A precocious young girl and her father rescue a pet raccoon from an abusive owner. Ooooh! Clever move! Starting the strip off by immediately forcing me to feel concern for the lil’ fur ball and the people who care enough not to let animal abuse carry on.
About four strips into the series, in the course of naming their new furry friend, we are able to read into the raccoon’s thoughts. Apparently he abhors the name ‘Rascal’ and laments that it seems to be the fate of every domestic raccoon because Rascal is to raccoon as Fido is to Dog. I love, love, LOVE that the authors of this strip knew to blame Sterling North for that. There’s probably nothing better than a quasi-obscure reference to call me back to childhood and surprise me into a chortle!
It continues to be cute but gets even more interesting around the 7th strip when it’s revealed that the raccoon (now known as Woo) can speak to Sandra, opening a weird can of worms for her. I’m also delighted to report that Sandra isn’t just a vehicle for Woo’s fantastic antics, no, she can stand on her own comical feet! In strip 21 she’s watching a report on stock-market investment and instead of ignoring it she spins it into a hilarious chance to renegotiate the terms of her allowance.
Sandra and Woo has the quality and ‘feel’ of many of my favorite strips past and present, not only in word but in art as well, I love black and white but especially when it is used to effectively as it is here, get online and get reading!
You can read the comic at sandraandwoo.com
