Welcome to another special Saturday edition of arloandjanis.com, where today I'll wrap up the Web/newspaper-coordination experiment. Normally, I wouldn't post on weekends, but I'm here nearly every other day. What I really hope is that newcomers over the past two weeks will return often for more A&J strips from the past and other, eclectic goodies.

I talked about cartoon books a few days ago. I suppose this Web site is my book, in a way. It's a strictly personal site, constructed and maintained by me, Jimmy Johnson, the guy who draws and writes Arlo and Janis.  Here, I am able to exhibit old material, talk about it and learn your thoughts and opinions. Most days, I really do prepare the site over my morning coffee, and some days it shows. I hope to be here for a long time to come.

However, let's finish the series "Daddy's Friend." Also, since I was already awake, I posted four additional A&J strips from August, 2001. I hope you have a good Saturday. I'm going to the Old 280 Boogie in Waverly, myself. (4/23/2005)

GianPiero writes from Florence, Italy: I was just thinking about writing to you asking about books when I read about it on arloandjanis.com. My problem is that I am Italian, not really a problem per se, but if you really like comic strips it's a bummer. Italian newspapers don't print comics as a rule, ... so the Web is really a godsend. Every day I have my daily dose, and everything is well.

And do you know what I like about the Web, GianPiero? It enables me to have readers in Italy! And England and Finland and Pakistan and Japan and virtually anywhere, if you'll pardon the expression. GianPiero goes on to tell us about an annual comics festival in Lucca, near Florence. (The link is to a page in Italian, but I posted it, because I thought the artwork was so darned cute! If you don't read Italian, here's some information in English.)

We've talked in the past about comics in Europe and Japan. In fact, arloandjanis.com visited one of the largest comics festivals in the world, in Angouleme, France. OK, so I visited, and you read about it. Nevertheless, this gives me an opportunity to take our newcomers on that same visit. This links back to several days of coverage last January, from the 32nd International Festival of the Comic Strip.

Today, Web readers will see two more episodes of "Daddy's Friend," plus more classic A&J. Return tomorrow for a special Saturday edition as we wrap up our two-week, newspaper tie-in. Arrivederci! (5/22/2005)

Because of the increase in new traffic to arloandjanis.com the past couple of weeks, I've talked about the Web site and myself more than I normally would. Regulars know we talk about all sorts of things here. My favorite topic is cartoons--other than my own, I mean.

I like it when the conversation turns to Web comics and the future, as it has on many occasions, and I equally enjoy exploring well-known classic cartoons from the past and some not so well-known. An example of the latter might be the work of Bill Holman, including the comic strip Smokey Stover. Hallmarks of Smokey Stover were inspired punnery and goofiness, perfectly complemented by Holman's zany cartooning style. I know many of you will be interested to know a cat named Spooky figured prominently in Smokey Stover. I must say, for a man who died in 1987, Bill Holman has a gorgeous cartoon Web site.

Today, I'm continuing with more episodes of "Daddy's Friend," the vintage A&J series running in newspapers this week, plus bonus cartoons. Y'all come back! (5/22/2005)

Speaking of old material, a lot of readers have asked whether there is a book of A&J cartoons available anywhere. Honest, they have! Why would I be plugging a book that doesn't exist? And it doesn't.

An alternate version of that question is, "Why haven't you published a book?" The answer is very simple. None of the traditional publishers of cartoon reprint books has expressed an interest in publishing a book of A&J reprints. You'd have to ask them why.

I didn't bring this up so you'd feel sorry for me. I brought it up, because there's good news. A small but distinguished publishing house has expressed a willingness to publish a retrospective of my comic strip, along with my ramblings. Now, I simply have to put it together. This isn't news, either. I've mentioned this before, but--umm--production problems keep delaying  publication. Yeah, production problems. That's it.

Anyway, we're really here for the cartoons, so let's get on with the next two installments of "Daddy's Friend," as seen in your local newspaper. (You might find a bonus cartoon or two.)

I hope the regular Web visitors will hang in there a little longer. They're getting a double whammy these days. Not only are they seeing repeat cartoons in the newspaper, they're being subjected to a lot of material which has appeared in one form or another on the Web site already. They're a good bunch, though, and I know most of them understand it's all an attempt to explain to others what we do here every day at arloandjanis.com.

