Polyethylene versus Mylar
from Some Quintessential Single Guys

Jimmy Corrigan: The Smartest Kid on Earth is yet another example of the single guy genus.

Things to remember:
Jimmy can't meet girls.
Jimmy wears old-fashioned pants.
Jimmy calls his mom (who author Chris Ware describes as "a miserable wretch who dominates poor Jimmy") at least once a day.

Jimmy falls in love all over the place -- with Peggy in the mailroom, his nurse, his step sister. He talks rarely, each word seemingly extruded through a painful, hidden process. His catchall phrase is some variation on "Uh... I-I guess." This guy needs help.

In the appendix of Jimmy Corrigan, Ware defines lonely as "The permanent state of being for all humans, despite any efforts to the contrary. Can be soothed or subdued in a variety of ways, viz. marriage, sexual intercourse, board games, literature, music, poetry, television, party hats, pastries, etc., but cannot be solved."