The Sunday, November 2nd Strip
This Sunday, November 2nd strip makes a reference to Bob the plumber in the last panel. This is in no way a reference to our famous “Joe the Plumber,” who has been all over the news this past month. In the strip, Bob the plumber is just some random sales call thrown in with a barrage of the political ones, leading to confusion on Edison’s part.
The whole 2-1/2 week Edison Lee election series, created to run from October 20th through the November 4th, was actually written back in August, long before “Joe” came along. We needed to work so far in advance because the strips were being created and sold as an election mini-series. We had to have time to produce a mini-media kit, and for the sales team to get it out into the market, because in addition to running in its current newspapers, the series was being sold to papers that don’t normally carry Edison Lee. By the time “Joe the Plumber” had become a household name, it was too late for us to really do anything about it. It’s unfortunate, because many readers were almost certainly thinking of our friend “Joe” when reading the strip, which changes the tone considerably. I really wish this Joe guy had been a landscape designer.
This is just one of those wierd coincidences that happens every once in a while. It’s one of the drawbacks to working so far in advance.