I think one of the peculiar assets of the Web is its ability to convey a sense of personal interaction. People picked up on this early, and it's one of the chief reasons millions of diverse people flocked to the Internet the instant it was no longer necessary to remember all those DOS commands. The online experience has always been described in terms of community, and we all get it. I know it is easy and natural to think of the people who come to this Web site as "visitors."

I suppose that's why I feel as if I owe my regulars an apology for rerunning the following sequence of cartoons, which I know has run here at least twice already, once very recently. However, a lot of newcomers comment on how much they enjoy sailing and Buffett and all that implies, so old timers are welcome to skip over while I post, again, my take on all that.

Of course, today we continue with two more cartoons from "Daddy's Friend," the series that is running concurrently in newspapers. See you tomorrow, I hope. (4/19/2005)

Today, our "Girlfriends Retrospective" continues with another series that takes place primarily outside the regular cast of Arlo and Janis. This sequence features Gene's first serious, adolescent relationship, the popular and complex Ruth. For the second and final week, some of the comic strips featured here at arloandjanis.com are running concurrently in newspapers. Web visitors, however, will see more strips and read commentary on many of them. This is precisely the sort of thing we do here every day at arloandjanis.com, rerun old favorites with the author's observations. Plus, we talk about whatever comes to mind. For the many newspaper readers checking out the Web page for the first time, I hope you'll come back repeatedly.

Here are the first three installments of the sequence introduced in today's newspapers,  "Daddy's Friend." Over the past few months, frequent Web readers have seen a good bit of Ruth, who appeared regularly in the strip for two or three years in the late 90s. In fact, I recently reran the series in which Ruth was introduced.  You can see today's A&J and other comics on the United Media Web site. (4/18/2005)

I've been maintaining this Web site for almost a year now, which in itself seems incredible to me. I never intended to initiate a Web log, or "blog," and I still am not certain if arloandjanis.com qualifies as a blog, either technically or artistically. I'm guessing it does. My background being what it is, I thought of my efforts more as a newspaper column, one of those folksy, about-town kind of pieces written by an ink-stained wretch too old to pound the police beat. Maybe that goes back to what we were talking about yesterday. With the Web, what was old is new, again.

"The Party Splashers" wraps up in newspapers today, and if you want to see the entire sequence from beginning to end for any reason, you just have to click here, and this is a logical time to rerun--in its entirety--another unusual A&J series that involves Gene's first girlfriend Susan and her family, "The Curse of Mr. Fuzz."

The retrospective strips in the newspaper will continue one more week. The hiatus of new material was something of a creative break for me, it's true, but that wasn't the point. I wanted to try this crossover experiment, because I have been surprised, frankly, at how much some people seem to enjoy poring over the old material. Heaven knows, I have enough of it. I don't want anyone to worry, though. New material will return soon enough. If you desire, you can visit A&J and other strips at comics.com. I hope the weather is as beautiful where you are this Saturday as it is here! (4/16/2005)

Sure, I'm promoting the Web site with the current newspaper tie-in, but there's nothing nefarious about it. I'm having a lot of fun with arloandjanis.com, and I'm very pleased that many readers seem to be, also. It's exciting.

We've talked in the past about the Worldwide Web and Web comics and newspapers and traditional comics and how it all will play out. Of course, no one knows for sure, but I do believe the potential of the Web as a communications tool outstrips its potential as a creative tool, per se. For all its unique and innovative qualities, I think the Web chiefly will be a conduit. That means antiquated skills like writing and editing will remain at least as important as the ability to write HTML code, and that's good news for people like me.

Today, "The Party Splashers" comes to an end, but our party goes on. Every day here, I post several classic episodes of A&J and visit a while. Besides, there's next week. You'll see.

(Addendum: several people have written to ask why I didn't include the usual link to today's newspaper cartoon. I didn't, because the material is the same as that appearing here. People seem to want it anyway, and it's true you can view a lot of other cartoons at the United Media Web site, where the daily cartoon originates. So, back by popular demand, today's A&J.) (5/16/05)

I received a message from a reader named Len that gives me an opportunity to talk about cartooning history, one of my favorite subjects. Len writes:

I have long wondered whether you are related to the cartoonist who drew a strip for the old PM (newspaper), about a boy and his fairy godfather. Barnaby, perhaps? Seems to me there's a style similarity.

