I get the feeling this one would fetch a very high charitable donation! I’m very much impressed by the artwork here. I hate two the paintings as far as personal taste goes and what I’d want on my wall, but it’s obviously a lot of work to put into a strip. No pun intended.
I have long been disgusted at the hypocrisy that TV and movie can get away with extended scenes of bloody, gory violence, but show a nipple for 1/30th of a second and it’s like the world is about to end. I was about to say how fortunate we are that painters haven’t been subjected to that, but now that I think about it, most of the good paintings were done before TV or movies existed.
Let me second K’s lauding of the artwork here in A&Jland.
Maybe that answers the questions about what breed of cat Luddie is…he’s a Pavlovian.
John in LA late of PNS on 01 Sep 2009 at 7:27 pm #
My all time favorite artist used cartoons to flesh out his ideas. Anyone ever hear of Thomas Hart Benton of MO? He was one of the regionalists during the depression. Two other Regionalists that were pretty well known were John Steuart Curry and Grant Wood the guy that did ‘American Gothic’. Curry did ‘Bleeding Kansas’ for the Kansas State House and of course Benton did the art in the Missouri Statehouse.
And speaking of art that might be considered naughty by some, check out Bentons, Susanna the Elders 1938, and his Persephone 1938-39. Wish J.J. Could sneak those painting in. Cartooning at its BEST. :-]
Ken from Framingham (Boston Globe reader) on 01 Sep 2009 at 7:36 pm #
I love impressionism, mostly because of all those paintings of ladies bathing in little tubs like they did on the Beverly Hillbillies. That may not be the best reason to favor a particular art style, but I for one can’t think of a better one.
By the way, I recently dropped my Globe subscription, after about 25 years. I just wasn’t reading it anymore. I blame the internet, but I feel sad and guilty about it too.
We recently cut back to only the Sunday paper, was so little news in the daily editions. We both feel some guilt and mainly miss the comic section. We use the internet to track our favorite toons, A&J in particular, sorry Jimmy.
I dropped my local paper a couple of years ago for a number of reasons.
#1, price kept going up
#2, content kept getting less and less, with more and more advertising
#3, they began referring to my area (the Merrimack Valley) as being “Boston North” instead of letting us continue to have our own identity. Our area is nothing like Boston and the refusal to identify us as separate from Boston and the paper’s desire to tie us into Boston got to be too much for me. We’re also more than 30 miles away from Boston.
If any of my fellow A & J fans are interested, I am selling an original strip featuring Arlo and Ludwig that I purchased from Mr. Johnson. Financial circumstances are forcing me to sell it. Anyone interested can look it up on e-bay.
I still wait to look in the paper to see Arlo’s and Janis’ daily tribulations. I read through our daily paper, then read the comics page, but I like to save A&J for last as I have breakfast.
We only get a Boston paper (Boston Globe) on Sunday, now. The Herald has become little more than a pamphlet (at 75 cents now), and the Globe is getting thinner. No more TV schedules (but who’d read them now, anyway). They’ve even cut out two weeks of their weekly magazine section throughout the year.
Bob, near Mark: I always save Arlo and Janis for last, mostly I think for the chance to savor it some more.
We still subscribe to two daily newspapers: The Cleveland Plain Dealer, which rarely features anything on our rural burg (which is 40 miles south of Lake Erie, anyhow), and the six-day-a-week Gazette, which focuses mostly on our county seat but does feature other villages, townships, etc. more prominently than any of the other daily papers (and is the only area daily to carry Arlo and Janis!).
The Plain Dealer has suffered terribly during what can only be assumed to be the print media’s death throws. The print edition (and the staff!) has contracted and contracted again, till my heart breaks, every time I open the paper.
But we won’t be ending our subscriptions to either paper any time soon. I have friends and former colleagues who work at the PD, and I have three teenagers for whom I want to set a good example. All three still skim both papers every day, and the older ones also troll CNN and ESPN for news that interests them.
