Jan Eliot Retires Daily “Stone Soup” Comic Strip
(September
21, 2015)
Kansas City, Mo.
— Jan Eliot has announced the decision to retire the daily version of
the Stone Soup comic strip. The Sunday version of Stone Soup will continue.
“Every Monday morning, there it is, the blank paper that represents the seven comic strips that need to be created,” Eliot explained. “I have reached a point in life where I’d like to be free of these daily deadlines — free to travel more, spend more time with family and friends, pursue other creative projects. I love to write. I love photography. I’ve always been interested in marine science and scientific illustration. Who knows what might be on my horizon? It is exciting to think about the possibilities. But most of all, I’m looking forward to having just one great cartoon to create every week, to linger over the drawing and ideas and savor the fun of it.”
Originally created in 1990 and syndicated by Universal Uclick (formerly
Universal Press Syndicate) since November 1995, the comic strip is available in
more than 250 outlets worldwide with a dedicated following. The final week of Stone
Soup dailies will begin on Oct. 12, 2015.
“For 20 years, I have held the most wonderful job in the world — making a living in art, creating a daily comic strip that I’m privileged to see published in newspapers,” Eliot said. “As someone who grew up fascinated by newspaper and magazine cartoons, it is hard to explain the private thrill I get seeing my strip on the funny page, hearing someone comment about it, receiving fan mail. But with this wonderful job comes the pressure of daily deadlines. It may seem like a small task, creating one cartoon a day, but it is herculean in many ways. The pressure to be good enough, funny enough, to create interesting-enough drawings, live up to the standards of great cartoonists I admire and share the comics page with is not a small thing.”
A realistic and relevant comic strip, art truly imitates life in Stone
Soup. Once a single working mom herself, Eliot feels a special empathy for
women struggling to raise their children and make ends meet with too little
time, money and patience. She knows only too well that finding the humor in
life's challenges is often the only way to survive, and she conveys this idea through
her work.
“I thought long and hard about relinquishing my daily spot on the
funny pages,” Eliot said. “I fought to get there, after all. But 20 years is a
long time, especially when it comes after my previous incarnations – as a
waitress, car salesperson, bookmobile driver, community college instructor,
graphic designer and copywriter … all things I did along the way to syndication
and that inform my characters and storylines now.”
Stone Soup follows the saga of an extended, blended family, starring two working-mom sisters living just across the fence from each other. Val and Joan share life with their opinionated mother; a middle-school diva and 10-year-old tomboy; a reclusive teenage boy; a wild preschooler and his new baby sister; Wally, the ultimate nice guy who steps in to his stepdad shoes with grace amid the chaos; and Phil, Val’s new husband.
“I am not at all ready to give up my Stone Soup family,
which is why I am looking forward to continuing the Sunday strips. I am very
grateful I have the opportunity to do that, and I hope my fans will continue to
follow the fun and chaos of the Stone clan.”
Eliot began cartooning when she was a single mom trying to raise
two daughters, stay fully employed, pay the bills and still have a little fun
once in a while. Running for five years in 10 weekly and monthly papers, her
first comic strip, Patience and Sarah, featured a single mom and her
daughter. Eliot continued cartooning while working as a copywriter and graphic
designer and developed a second strip called Sister City, which ran
weekly in the Eugene, Oregon, Register-Guard for five years. In 1995, Eliot
created Stone Soup. Eliot works from her home studio in Eugene. She has
remarried, and her two daughters are grown with families of their own.
Stone
Soup is available online at
gocomics.com/stonesoup.
###
About Universal Uclick
Universal Uclick is the largest independent content
syndicate in the world and a leading digital entertainment provider of humor,
comic strips, political cartoons and other content for print, Web and mobile
devices. Universal Uclick provides editorial development, licensing and other
distribution services for iconic brands such as Doonesbury, Dear Abby, Miss Manners and some of the most
significant comics in history, including Calvin
and Hobbes, Garfield, Peanuts, Dilbert, For Better or For
Worse, Cathy and Ziggy. Recent standout successes include
Lio, Cul de Sac, Pearls Before
Swine, Get Fuzzy, Big Nate and The Argyle Sweater. A full comic catalog can be found at GoComics.com or via its mobile/tablet app on multiple platforms. For more
information on Universal Uclick, visit UniversalUclick.com. To stay informed about news pertaining to Universal Uclick, its
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Media Contact:
Julie Halper, Universal Uclick
816.581.7658
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