You flatter me, Len, but I'm not related to Crockett Johnson, who created a classic strip that was, indeed, about a little boy named Barnaby and his fairy godfather Mr. O'Malley. That first link, by the way, will take you to a page on the very extensive and informative Web site of Lambiek, a renown comics shop in Amsterdam. There, you will find information about hundreds of cartoonists famous and obscure.

Today, we continue with the newspaper tie-in. Here are the next three episodes of "The Party Splashers." Regular visitors know I often don't update on Fridays, because of the pressure of deadlines. However, there will be an update tomorrow and Saturday. See you then! (4/15/05)

Welcome back! If you're new here and wondering what we're doing, I refer you to the beginning of this week. Again, for the sake of the many newcomers, I'm going to repeat something I've written here before, but repeating myself is what this Web site is all about.

This site generates a lot of email to me from readers. I enjoy hearing from you, and I read all the mail personally. No one else reads it, and--by the way--your names and addresses are never used for any purpose other than replies. That brings me to the problem.

There is so much mail it isn't possible to answer all of it, although I spend a couple of hours every day answering what I can. I feel terrible about this, but it's unavoidable if I want a life outside the Web site. If you have written, and I have not replied, I apologize. Please don't think it's because you fell short of some secret standard. Selecting letters for reply is pretty much a random process.

I've talked a lot about my work and myself this week, but regular visitors know we talk about a little bit of everything in a normal week here at arloandjanis.com. Y'all come back! Here are the next three cartoons from the 1995 series "Party Splashers." (4/13/05)

We've talked about this before here at arloandjanis.com, but for the benefit of the many newcomers this week, here to see more of Gene's adventures, I'll go over it, again. A lot of readers want to know what's happened with Gene. Why isn't he in the strip more these days?

I felt like I had to let Gene age in something like real time, although in reality he ages about one cartoon year for every two calendar years. I didn't want the family to be stuck in time, like so many young cartoon families over the generations. It's difficult enough to remain fresh as they age; it would be even more so if their circumstances never changed.  So, Gene grew into his teen years, and teens by their very nature become independent and move on. I felt I had to do a "teen" strip featuring Gene or an "adult" strip centered on the relationship between Arlo and Janis. I chose the latter.

I agree with everyone who believes some of the Gene storylines were among my best. I miss doing them. That's why we're rerunning them here. I'm not saying Gene will never come back, but it's difficult. It's an issue with which I'm still grappling. Speaking of Gene, here are the next three episodes of Party Splashers. And I always direct readers to the A&J running in today's newspapers (although it can get a little confusing this week.) (4/12/05)

I'm performing a bit of reverse-engineering this week. The strips that are running in the newspaper are reprints from a series that first appeared ten years ago, in October of 1995. While readers will be able to follow the gist of the action in the newspaper, only about a third of the original comic strips will be presented there. Readers will, however, be able to follow the entire sequence here on the Web, with additional commentary.

This is the sort of thing we do here at arloandjanis.com every day, as regular visitors know. I hope newspaper readers will enjoy seeing the vintage material as much as my Web readers seem to do, and if you are new to the Web site, I hope you'll take a moment to look around and come back. Here are the first three cartoons from The Party Splashers. (4/11/2005)

OK, let's see how good you are at following instructions. I think I may be experiencing problems with my email server, but it's hard to know for certain. Now, don't rush to your keyboards and send email for the heck of it. If you have any reason to suspect you've had trouble with email sent via the above link, let me know about it at arloandjanis@aol.com. If you haven't experienced any problems, but you have something you want to say, send it using the link at the top of the page, as usual. I thank you.

Today, I'm wrapping up the Ruth series that's been running here all week. We're going to have more adventures of Gene next week, with a few twists. I hope you can make it. And don't forget to pick up the newspaper cartoon on your way out. TGIF!! (My spell-check doesn't know what that means, but I'll bet you do.) (4/8/05)

Several people wrote mentioning the boat in the background of this photograph that ran here yesterday. It brought back a lot to me. The boat, a "rowboat" in our parlance, belonged to our neighbors, the Whitleys. The boat was in their yard. The house belonged to the next neighbor down, Aunt Gabie. She wasn't really our aunt, but she let us eat her plums and play ball with impunity in her yard, the only flat one available to us.