Regular print newspapers may soon be a thing of the past, but I want my kids to at least know what they’re missing.
My Land, Betty! We are NEIGHBORS! Except I get the Akron Beacon Journal, which covers our area a bit better (and always has, in my view) than the PD, though it has certainly shrunk and diminished too. I used to work for the Gazette, briefly, so I have a soft spot in my head for it, plus it is the only way to keep up with the local obituaries (2 former students in the last month – in their late forties.) And, just FYI, JJ, the Gazette has carried A&J for a long time!
The Boston Herald was 68 pages for $1 today and half of that was want ads or legal ads. The Globe was not much better but they’ve stopped printing the number of pages. I subscribe to the local Quincy paper, why I’m still not sure but, all in all I read 3 dailies and one additional weekly. that’s $3 a day! I need to stop this habit. Plus read my hometown paper online. Maybe I’m a news junkie… on the plus side the comic pages for the 2 Boston papers are without repeats.
As for my art I prefer moody ( emotionally moving) photography with lots of contrast or lots of color ( B&W is best). But I am learning about some impressionist art from A&J. Thanks Jimmy!!
PS –my nearly 11 year old son also reads the available papers and watches the news! Voluntarily!
Steve in Royal Oak, MI on 02 Sep 2009 at 8:59 pm #
I have not subscribed to a newspaper in over 28 years, but I have picked up both Detroit papers at the news box or store. For the last few years I have picked up my paper at a local gas station where the clerks must laugh as they could almost set their watch by me. I will wait in line (if there is one) even though I am sure that I could drop off my money and leave if I wanted to.
In regards to watching the news on TV, I avoid the networks and cable news. I try to find alternative sources on the internet, but it is hard to find unbiased and news on sensationalized topics. At least if I do not like an article in the newspaper or on the internet, I just don;t read it.
Similar to Steve (Royal Oak), I get our local paper (the one with A&J) daily at the local gas station (and could probably drop off the $.50 and run like Steve)when I go to the PO to get our mail. We don’t subscribe because we live a long way from the main road (and have the snow plow bill to prove it) and the paper delivery people (and postal service) will not come down our private road to deliver to the house. I tried the “on line” version when I retired (and gave up the subscription delivered to the office), but it just isn’t the same. I even look at the local ads because I find I can get some “news” even from them…find out who is up to what…etc. And I too, save Arlo and Janis for last. The down side of all this is that I don’t get to read it until about mid-day, and some comments here pertain to the current day strip, which I haven’t seen. Sometimes, this spoils it because I have an idea of what I’m about to see … and sometimes, it just doesn’t make any sense until I see the strip. Ah well. I could always read the paper first, then look at my computer (oh what a thought). The husband reads the comics first, and sometimes only the comics. I pay $2.00 every Sunday for the Syracuse paper just so he has his funny pages …. and they don’t include A&J. That requires a trip to the local supermarket as they won’t deliver to us either.
I was never much of a paper reader. In fact, the only thing in the paper that I read religiously were the comics. Too many killed trees and recycling to deal with for that little bit of interest. I’d rather read books.
I never watch cable news either, I hate the dramatics they make everything into. If I were a more reactionary person I’d have duct taped myself in my basement years ago. Instead, I now ignore all of it and shock people at work when I have no clue who is dating whom or what fatalistic catastrophe is now looming on the horizon. I do watch local news, but mostly for the weather and only when I have the day off since I’m working when it’s televised.
I find what I need (or want) on the internet and watch TV just to veg out. I kill trees primarily for my stacks of books that I’m building into tunnels as I type.
Sorry JJ, but The Lansing State Journal holds no excitement for me any more than The Daily News Tribune (LaSalle County, Illinois) did for me when I was a kid.
