty signs, and barely-painted over engravings from the 1930s subway system all affected me deeply, and I loved and cherished every one of them.
My NY friends don't share my "this is fun archaeology" stance and don't invite me anymore.
thoss
Characters ranting and/or exclaiming and gesturing with food in their mouths and no regard for looking decorous is always hilarious, love Eve in the last panel.
TRA
I'm not sure.
I think that she's trying to say to Eve, in a kind of sarcastic way, something like:
right now, we want you to chill. If eating the fries is getting in the way of you chilling out, then please stop eating the fries, and then chill.
I think she's trying to say something like that. 😀