Moving on Up

Friday, April 27th

Wow Nina, it only took you two months to figure out it's not normal for Tommie to be following you around all the time.  This actually could be an interesting storyline for a psychological thriller.  The Midwife.  She's always watching over you.  I wonder what Tommie taking over would mean?  Probably, Nina moves into Lu Ann's temporarily unoccupied bedroom with a sign that says "KEEP OUT, FORMER FRIEND/DRUNKEN FOOL MARGO!!"

Saturday, April 28th

 

Ugh, why are Nina and Scott so rich?  I'm pretty sure Tommie isn't being formal, she just doesn't know what your first name is.  And you didn't mention it so she's going to keep calling out Mr. Blake.  And by the way, having Tommie tell you everything that she knows is going to be a short conversation.  

Go Nina!

Wednesday, April 25

All I can say to Nina is: you go, girlfriend! Seriously, who would come home to her husband kissing her friend, empty bottle of wine nearby, and say "Oh, OK, if you insist it was innocent." I would kick his ass, so I approve of Nina's unbelievably deep frown and swear words. I also enjoy the word "lurches" and I'm sure if she heard that description of her pregnant self storming away, she'd be thrilled.

Thursday, April 26

Actually, Tommie, I'm not sure if this is part of a midwife's job description, but I do understand your desire to stick around and watch all of the juicy drama unfold. Maybe you can write a song about it!

GASP! KISS! Drunken fools!

So it seems that Maggie has taken a little hiatus from blogging JUST AS THINGS GET INTERESTING!

Monday, April 23rd

A) Am I the only one that finds it awkward that Tommie is following Nina up the steps?
B) The second panel is the greatest that I have yet encountered during my tenure on the blog.  It's got everything!  Nina shouting "GASP!!" and Margo and Scott planting a powerful unified kiss simultaneously on each other's jawbones. 

Tuesday, April 24th

I like how Margo can tolerate being referred to as a "so-called friend," yet she will not be called a drunken fool.  Didn't Nina see how tiny those wine glasses were?  In Scott and Margo's defense, they were clearly kissing each other on the cheek/jaw, with no lips and certainly no tongue.  However, their below the belt parts were clearly touching and they were getting a little handsy.  Nina's so dejected in the last panel, so I'm tempted to rule in her favor.

Sunday Evening Post

Before we delve back into the antics of the A3G world, I'd like to announce some exciting news!  Casey and I want to congratulate our dear friend and blogger Maggie on her recent engagement.  We're very very happy for her and her fiancee Zack!  So far, he hasn't gone the full Paul Linski and bought the house adjacent to his parents for them, but we will monitor the situation closely.

Friday, April 20th

It's the story so tragic that we can't even hear about it? We're all adults here, I think we can handle it.  At least it would be something interesting to happen in this story.  I wonder how many tiny glasses you get out of a bottle of wine?

Saturday, April 21st

Uh oh, here it comes.  Nina's pregnancy hormones are going to erupt when she finds her husband decorating the nursery and drinking tiny glasses of Margaux with Margo.  At least I hope it's exciting, and not just like "Oh Margo, thanks so much for decorating.  I'm ready to be a mother now!"

Trust Me, I'm a Midwife

Um, Tommie, I don't think she's worried it's a sign of weakness. I think she's probably sick of you hanging around and wants to be alone with her husband. Meanwhile, Tommie has absolutely nothing better to do than carry the box full of groceries inside. She'll awkwardly stand there as Nina waits for her to leave, then make up something about how pregnant women shouldn't cook, so that she can hold on to some fantasy of being useful for a little while longer.

But really, I can't wait to see Tommie react to the inevitable Nina/Margo showdown. This is going to be fun!

It's Been Eons

Okay, so I'm just a country bumpkin from New Jersey, but is it a trendy New York thing to get groceries in cardboard boxes? Open, poorly packed cardboard boxes? Do eco-minded consumers get their groceries packed in their own reusable canvas boxes? Oh, New York! I'll never be able to keep up with your high falutin' trends d'jour!

Pouring Out the Pain

Aw, Scott and Margo have reached that level of wine intake that precedes sloppily drunk but goes just beyond pleasantly buzzed where you get all sappy and emotional.  It's typically where you pontificate on philosophical questions, but Scott's being all Debbie Downer by bringing up Nina's dead mother.  Margo, sensing that she can draw succor from the misfortune of others, demands to know all the gory details.  My money is on death during childbirth, which has Nina secretly worried that she will share a similar fate, thus her cavalier attitude towards motherhood.