I read here that a lot of people do not watch cable news and neither do I… Who does? and how do they stay in business? I do scan the local on-line paper here in Atlanta, but gave up on print papers long ago. I’m afraid I go through life mostly uninformed. Maybe Jimmy could insert a little news and current events in A&J to help me out…
I started subscribing to the local fish wrap just because I wanted to help support it.
I’m glad I did. If I didn’t I would not have found out that a nearby law school is having a “mini-course” in law for the average person. It runs over 8 weeks, 2 hours on a Tuesday night. It was only 20 bucks, and that includes the printed course materials. Should be an interesting overview.
There are all kinds of cool local things I found out about, like “Howard the Combine Kitty”, because of subscribing to the local paper. (It’s a touching story – http://www.ingham.org/ac/ ) It really IS worth it if you want to be part of your community.
Phil in Sugar Land, TX on 04 Sep 2009 at 9:31 am #
Leary – The cable news networks took a lesson from daytime soaps. There isn’t enough interesting news in the world to fill 24 hours. They tried repeating the same stuff over and over, but you can only hold the audience through one cycle.
Why do people get wired into that daytime TV? My guess is that it offers drama to people whose lives are as boring as re-reading the same newspaper for 24 hours.
So…why not sell the same drama as news, with people yelling at each other on camera, fingers pointing everywhere for some imagined fault, people getting killed over and over in slow motion, entertainers getting together or breaking up. I’ll bet there are people who hang there lives on this stuff.
Occasionally one cand thresh a kernal of information out of this chaff, but I think I’d rather sort through the advertising to find news in a newspaper.
Phil in Sugar Land, TX on 04 Sep 2009 at 9:39 am #
One more idea, coming from reading the previous post once I had hit the Enter key…
Since Jimmy probably doesn’t have a spell/grammer checker handy that he could add to this blog, I think I’ll try writing the posts in the word processor before pasting them in here. Something that might catch the misuse of ‘there’ for ‘their’ as well as mistyped words.
One of the things on my ‘Bucket List’ is to learn to type before I die.
John in Richmond Texas on 04 Sep 2009 at 10:23 am #
About today’s 09/04 “yep”. It is SO important to do nothing sometimes, there is absolutely nothing wrong with that and we need to do it more. My wife’s work schedule is 80 hours in 9 days with every other Friday off. She will feel bad or make excuses for “not doing anything all day” and I assure her that I am very happy she has the opportunity to sit and stare in the backyard all day. We’ve been getting so little rain, we’re sure to sit on the porch for at least some of it
The Houston Chronicle wants people to use their website. It was $17.00 a month for delivery, they changed that to $22.00 a month BUT, it’s still $17.00 for Wed-Sun delivery and getting Mon and Tues only on the web, they have it all there, page by page (I haven’t done it yet)
But advertising is where they make their money, so they would always have to deliver the Sunday ads, want ads and home sections, etc.
I’m afraid if I have to start reading the paper on a Kindle I’ll need coke-bottle glasses, cuz I have real crappy cornea trouble. I keep waiting for an actual huge broadsheet sized Kindle
Today’s strip (Friday)is maybe my favorite A&J ever, which is saying a lot. The final panel, and the pacing leading to it, not to mention how it communicates the main idea of the strip, is a fine illustration of why it’s possible to consider the humble comic strip real art. Thanks so much!
Jim in Southwest Illannoy on 04 Sep 2009 at 3:39 pm #
Phil in Sugar Land, TX: Us of yur wrod processr and then cuting and pasteing is an excelent idea. Tha’s what i nomrally do, because wen I post dirctly, as I’m doing nw, it doesnt alway work out as wel.
kimbis, you must live near me! I’m in Lansing. Used to work for the Capital Area Humane Society back when they were in the old building, next to the waste water treatment plant. Just us and the cockroaches. I did get one of my kitties (now crossed over) from ICAC though. And a few rotties for a rescue group I worked for several years ago.
Thanks for the link and the kitty story. I’m sure Combine Kitty got adopted. nothing like some publicity to get them a forever home.