As I recall, Mr. Whitley dragged that old boat home and put a new bottom on it, much to the fascination of us children. It never left his yard again. Our fascination diminished, and it became a fixture, a shelter for numerous creepy crawlers. The dog on the left was "Spooks," the family terrier who survived to a ripe old age in spite of being free-range. The other dog was an itinerant whose name I can't recall.

I continue today with the story of Ruth. I'll wrap it up tomorrow in a special, Friday edition of arloandjanis.com. Don't forget to visit the current A&J. Thanks for coming! (4/7/05)

My brother Vic asked me to post a message for all the people who wrote to him on his birthday, so I will include--without comment--his lame attempt at humor:

Thank you to all the Arlo and Janis fans out there who wished me a Happy Birthday.  It was great to hear from all three of you. I knew Jim could get his readership up if he kept plugging. In answer to your questions:  1) He certainly is.  2)  He does a little.
3) He will, but it usually takes some money or adult beverages. Thanks, again. -- Vic

My family calls me Jim and always has, which is kind of backward. Usually, the little-boy name is reserved for the family, while the world uses the adult version.  I'm not even sure when or where the "Jimmy" originated. Maybe it has something to do with being a cartoonist. Today, we continue with Ruth's introduction to the family. Always, there's the newspaper cartoon. (4/6/05)

Today is my little brother Vic's birthday. I remember the day my mother and father brought him home from the hospital. They told me they had lost the receipt, so we were going to have to keep him. It was very unlike them to be so careless. Today, Vic and Melinda and their children live just down the street from me, and I regularly thrash him on the golf course when none of the golfers are watching.

Well, you probably know by now that Chuck isn't happy in Chicago this morning. The Tar Heels of North Carolina stuck it to the Illlini last night to win the NCAA men's basketball championship. I don't think A&J runs in the Chapel Hill newspaper, home of UNC, but it does run in towns nearby, as several readers and Tar Heel fans have written to remind me. They're happy.

I'm starting what I think is a special, little series this morning. It's the first real introduction of Gene's girlfriend, Ruth. She had been seen at school and on the telephone at this point in the spring of 1996, but this is where we, along with Arlo and Janis, really get to know her. A lot of you tell me you don't like the newspaper in your town or that you no longer take a newspaper at all. I'm not here to preach, but the fact remains, the newspaper still is vital to what we syndicated cartoonists do. Anyway, here's the cartoon that's appearing in newspapers today. (4/5/05)

For those of you interested in our college basketball discussions, tonight is the Big Night. For those of you not interested, at least it'll be over soon. Chuck from Chicago is interested, I know. He started the Fighting Illini Watch here on arloandjanis.com, and tonight the FI play the University of North Carolina for the men's NCAA championship.

Actually, it's an unusual game. It's the first time in 30 years that the No.1 and No.2  teams at the beginning of the tournament have played in the final game. The last time it happened was in 1975, in a truly historic college basketball event. That year, the legendary John Wooden... well, if you're interested, you can read about it here.

Today, I have three cartoons from last year and the newspaper cartoon. (4/4/05)

April Fool! Didn't expect to find me here today, did you? I know we seem to talk about the weather a lot around here, but I'm here to tell you, cousin, it has rained in these parts! My area has had something like 13 inches in the past 48 hours or so, and more is expected today.

I thought it would make sense to post a few April Fool's Day cartoons today. I didn't choose these for any particular reason. They were convenient, and it's Friday, and time is short around here on Fridays. These cartoons are from the past three years.  The cartoon today is an April Fool's Day cartoon, too.

Have a good and safe weekend!  (4/1/05)
 

Presumably from the Boston area, David wrote to suggest the bookstore we were talking about here yesterday is the Harvard Book Store, which can be reached online at www.harvard.com. (Boy, I'll bet  they had to get up early to secure that domain name.)   

