Two more Arlo & Janis comic strips from 1985. The job-evaluation strip actually is from the first month of A&J. Arlo looked very different in the early strips, but he evolved rapidly, and, other than getting a haircut after about 10 years, he definitely has changed the least among the cast.
Spare Change
By Jimmy Johnson
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63 responses to “Spare Change”
These are great. Please post more!
Glad you’re enjoying them. I have mixed feelings, myself.
We enjoy these old strips!!
Arlo often reflects my life (I know I’m not alone there), this gives me an opportunity to recall our shared youth as well.
So, Renoir should have painted over all his early stuff?
I understand having mixed feelings about looking at your old works, but trust us: We love your strip—the old, the new, and the in-between! I wish you would publish a complete anthology of your works. Name your price!
I posted this on the old thread:
Since we have been getting our medical information from the Facebook School of Medicine as we our Constitutional Law from the Facebook School of Law, I decided to consult the Wikipedia School of Physics to try to understand today’s strip:
Quantum entanglement is a physical phenomenon that occurs when a pair or group of particles is generated, interact, or share spatial proximity in a way such that the quantum state of each particle of the pair or group cannot be described independently of the state of the others, including when the particles are separated by a large distance. The topic of quantum entanglement is at the heart of the disparity between classical and quantum physics: entanglement is a primary feature of quantum mechanics lacking in classical mechanics
Wikipedia is where I did my research!
As posted on yesterday’s comment:
.
As the Duke would say “You better have a smile on your face when you say that pard’ner” ?
BTW, your drawing of Janis has definitely improved!
Oh no! https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-27986272
Indeed..
dang
I had a review like that once. I was told I need to smile more, maybe show some teeth and get involved with more meetings and teams. Couldn’t find anything wrong with my work and got a raise.
Sorry, but the explanation of quantum entanglement, like that of string theory, is just so much physics gibberish to me. Although I wouldn’t mind being a physicist and getting “paid to think”. 🙂
Re 9-10-20 real-time cartoon: That is not the type of entanglement I envision occurring in Arlo and Janis’s marriage. Theirs is probably more like “quality entanglement”.
The current Arlo, with bulbous beezer & some upright hair in front, is a lot better looking than the original. Thanks for changing him. Thanks also for keeping Janis so attractive.
Again, an August of 1985 cartoon signed “JIMMY JOHNSON”, and a December of 1985 signed “JOHNSON”.
It just occurred to me how much time Jimmy has saved over 35 years by lettering one word instead of two. Smart move, sir.
On a sadder note, I just got word from Godson II that the badger dog (dachshund) of my longtime friend who passed away in January of 2017 has also passed away. He had been adopted by her son and grandson (my Godson I and Godson II) and was very well taken care of since her death. He was a rescue when he was less than a year old, and, as best I can reconstruct the dates, he was nearing his 20th year of a wonderful life.
RIP, Odie. You were a good boy.
So sorry…
My condolences to all concerned. We have been through it four times in our married life, were without a dog for about 15 years, and now are on our sweetheart Lady, who is about four (rescue dog again). I try very hard not to even think about it.
Dickens the Adventure Dog lives for Ghost to come join us in bed. He adores Ghost and tries to stay awake. When he was a puppy I taught him not to bite toes and feet but to lick them. He was a cross between a flying squirrel and a Tasmanian Devil as a puppy
He decided that was his job, to lick his people. Every night he faithfully leaps under the covers the minute Ghost comes to bed to lick from the knee to his toes. You wouldn’t think a 12# dog had that much spit!
12#? Every night two of our we know who is really in charge cats at 22 lbs each jump up on my wjfe’s lap as she naps in her recliner. Meanwhile our little Spunky girl is curled up beside me on the sofa and our long-haired Tippy you remember when I rescued him from the woods boy warms up my wife’s pillow on our bed. Boy do they have very distinctive personalities. JJ may remember back in the early 80’s when forest fires were jumping across I-10 in a matter of seconds. The Mississippi River is not too far for a large fire to cross and with all of the storms, fires and floods the woods in the eastern part of the country could burn just like the west coast.
From the Department of Things One Doesn’t Often See Anymore: A four-year-old in the boutique…with Mom and Grandmom…with a mullet haircut.
Anyone remember Ritchie Cunningham’s older brother who walked up the stairs into the tv zone?
I do. Then he simply . . . vanished.