Have a fun, and safe, holiday weekend everyone. I’m working today, tied to the pager until tomorrow morning, then after that, homework.
Who has more fun than me?
Jim in southwest Illannoy on 05 Sep 2009 at 12:02 pm #
What happened to comics.com? I keep getting a dns error when I try to view the site.
What happened to the “Click to read the New Arlo & Janis comic strip for this day”? Starting today when I clikc on this I am thrown onto an irritating “Suddenlink” search results page. Again, what happened? I am lost without this daily fix for many of my emotional needs.
Jim in Southwest Illannoy on 05 Sep 2009 at 3:07 pm #
Louisiana-lady, it appears the whole site (www.comics.com) is down.
I have tried both Friday and Saturday to connect to comics.com and I keep getting the “Internet Explorer cannot display this webpage” I also would like to know what is happening. Even yahoo.comics and other newspaper sites that connect to comics.com will not display. I even went to United Media/United Feature Syndicate and it only has to September 4th comics.
Still down at 7:47 pm EDT. Sheesh. Thanks for the heads up so I didn’t keep trying – my security suite sometimes blocks everything (Open the pod bay doors, HAL.)
Jim in southwest Illannoy on 06 Sep 2009 at 12:09 am #
I’m also having withdrawal fits from not getting my current A&J fix today.
I don’t think the comics.com problem is that the site is down. The net’s DNS servers (or at least the ones that my Verizon account is using) appear to think that the domain comics.com (or http://www.comics.com – I checked both names) doesn’t even exist.
Maybe whomever the comics.com site uses to host their server isn’t paying its bills.
Long time reader of these comments. First time contributor. I live deep in the woods on weekends and comic.com has been my comic page fix till I return to print media during the week. It has been a long couple of days. When I realize that the site was not working, I came here, cause I knew I would find the answer. Thank you all for sharing my pain.
Bert – I tried switching dns servers… different error message, same result.
Jean from Dahlonega GA aka Trapper Jean on 06 Sep 2009 at 9:10 am #
Wow. I sure miss a lot when my Internet connection is down.
We gave up on the Atlanta paper years ago when they did a comics page survey-which are your favorite comics?-and printed the results, then cut the ones that scored the highest and kept the rest. Of course there were other reasons, but that was the final straw. We did take the Gwinnett County paper for a while, but it finally died. Now we take the Dahlonega Nugget. It’s a weekly, with no comics, but it does have all the local news so we can keep up with what’s going on.
Now I’m off to catch up with three days worth of comics. No Arlo & Janis for three days makes me very cranky.
Jean from Dahlonega GA aka Trapper Jean on 06 Sep 2009 at 9:14 am #
The comics.com site is still down. Sunday morning without Arlo & Janis just sucks royally.
AHA! I have good news and bad news concerning comics.com
Instead of relying on DNS servers to find comics.com, I found a site that mentioned its IP address, then I entered http://64.58.142.26/ into my browser – and the site came up!
… sort of. Looks like the site structure is there but none of the comics are. My guess is that whatever processes update the comics there refer to the site by name rather than IP address, so none of its feeds can get there either.
Bert,
Tried the IP address in both Firefox and Internet Explorer. Both browsers got to the comics.com home page with a message saying the latest versions of both Adobe Flash and Java need to be installed. The attempt using IE did produce a delayed box that kept repeating a “loading” message. Looks like comics.com may be experiencing a Java or Flash bug. And with it being a long, holiday weekend, perhaps everyone there has “gone fishin’.”
wonder what happen… wonder too if they will come back… wonder if they will ever tell us what happen???
Comics.com, you are missed.
Please dont rest in peace.
To add to the comics.com discussion, I have a comic that used to be carried by the Boston Globe emailed to me every day (Over the Hedge). For the past two days, the email has arrived, but none of the graphics, including the comic strip, are there. Instead, where they would normally appear in the email, an ‘X’ appears instead. It would seem everything about the site is not working.