Toasting Continues

Did that thing with Nina and the supermarket just happen? Because... okay, point taken, that was going nowhere, I guess. So back to drinking! And while Margo looks right at home in the first panel (at her Margo-iest, as I would say), she looks hilariously out of sorts in the second panel. "And here's to.. Nina's father? I don't know, what else do you toast to? The sun? Kitchen magnets? The cupboard handles that make me look like I'm head bobbling? I didn't think you had to toast stuff to keep drinking."

Retail Therapy

I mean this is fantastic!  You get your very own wheeled metal basket! How quaint, it has a wheel that keeps pulling left. We almost knocked over that display of crackers that are on sale! They're 2 for $5? We should get some! This must be what heaven is like!

Pinkies Up!

Ah!! Margo's pinky is going rogue!! Frank Bolle must've been like, "Ah, finished! Oh wait, don't women do some weird fwippy thing with their hands when they're boozing? I'll just throw it in the first panel, they'll get the idea. Time to hit the links!" Also, as per usual, the colorist do not have a suitable color for red wine, so black black wine, blacker than the foul depths of Scott's brylo-creamed hair, will have to do.

Fabulously Expensive

Margo has already forgotten that Scott is fabulously wealthy. Again.
Fun fact: Chateau Margaux is a real winery. It has a rich history. Maybe I should have known that, but I had to look it up. Even funner fact: according to Wikipedia, "A bottle of Château Margaux 1787 holds the record as the most expensive bottle of wine ever broken, insured at $225,000"
How much do you think this bottle is worth? Probably not that much, but now I'm wondering how that 200 grand bottle was broken, and if it had anything to do with a pregnant woman coming home to find her husband sipping wine with some other woman.

Fabulously Wealthy

You can tell he's fabulously wealthy because, ga ga ga GOO, just LOOK at that FANCY CHAIR!!

What's in the Cellar?

Uh oh.  Danger Will Robinson!  This is the part of the Lifetime movie where the spirited heroine gets drugged, raped and murdered after uncharacteristically letting her guard down.  And Margo doesn't paint and redecorate with just any man.  Hey, weren't they just wearing collared shirts?

Finished

I can't believe Margo is so boring. What happened to her?? She used to be Robokopf; now she's Tendertron. All I have to say is, that furniture better be Scandanavian and menacing. Like that kangaroo in panel one.

The Meat and Potatoes of It All

Don't you understand that meat and potatoes killed Daddy?  At the funeral, the doctor said it was a miracle that he lived so long without passable coronary arteries, and he'd never seen a man's heart explode like that.  The cardiologist was so scarred, he had to give up the practice and move to an ashram.  Is it just me or is this conversation making Nina's hair flippier?

No Wonder

Thursday April 5, 2012

No wonder Nina's ambivalent about motherhood--she thinks women die after birthing their spawn. Duh.

Friday April 6, 2012

ENOUGH CHITTER CHATTER, back to Nina's man problem. There are all kinds of gifts, Nina. Have you considered offering up your body as a sacrifice? Or maybe just get a t-shirt that says, "I got your present right here" with an arrow pointing to your stomach. Get the picture? Yes, we see!

The park is looking progressively sparse... Maybe Tommie and Nina have wandered onto a Samuel Beckett play?

Feelings

Tommie Thompson: nurse, midwife, gynocologist, champion walker, armchair therapist, Margo's personal maid, and, of course, major recording artist. Plus, unless Big City closed without ceremony, she's on Broadway six times a week. Truly, she puts me (and my busy schedule of having a full-time job and blogging three times a week) to shame.

Several Days in the Park

 

I'm guessing that Nina didn't buy "What to Expect When You're Expecting."  I heard a story on NPR about how much useful information it has.  Is that a bridge in the background of the first panel?  I underestimated you Mr. Bolle.  My apologies.

Parklife

Oh ho ho, Megan! Mr. Bolle SEES your challenge to draw trees and parklife, and RAISES you a man and a dog! It's a pretty well done detail, really. If you were playing Pictionary (or Draw Something) and you got "sepia Mitt Romney walking a sepia husky-bull terrier mix," no execution would be more accurate than this.