Didn’t he get assigned to Thule Airbase in Greenland for an Airforce weather station after college? Isn’t that where they send people to disappear?
🙂
I have friends marking themselves Safe from the fires out west. The photos of smoke are everywhere This is so tragic. Oklahoma has violent wildfires too
By the way, where did Sally come from?
Warning: This is appropos of nothing currently being discussed. And I’m not sure how it happened. But somehow I fell through a time portal or a black hole from here earlier in the week (I was randomly clicking things) and discovered blog archives that go back to 2004. Loved it! I have to say I am glad I bookmarked it as I read, though, as I was never able to find the old blog again after the first accidental discovery, even using my browser history. Some weird time-space physics goin’ on here! Anyway, I saw a lot of discussion there about the old comics: Miss Peach, Pogo, Li’l Abner, Blondie, and a bunch of others. But some of the ones I remember well were not listed. Maybe these were not as common in other newspapers as in ours, which was the Arizona Republic (in Phoenix). We’re talking late ’50s to 1970, when I graduated high school. Or maybe they’ve been remembered since this newer blog started and I just haven’t read those pages yet. Anyway, when I was young my dad always sat us next to him on the couch or his lap to read us “the Sunday funnies” each week. Those are special memories that have made me enjoy “my morning funnies” ever since. Some I remember from those days that I didn’t see mentioned in the old discussions were Gordo, Steve Canyon (which, as a child, I *never* understood), Prince Valiant, Mark Trail, and Dick Tracy (remember its weird Moon Maid storyline?). Anyway, it was great fun to read all those older blog posts, though rather sad to see Jimmy Johnson’s record of Katrina’s devastation from a new and more personal angle than I’d seen it before. The best part was all his explanation and commentary about specific storylines, artwork, character development, things like that. Of course, now I can start working backwards through THIS particular blog, which ends (or started) in 2008. Twelve years! Well, now I know what I’ll be doing on those cold winter evenings headed our way! 🙂
Dawn, if you are on Facebook, there is a group called Classic Comic Strips. They talk about more recent strips, but also are posting old Dick Tracy, Popeye, The Phantom, and lots more. And there is this site which has long runs of old comic strips. https://newspapercomicstripsblog.wordpress.com/
Thanks, Mark! I am not on Facebook but I was able to access the link to the site you posted. Most of the cartoons I mentioned were actually my dad’s personal favorites. Of the ones I listed, Gordo was MY favorite. As a child, I could understand the gentle stories it told. And I loved the artwork. (I always tried to love the artwork of Prince Valiant, which was so pretty on the page. But somehow I could never quite connect with it.) Anyway, on reading about Gordo at the site you linked, I learned that the cartoonist won a number of prestigious awards for both writing and art. That made me so happy! It’s a little like looking up “whatever happened to” a person you knew in elementary school and learning they have been recognized and successful. Isn’t it funny how when you love something, it feels a bit like you share in their happiness and success when you learn of it? So thank you for posting that link. 🙂
I was also having a problem at finding comments prior to today without going way way back. You know, like Sherman and the wayback machine. And where did Sally come from? We could be affected in north Florida by tropical storm winds or stronger by sometime monday.
Those of you who don’t like 9CL should not click on this. I did my usual picky run through Sunday’s Gocomics [no Bloom Co., no TIP, & no Herman], & enjoyed several, but laughed out loud at the end [9 follows Z].
https://www.gocomics.com/9chickweedlane/2020/09/13
Peace,
We’re now getting hard rain with gusty winds from the south and the storm is still hundreds of miles from here.
EMB, fnd a fountain, throw in some coins and may your wish come true. The happiest place on earth is burning down and the southeast is going to blow away this week and we’re still two months away from the really bad stuff. Think about it. HE’S TELLING YOU HIS INTENTIONS AND THIS TIME HE’S TELLING YOU THE TRUTH.
Jim Young, who runs the A&J fan group on Facebook, said today that it looks like Jimmy is under the gun from Hurricane Sally, and to keep him in our thoughts.
3 lionesses, Tembe Elephant Pk, S Afr.
https://explore.org/livecams/african-wildlife/tembe-elephant-park
Peace,
yes; stay safe JJ
Re 9-14-20 real-time cartoon: Somehow, I have no trouble believing A&J is the first comic strip to put a mask on a jack-o’-lantern.
The Autumnal Equinox is one week from tomorrow.
Time flies when you’re having fun…or even when you aren’t.