One Big Happy



One Big Happy was a family-life comic about 6-year-old Ruthie Lombard, her 8-year-old brother Joe, and their parents and grandparents. Unlike most comics, it showed a generally realistic portrayal of what kids are actually like and how they actually talk. The primariy focus was Ruthie, but the rest of the Lombard family has their own quirks.

Much of the comedy came from Ruthie simply being a kid and misinterpreting the adult world, or doing things that come naturally to kids but surprise adults. The rest was all realistic yet entertaining slices of life, more of a light-hearted portrayal of everyday life than a laugh-out-loud comic.

The strip appears to have gone into reruns some time between 2010 and 2020.

Not to be confused with the short-lived TV series of the same name.


 * The Faceless - Buggy Crispino, a little kid who "seduces" any female he can (i.e. he repeats things he must have heard teenagers say and tries to talk just like them), never has his face shown. Usually, his body is never shown either.
 * The Un-Reveal - Buggy finally appeared on April 12, 2010 -- in a Ladybug costume with a hat and goggles that obscured most of his face. The closest we get to seeing his face afterwards is seeing his hair.
 * Malaproper / Mondegreen: Ruthie is very well known for this.
 * Most Writers Are Adults - Mostly averted. This writer has a great idea of how kids actually talk and act and what they care about, and captures it very well for the most part, although a good deal of the dialog is exaggerated for the sake of the punchline. It is, however, mostly realistic.
 * Multigenerational Household - Ruthie and her brother Joe live with parents Frank and Ellen, as well as Frank's parents Nick and Rose.
 * Strictly speaking, they live in two separate houses next door to each other, but with all the visits and time spent together, it's basically the same thing as if they shared the house.
 * Real Life Writes the Plot - sort of. The author has said that his family will tell him stories to write into the strip.
 * Shout-Out: In a recent strip, Ruthie and Joe are supposedly about to travel back in time, when Ruthie comments about the food they packed, "Won't the popcorn turn into corn on the cob, then into corn stalks? And the orange juice will turn into oranges before our very eyes!" Joe then comments that he would have been better off with a stuffed tiger as his copilot.
 * Sibling Rivalry - Ruthie and Joe fight like any sister and brother would. They also play together like sister and brother too. Very realistic.
 * Slice of Life - Basically what it's about.
 * T-Word Euphemism: One strip has Ruthie tattle on Joe about name-calling, except that the letters used as euphemisms aren't the usual suspects so the parents aren't sure what the uncensored words are supposed to be. Joe still gets sent to his room.