David went further. He emailed Steve Pasechnick, manager of used books at HBS, and he confirmed David's assumption. In addition to the wall of photos and letters, Harvard Book Store has three albums of photographs and a door covered with bookmarks from all over the world, all found in books, Steve said. Follow their "On Our Shelves" link and check out the "Used Books" page. Located on Harvard Square, HBS is truly an historic bookstore. "Obscure Massachusetts comics shop," indeed! Thanks to David and Steve.

In case you haven't noticed, I've settled upon three as the optimum number of cartoons to present here most days. I'm guessing it's enough to make returning worthwhile for you, but maybe I won't run out of material so fast. And here are today's three. And the newspaper cartoon. (3/31/05)

Since yesterday afternoon, I have had several people write to complain they can no longer view A&J on the Yahoo pages. (Well, I'm assuming they were complaining.) I don't know anything about this, except when I go there and click on A&J from the main comics menu, today's cartoon pops up as always. Whatever the problem is, I hope it works itself out.

If you are able to follow the current A&J cartoons, you know Arlo finds an old picture in a book. Although suggestions abound, the nature of the picture is left to the readers' imagination. (That's how I get away with this stuff!) This little storyline prompted long-time reader Ken, who deals in used books and comics, to write:

I debated whether to mention this. It certainly isn't funny, and I attach no particular significance to it. Yet it is interesting, I think. I didn't notice it myself until after I posted the cartoons yesterday, and if it came to my attention when the cartoons originally ran, I don't recall it. There was so much happening then.

This series was running the week of Sept. 11, 2001. The first cartoon, in which the fortune in Arlo's cookie reads, "You have only 24 hours to live," ran Sept. 10.
I can't help but wonder how many people on those flights that originated in Boston, where A&J appears, read that cartoon.

The drama of events aside, it's a favorite theme of mine. Life is ephemeral, the future unknowable. Make the most of it. Here are the remaining three cartoons in that sequence, and the newspaper cartoon for today. (3/29/05)

I know Chuck is happy today. The Fighting Illini had to fight all the way, but the University of Illinois is one of four teams remaining in the Men's NCAA Basketball Tournament, one of the Final Four. I was otherwise occupied, but it must have been an exciting weekend for basketball fans. For the first time ever, three of the four surviving contenders had to win in overtime, including Illinois' comeback win against Arizona.

It's past time we mentioned the Women's NCAA Basketball Tournament, in which there are eight remaining teams, including the Lady Vols of the University of Tennessee. As you may know, we give special dispensation here to schools in towns where the local newspaper runs A&J. That would include Knoxville, home of UT, where A&J has run in The Knoxville News Sentinel for years.

(Update: Barbara of East Lansing writes to point out that the Michigan State men's and women's teams both survive in the post season tournaments and that A&J runs in The Lansing State Journal. I'm happy to add that bit of information!)

Enough about basketball for a few days. Today, I have the first three cartoons in a six-part series that ran in 2001. And, don't forget to visit today's A&J. (3/28/05)

You asked for it. Here is a picture of me, yours truly, the cartoonist himself. It must be that time of year. Just as my own thoughts begin to flow toward the sea, I begin receiving numerous requests for old cartoons about sailing or about the music and attitude of Jimmy Buffett. I received at least one request for the series that I'm about to show you, although it has run here before, as many of you will recognize. Most of the commentary is new, however.

The auctions ended this morning, and the average winning bid for the three cartoons was $218.33. My past experience selling original cartoons suggests the prices were fair to the buyer and the sellers. I'm happy, and I hope the winners will be, too. I thank them. So, without further ado, here is Arlo's sailing dream from 1997--again. And the newspaper cartoon, as usual. (3/24/05)

I haven't mentioned this since Thursday, when it started, because the hard sell isn't my style. However, the eBay auction of three A&J original cartoons ends in less than 24 hours. It's been fun and gratifying to watch, but this time tomorrow, it'll all be over. I think if I had it to do again, I'd opt for the 3-day auction.

I'm not saying I won't auction more originals in the future, but I'm not foolish enough to flood the market with them. Several of you wrote to say you'd like to own some sort of A&J art, but the auction prices are a little beyond your budget. I hear you. Perhaps in the future I will offer signed reprints of popular strips.

