Madam & Eve

Last month I promised to share some South African comic strips with you.  I'd like to introduce you to one of South Africa's most popular daily comic strips, Madam & Eve.  It is a satirical strip, started in 1992 and based around the theme of a middle-class white woman, Gwen Anderson, and her black maid, Eve Sisulu, living in the new South Africa as the Apartheid era drew to a close. Theirs is a relationship of affectionate squabbling.  Perhaps in the spirit of equality, neither character is portrayed as particularly sympathetic.  Madam is always coming up with silly ideas in order to fit in more with the new way of life.  Eve meanwhile keeps coming up with ways of obtaining extra cash out of Madam and others.  The strip often pokes fun at political figures, both South African and elsewhere in the world.

Main characters
Madam
Gwen Anderson, also known as Madam, is a typical white South African woman.  The original "Madam" is loosely based on one of the creators' own mother-in-law, coincidentally named Gwen.
Eve
Eve Sisulu is Madam's "domestic maintenance assistant."  Eve frequently opens a booth selling different goods and services for a side income, and is sometimes found asleep on her ironing board, both deliberate homages to Charles Schulz' Peanuts (Lucy and Snoopy, respectively).
Mother Anderson
Gwen's mother who visited on a trip from England in 1993, and soon disappeared again from the comic strip.  Her first appearance was so popular that the character returned in 1994 and has stayed in the comic since, as a permanent character.  She is well known for her addiction to gin and tonic.
Thandi
Thandi is Eve's precocious cousin who lives next door and is often paired in the strip with 80-year-old Mother Anderson.

Here are Mother Anderson and Thandi in action...

Keep your eyes open for more Madam & Eve strips in the months ahead!