Action Girl Comics #11
In "Tobey's Holiday Dinner," Jen Sorensen delivers a sharp, heartfelt slice of life from her time working a grocery store in Pennsylvania Dutch country. With her own writing, art, inks, and letters, she paints a vivid portrait of small-town rhythms—her boss’s Flanders-like earnestness, the bag boys’ car talk, and the unforgettable Ethel, a former New York City dancer who advises living hard and fast at twenty-two. The cover by Sarah Dyer captures the story’s wry, observant tone.
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Jen recounts some of her experiences as a grocery store clerk in Pennsylvania Dutch country. She warns to not eat the "delicacy" called Scrapple because of what it's made of (scraps of pig meat, including snouts). She recalls the area as being almost without any pretense at all. Her boss reminds her of Ned Flanders from the TV show "The Simpsons." The bag boys talk about their cars. And her inspiration is an older cashier, Ethel, who was a dancer and cocktail waitress in New York City in the 1940s, who tells her to live hard and fast because at 22 you're just young and stupid anyway.
Plot details indexed by the Grand Comics Database (CC BY-SA).