Anything I do of a commercial nature--and I have given it some thought--will be of high quality, produced by craftsmen with whom I have a personal rapport when possible and administered in a hands-on manner by yours truly. Those interested should stay tuned.

After yesterday's Web offering, several of you wrote in wanting to know where to purchase videos for your cats. Well, I've never purchased a cat video, but I Googled up this likely site.  "If I had thumbs, I could give you my opinion of this video" -- Ludwig the cat.

Here are three cartoons from 2001 and the newspaper offering. See you tomorrow. (3/23/05)

I'm so weak. If I swear I'm never going to do something, it's a good indicator I'll do it eventually. I said to myself (and to you, on occasion) that I'd never publish pictures of pets sent to me, no matter how cute. I felt it was a slippery slope best avoided. Well, I'm going to show you a picture today, sent in response to this cartoon that I reran yesterday. Sure enough, Joy sent me a picture of not one but five cats watching a bird video. It's so bizarre and, well, creepy that I just have to let you see it. Doesn't it make you feel dumb to know there is someone somewhere making money off bird videos for cat audiences?

I'm showing you five cartoons from this week in 2002. I'm showing so many, because I'm sure I've shown some of these here before, and I don't want to have to think about that anymore. And there's the newspaper cartoon.

Several people wrote about this cartoon that ran last Wednesday. Steve, a fellow graduate of Auburn University, wrote:

WooHoooo!! I've been up several hours now, and I'm operating on two pots of coffee! Several of you wrote in yesterday wanting to know more about the survey that rated the Irish quality of life the best in the world. I'm glad you asked, because I thought it was fascinating, whether you wholly accept the findings or not.

The survey actually is from a "quality of life index" developed by statisticians at "The Economist Intelligence Unit," an entity of The Economist magazine in London. It is a serious attempt to quantify the things that go into a good life and identify where they are most abundant.

The only online source I could locate from The Economist directly was this .pdf version of the findings. However, here is an article from The (Manchester) Guardian summarizing them.

You will note that several Scandinavian countries are in the Top 10. Just think how they'd rate if they had sandy beaches and palm trees! As you know, it's Friday, and we're lucky to have an update at all. I don't have any old cartoons especially prepped for today, but if you follow the links in the "Caffeine Man" cartoon above, it'll take you back to some interesting places, I guarantee. And there's the newspaper cartoon. (3/18/05)

OK, I know what you're thinking. You're thinking, "Ah HA! I knew it! He was planning to fleece us all along!" Well, that's not true. It was on a whim I decided to fleece you. The fact is, I was putzing around on EBay yesterday when I should have been drawing. I've bought  a few things off EBay--some art, a set of used golf clubs--but I've never been one of those people who spends a lot of time and money there. However, I decided I would offer some original A&J cartoon strips and see what happens.

This is how it should work. There are three separate cartoons being auctioned over the next 7 days. The minimum bid for each is a dollar. (I had to put something.) So, if you hang in there and are lucky, you could buy an original A&J cartoon for, say, two bucks. However, if you just have to possess one, you have the option of paying an exorbitant price and owning it immediately. That's basically it. I'm not going to pretend I can't use the money (Remember the furnace?), but I thought it'd be fun, too. Especially for me, huh?

I'm not even going to make you go to EBay to see the cartoons. Here they are. A lot of you wrote in about yesterday's Web offerings. Apparently the warm-water trick does, indeed, work! And some of you had thoughts on popcorn. We'll get to those tomorrow or Monday. In honor of today's events, I'm rerunning this series from August of 2001. And there's always the newspaper. Happy St. Patrick's Day! (3/17/05)

Scott in Nashville has some questions.

It seems I've created a minor sensation among our birders with Sunday's mere mention of the rufus-sided towhee. I've always been partial to the rufus-sided towhee myself, because no cartoonist can resist any creature called "rufus." My information says the call of the towhee can be interpreted, "Drink your tea." This bird ranges widely across the United States, and variations of its call may include, "Would you care for some biscuits?" and "God save the Queen."

Chuck would want me to mention that the Fighting Illini, after stumbling against Ohio State, have gone on to win the Big Ten men's basketball championship and are headed for the Big Dance. (See? I told you I used to write sports.)

