The Feel
Katie's innocent cheerfulness combines with Laurie's tragic past to make Count Your Sheep a strange mix of humor and melancholy accentuated by the blue colors. The strip is characterized by "quiet humor" that often involves discussions of the nature of childhood, life lessons, and the misunderstandings that occur between grownups and children. Because of this, it is most often compared to Calvin and Hobbes, Mutts and Peanuts. Ramos has also referenced the Disney movie Lilo and Stitch as an influence.
Although it is primarily a humorous comic there are some plot-points that are alluded to, most often involving Katie's father and the characters' struggles as a single-parent family.
As mentioned before, the comic draws from Calvin and Hobbes, but in a complementary way. The "quiet humor" of the strip strongly contrasts Calvin and Hobbes' rough and tumble nature. Katie and Ship would talk at home and have discussions while eating cookies, or carry potted plants, while Calvin and Hobbes had their red wagon, the sled, the tree fort and Calvinball (not to say that CYS isn't active at times). Calvin's parents were generic middle class parents who seem to be little more than boundaries to compare to Calvin's youthful nature. Laurie is a young, financially struggling, single mother, and the fact that she can still see Ship (who often is the most adult of the three) reflects just how different she is from Calvin's parents.
Read more about this topic: Count Your Sheep
Famous quotes containing the word feel:
“If only the strength of the love that people feel when it is reciprocated could be as intense and obsessive as the love we feel when it is not; then marriages would be truly made in heaven.”
—Ben Elton (b. 1959)
“Adults understandably assume that the level of verbal proficiency a five-year-old displays represents his level of proficiency in all areas of functioning—if he talks like an adult, he must think and feel like one. However, five-year-olds,... belie the promise of adult-like behavior with their child-like, impulsive actions.”
—Dorothy H. Cohen (20th century)