Karmen

Karmen is a fictional character in the Regents Walk comic series. In Big Blue, she is the current girlfriend of Ethan's Dad and in essence his son's primary caretaker.

Biography
Ethan's motherly figure in Big Blue, Karmen is in her early 30's, although her lifestyle has added a few years to her appearance. She helps Ethan's Dad get around the house, does most of the cooking, and takes Ethan to school in the morning. Currently tied down to the house with her late pregnancy, her free-spirited nature certainly suggests that she might not stick around for much longer.

Big Blue (Chapter One)
Karmen is first seen watching Ethan finish up his morning teeth-brushing, and then helps him tie his shoes downstairs, though she isn't that great at it, either. After bring his father into the kitchen for breakfast, she pushes aside his typed rantings about Vietnam to give Ethan a place to eat. She then takes him to school, talking some about how the town has changed on the way. With curlers in her hair, she later picks him up at school, albeit very late and at the side of the road where he thinks he's walking home. That night, she leaves Ethan and his dad to finish their dinner together, to go out with her friends for a bit.

A following night, she gets Ethan out of the kitchen (and off the typewriter, which she thinks is also a computer), and into the living room where his dad and Lyle are. She then takes Ethan's father out for some air (and beer).

Later, she picks up Ethan from school, and is happy to hear he made a new friend, Aubrey. Calling him Mr. Popular, she hands his dad a drink from the Toot stop after getting home.

Ethan's Dad
All that can be said for sure is that something sparked Karmen's interest in Ethan's Dad and she needed a place to stay. It may be due to his resemblance to her favorite actor, though even that can't ease the burden of playing girlfriend and nurse.

Ethan
While not used to taking care of kids, Karmen does her best to be Ethan's surrogate mother—though it's doubtful she's had a positive example of this in her own life and she can be a bit awkward with him.

Trivia

 * Even at the start of the comic, Karmen is already the third motherly figure in Ethan's life.
 * She is the first pre-modern adult seen in the series.