It’s amazing at how crappy comics.com, dailyink.com and ucomics.com get away with being.
Today was the first day in a long time that I was able to read all of the dailyink.com comics in my daily e-mail on the first try. Usually I have to open the message a few times throughout the day before all of the images fill in.
If I was a creator, I would think long and hard about taking my business to someone that knew how to run a webserver. There must be a motivated 16 year old kid somewhere in their neighborhood.
JJ: If this problem with comics.com continues tomorrow, could you post the 9-6-09 cartoon here on the blog? And, for that matter, the 9-7-09 cartoon? I think you can tell it would be greatly appreciated.
The silliest thing about comics.com being down it the site http://downforeveryoneorjustme.com keeps telling me it is just me that can’t reach it. I want to slap it upside the head and tell it to check again because I KNOW it isn’t just me.
If JJ sends the graphics into the parent company for them to post, he may not have access to them to post.
I never realized how many of my favorite comics are on comics.com. Dilbert, Get Fuzzy, Arlo and Janis. This sucks! My only chance of seeing them today is to buy a paper. Seems a bit extreme to pay almost $2 for 3 comics. Even A&J!
Explains why Yahoo hasn’t updated their A&J and Get Fuzzy strips since Friday.
I have an email subscription on the comics.com website. Daily, I receive an email with dozens of comics attached, among those is Arlo & Janis. Over the weekend, the emails have arrived with no graphics. Clicking on the “My Comics” link also gives me the irritating error message that everyone else seems to be getting.
My guess is that something major is down, and since it’s a holiday weekend, nothing will get fixed before Tuesday. Even the Yahoo comics page only has last Friday’s strip as their current offering.
I usually get A&J Sunday strips on Yahoo news page. Today it isn’t there, and aboout half of the lesser comics are not updated since Friday 9/4. I’m ready to dump some tea or find a town meeting. Think it would be well to take Monday off and breath out … breath in … breath out … breath ..
Jim in southwest Illannoy on 06 Sep 2009 at 7:25 pm #
I’m having severe withdrawal symptoms. Aaarrrrgh!
Rick in Shermantown, Ohio on 06 Sep 2009 at 7:30 pm #
Ron:
“Surely losing Comics.com, with our daily fixes of A&J, 9 Chickweed Lane, Peanuts, etc., is a sign of the Apocalypse!”
Evidently, not all of the horsemen are present yet. I am still able to bring up 9 Chickweed Lane and Peanuts.
Rick in Shermantown, Ohio on 06 Sep 2009 at 7:31 pm #
Con:
“I never realized how many of my favorite comics are on comics.com. Dilbert, Get Fuzzy, Arlo and Janis.”
Can’t speak to “Get Fuzzy” as I don’t check on that one.
I am still receiving “Dilbert,” both online and in my local paper.
Rick in Shermantown, Ohio on 06 Sep 2009 at 7:33 pm #
Bon Jean:
“Maybe print newspapers conspired with a hacker to bring down comics.com so people would realize they do need newspapers?”
If it’s not true, it should be. I have been waging my own little private war against free content by subscribing to papers, buying books, purchasing CDs and DVDs, etc.
Rick in Shermantown, Ohio on 06 Sep 2009 at 7:35 pm #
Con:
“Seems a bit extreme to pay almost $2 for 3 comics. Even A&J!”
Not for me, because I already do.
Speaking personally, I want to see JJ make this a pay site. Five or ten dollars a month is more than fair.
Rick, I used to be a subscriber to Comics.com. Then they changed up the format, refunded membership fees, and made it into a free site. I suppose that it is now advertiser supported.
The fees were along the lines of $15 a year.
I have to pay similar fees to the King Features site for their DailyInk access.
Donation button I’d support on this site, as I do on many others, however if it were strictly a paid site, I don’t think many would go for it. And I think there is substantial research that shows requiring payment never flies for websites. It has to be optional, or ads. And I really don’t like ads. Five or ten dollars a month is quite steep. Salon.com is $30 a year, but you can access the entire site for free if you watch an ad. We elect to pay the $30.
