The Dinette Set is a single-panel newspaper comic by artist Julie Larson.
Set in the fictional Midwestern suburban community of Crustwood, the comic satirized middle-class culture; its main characters are 50-ish sisters Verla Darwin and Joy Penny.
[1] The comic poked fun at middle-class perceptions (and misperceptions) of common, everyday issues.
Larson's comic began as Suburban Torture in the Los Angeles Reader and other alternative newspapers on November 16, 1990.
The main characters are Burl and Joy Penny; Joy's sister and mother, Verla and Ma; neighbors Marlene and Dale and their grandson Timmy; and occasional friend with a bad toupeé, Jerry.