:: 9 Comments... ::

1. John K
   July 29th, 2009 at 8:24 am

   if they went to Hardee’’s than that truely is my idea of a night on the town!

   I love Tadima’s face in the first panel, it is just sooo vegged out.

2. speearr
   July 29th, 2009 at 9:22 am

   Hey, I know those two phrases!

   Which fast food joint are they at? The fries look real good.

3. Chris
   July 29th, 2009 at 9:34 am

   Y’know, they don’t even have Hardee’s where I live. I’ve never even seen their monster colossal burger.
   For some reason, in my mind, they were at Wendy’s, but I kept it nondescript so that readers can insert their favorite artery killer.
   Btw, John, it’s interesting to see that you read “Tadaima” as the woman’s name (it’s really Arisa). As I’m guessing speearr knows, it actually means “I’m home!” (to which she says “welcome back”). But it illustrates a problem I’ve had: sometimes I want to represent Japanese language in the strip, but how do I do that without making it impossible for non-speakers of Japanese to understand? I have a thought on a solution I’m going to try in later strips, but clearly today’s method was not the best option

4. George
   July 29th, 2009 at 10:18 am

   Their expressions in that last panel says it all. Great job, Chris!

5. Samantha
   July 29th, 2009 at 10:33 am

   My mom has a story JUST like this strip. My dad came home and told mom to get herself “fixed up” to go out to eat. She got all dressed up for a nice dinner and he took her to McDonald’s. Which is why, unlike John K, I love the faces in the LAST panel.

   As for the language, had I not known the character’s names, I might have assumed that “Tadaima” was her name. You could always do the old “footnote” thing for translations if you feel the context doesn’t convey the meaning. For myself, I thought “Tadaima” was just an affectionate greeting and that Arisa’s response was the equivalent of a flat “whoopie-doo.” The mis-translation certainly didn’t affect my enjoyment of the strip, or change the intended impact of the strip.

   I like seeing the Japanese words in there, even if I don’t know what they mean. It reinforces “multicultural” in the strip. I think I would feel left-out should understanding the untranslated Japanese be integral to appreciating the strip/punchline, though.

6. David
   July 29th, 2009 at 8:55 pm

   I get the feeling I’ve been there before…. Hmm… Yep. Unfortunately, yep.

7. tom galambos
   July 30th, 2009 at 4:41 am

   Chris,
   Congratulations! 30 strips has been a remarkable feat of discipline. Plus, you got some great comics out of it. Well done.
   Looking forward to more Chazbacks.

8. Nate Fakes
   July 30th, 2009 at 7:54 am

   Yea, that’s my kind of date! Doesn’t get much more romantic.

9. Chris
   July 31st, 2009 at 4:02 am

   Thanks, guys Funny story about your parents, Samantha–I thought only a comic strip character would do something ike that

   I’ve thought about footnotes, too. Sort of like subtitles, right? My concern has been that it might draw readers out of the story, because they’re geographically out of the balloon flow. Hmm. This comics thing is tough!

   And thanks for the congrats, Tom. Someday I’ll figure out how the daily strip-makers do it on a consistent basis. (George, Nate, John, I’m lookin’ at you!)

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