If you’re jonesing for your A&J and comics.com fixes, visit http://www.unitedfeatures.com/?title=C:Comics That site carries most (but not all) the strips which are on comics.com. This includes A&J, Cow and Boy, Get Fuzzy, Luann, Over the Hedge, Pearls Before Swine and many more.
Not, however, Sundays. The “Sunday Samples” you may see are just that – samples from the past, not the current Sunday strip. The current strips are in the “Current Samples” page that is linked directly to the comic name. The “Current Samples” appears to update at midnight Eastern time, and appears to only include daily strips, not Sundays.
If you can’t find the strip you’re looking for at the United Features site, try http://www.creators.com/comics.html. This site DOES have Sunday strips, but it DOESN’T have any of the strips I mentioned above. I’m not sure when creators.com updates.
Finally, the Houston Chronicle website is another good place to get your comics fix, http://www.chron.com/apps/comics/showComics.mpl No A&J and no Sundays, though. The Chronicle site updates at midnight Central time, 1AM Eastern.
ATTN: Rick in Shermantown, Ohio
Where are you finding 9 Chickweed Lane? AFAIK, other than the Houston Chronicle site, ever site on the web carrying 9CL links back to comics.com, and is currently down.
For those of you who don’t mind fiddling with your computer a little bit there’s a trick that you can use to get to the site that will also let you see the actual comics. See a discussion of the problem and the solution here:
About 2/3 of the way down the page is a post by “Comic Geek”. For those of you who know about such things, you basically have to edit your Hosts file to include the IP addresses for comics.com and assets.comics.com.
It works…I am reading Sundays A&J right now Note that you have to use http://comics.com (no www) for it to work the way Comic Geek says. It’s a hassle, for sure, but not knowing when it will be back was driving me crazy.
September 07, 2009 and I still can’t get any of the yahoo comics to load in current comics. Friday’s strips keep loading instead.
I’ve tried comic.com and I get a message that the web site is unavailable or has moved! Even did google searches to try to find alternate routes for the comics and nothing works!
Withdrawal!!!!
Jim in Southwest Illannoy on 07 Sep 2009 at 6:41 am #
When comics.com was a pay site it was $10 or so a year and I paid because I liked the convenience of being able to go back in the archives. gocomics.com is still a pay site and I subscribe to it. kingfeatures went to being a pay site, but their rates a higher and there were only a couple cartoons I went to there anyway, so I don’t subscribe to it.
I hope they get back up soon. As someone else already said earlier, I wonder if they’re all out for the holiday. I guess we’ll find out tomorrow.
Jean from Dahlonega GA aka Trapper Jean on 07 Sep 2009 at 8:25 am #
Robin in GA-*snicker* I promise I didn’t write the letter, but it is funny. The one about the woman with the dog reminds me of my sister, who isn’t quite that bad, but I can see it happening.
Bonnie Jeanne-as conspiracy theories go yours sounds pretty good to me.
On the problem at comics.com-I read several comics on the Seattle PI page, and since some I usually read at comics.com are at SPI I thought to read them this morning. Well, seems like clicking on the comic strip’s name takes one to the comics.com page, and I still can’t read the strip. bummer.
Make sure you have administrator privileges on your computer to change a read only system file.
Open Notepad word processor.
Go to C:\WINDOWS\system32\drivers\etc
Open the file named “hosts”
(If no files are showing in the Open dialog window, change the File Types at the bottom of the window to “All Files”)
At the top of this file is some instructions. After all the instructions, add these 3 lines:
Save the file. It will probably force you to save this as a text file. If so, you will have to do this:
Browse on your computer to C:\WINDOWS\system32\drivers\etc
There are several files there. One is “hosts” and one should be “hosts.txt”
Rename “host” to “hosts2″
Rename “hosts.txt” to “hosts”
Another very important thing to know:
This will work until Tuesday or Wednesday or however long it will take them to fix the problem. Once the fix the problem, you have to go back to that folder, delete the “hosts” file that you made and rename “hosts2″ to “hosts” again.
