All this drama and Too Many Notes.

In case you hadn't guessed, the new story began here. It took me more than a month to figure out how to handle the past week's worth of strips. I really struggled with how this confrontation would play out, and for a while I was kicking myself for burning down Yesman & Puckerup and outing Carol to Tiffany as an indirect result.

I tried hard to write several strips where the girls talk things out, throwing in a punchline every so often along the way, but it ran about 7 or 8 strips long and it all fell so flat. Then it finally occurred to me that Carol and Tiffany haven't gotten along for a while, and each girl would probably be really mad at the other -- Carol would be terrified that her secret could get back to Alan -- and we've never seen any two characters get into a really ugly fight. So here we are.

It was fun to write and draw something that was so different and full of energy. The only drawback is that the whole sequence seems to have this weird, negative vibe and after scripting this all week, I sort of feel like I walked in on my parents screaming and throwing dishes at each other.

I just want to assure everyone that I'm working to bring back the office/dating/spy/fantasy sitcom you've been reading for the past four years (!) as fast as I can. Please don't think I'm turning the strip into Mary Worth or Funky Winkerbean.

Too Many Notes
Work continues on the trade paperback Too Many Notes, which will contain all Suburban Tribe strips from the year 2006 (including the unpublished story Humbuggered) as well as the very first 25 strips with commentary. I have just finished writing the commentary and it is pretty darn extensive. I will take pre-orders on this trade as soon as I have the covers drawn and colored, hopefully within 3 weeks or so.