I have for you today three run-of-the-mill A&J cartoons from Y2K and the newspaper cartoon. (3/15/05)

Well, phooey! I thought I was beginning the new week strong, with a five-part series about Gene's future. I selected the cartoons, prepped them for the Web and made up the pages only to discover, when I tried to save them, that I've already run this series here. Now, I have too much time invested this morning to scrap it all and start over. So, I'm presenting this series, again. The cartoons do have new commentary, though.

This sort of thing is liable to happen more and more as the Web page and the cartoonist both get older. It amazes me how much old material I've run through already on the Web site. When I began less than a year ago, the backlog seemed inexhaustible. If you follow closely, you know I'm working from a digitally stored archive that goes back slightly less than 10 years. I do have plans to scan some older work sometime this spring. That should be interesting.

Anyway, Arlo talks to Gene about his future in this series from 2001. Then, there's the spanking new newspaper cartoon. (3/14/05)

Everybody talks about the weather. I received a lot of winter horror stories in the mail yesterday, from Oregon to the United Kingdom. Seems everyone is having an uncommon winter. Norm from Seattle was one of several to write from the Pacific Northwest to comment on how unusually dry and warm winter has been there. But that's not necessarily good, either! I'll let Norm tell you:

I spent a time writing sports when I was a neophyte. I enjoyed it for exactly one year. Then, the seasons started to repeat themselves, and I quickly realized I would be doomed to report  the same comments from the same people about the same things in an endless cycle. It ceased to be fun, and now I draw a comic strip about the same people doing the same things in an endless cycle. At least I don't have to do it in smelly gymnasiums.

After high school football games, the winning coaches were more than happy to phone the newsroom with details of their victory. However, tracking down the losing coaches for their story was always problematic. That's why I admire Chuck of Chicago, who dutifully wrote me to report that his beloved Fighting Illini are no longer undefeated, having lost to Ohio State in the final game of the regular season. Sorry, Chuck.

Speaking of sorry, will anyone be sorry to see this winter go? Rain in the west, snow and cold everywhere else. Trudy in Naples reports that even central Florida is experiencing cool, gray days. I know that doesn't sound so bad to most of us, but remember that hurricane season Trudy and her neighbors recently survived. Several of my friends in New England and the Midwest have written asking for warm-weather cartoons, to buoy their spirits. So, today, I have for you... four cold-weather cartoons from January of 1999! And after you read the newspaper cartoon, you can print it out and wrap your outdoor spigots with it. (3/10/05)

I'm trying to finish my work earlier this week, so there'll be no update today. However, there will be one tomorrow and one on Friday, to make up for today. See you then! (Well, as long as you're here, you might as well check out today's newspaper cartoon.) (3/9/2005)

Bernard from Lebanon, VA, writes:
It seems that my wife and I have been enjoying Arlo and Janis for years, but how long has the strip actually been in syndication? I say 15 years, and she says much longer. Usually she's right about these things. In addition to reading it daily in our local newspaper, I always hit your Web page for the "retro" offerings as well. At one point the newspaper we subscribe to was thinking about modifications to the comics section, and there was a sudden backlash of readers threatening to cancel subscriptions if A&J were removed! Fortunately, "we" won!
Fortunate, indeed, and I thank you for your support. However, I'm afraid you're wrong, Bernard, and your wife is right about this thing, too. Arlo and Janis has been in syndication since July 29, 1985; that means it will have been 20 years this summer. I can't believe it myself.

I have three cartoons for you today from the year 2000, wherein Arlo goes off on one of his rare but not-unheard-of rants. And I hope you will visit today's newspaper cartoon. (3/8/05)

Well, the guys at Alabama Air Conditioning worked all weekend to install my new furnace, and it works perfectly. I'm told the heat-exchanger coils on my old one had rusted through, and it had been pumping carbon monoxide into my house for some time. The effect of the new furnace and the fresh air on the quality of my work remains to be seen.

As you see, I've performed the periodic shortening of the home page, but you can get to all the old stuff--including our exclusive coverage of the Angouleme comics festival--with the link at the bottom of this page.

OK, I told you I'd have some cat cartoons in the near future, and the near future is now. Here are five from early last year, and here's the A&J du jour. (3/7/05)