Jimmy,
I just sent a long post on how to get comics.com working again but I forgot to put my name and email in the proper boxes. Was my post lost or did it go through?
Thanks.
James
You call follow these instructions and comics.com will work immediately. Or, you can just wait until Tue/Wed/Th or whenever they get their problem fixed.
Make sure you have administrator rights on your computer so you can change a read only system file.
Open Notepad word processor
Click File/Open and browse to C:\WINDOWS\system32\drivers\etc
Near the bottom, change “Files of type” to “All Files”
Open the file named “hosts”
At the top of the file are some instructions. After the instructions, add these three lines (just copy and paste them from here if you like):
Now save the file. It will probably force you to save it as a .txt file. If so, you have to do this:
Browse in your computer to this folder: C:\WINDOWS\system32\drivers\etc
Make sure you see these 2 files there: “hosts” and “hosts.txt”
Rename “hosts” to “hosts2″ and rename “hosts.txt” to “hosts”
VERY IMPORTANT: Once they fix the problem at comics.com, you will have to go back here, delete the “hosts” file that you made and rename “hosts2″ to “hosts” to get comics.com again.
Now, close your browser and open it up and go to comics.com and enjoy all your comics!
Cheers,
James
P.S. Don’t ever type a very long message and forget to put your name and email in the proper boxes above. You do not get a warning or 2nd chance; the message just disappears!
emeritus Minnesota biologist on 07 Sep 2009 at 10:13 am #
Thank you, Bob near Mark.
And Phil, “Wonder how old it is”! Reminds me of the cynical New Englander:
“Look at those black and white cows on the hill.”
“On this side.”
Mary in Ohio,
If you go to the bottom of the page on that United Features link, you can read Dilbert in Spanish. (It’s in English further up the page.)
BTW, it was a Google search that rode to the rescue. “Ta-da-dum, Ta-da-dum, Ta-da-dum-dum-dum!”
Technically comics.com isn’t “down,” it’s still working just fine. But its DNS servers don’t work, which means when you type in “comics.com” it doesn’t come up with the right numeric address for the site.
It is entirely possible to view current comics, although a bit tedious.
Based on the bio at the United Features, whaddya bet Arlo has a high school class reunion coming up next year. Or maybe even this year? Oh my…the possibilities…
Rick in Shermantown, Ohio on 07 Sep 2009 at 4:15 pm #
Bon Jean and Jim:
I understand your comments and feelings in regard to paying, but this site is something different, something special.
Moreover, although it is strictly an emotion, I feel an attachment to A&J and want to help JJ keep it going. With newspapers decreasing and with JJ bearing the cost of maintaining a Web site and bandwidth for my enjoyment, I’m willing to pay five to ten dollars a month.
Rick in Shermantown, Ohio on 07 Sep 2009 at 4:21 pm #
Crud.
Just as I hit “Submit Comment,” I had an idea.
http://www.comics.com should return to charging for its services. However, instead of receiving unfettered access to everything, the company should limit the strips to which one can subscribe. For example, pay twenty dollars a year, select four strips; pay twenty-five, select six; etc. In case, the artist would earn a percentage.
Another part of the idea is that comics.com would eliminate the copy and email function. People would still be able to “print screen,” as far as I know, but perhaps the technology exists to foil that, too.
Final idea: An artist would still have the right to offer his/her strip for free on comics.com if desired. I can see how a new artist would want that option.
A little late to the discussion as usual, since I generally get my Arlo and Janis fix from the newspaper (I just stop by here to get see the A+J classic and see if there is any news of the book coming out). I am fortunate that my local paper still has the good sense to carry his strip.
I don’t think a pay site will work for this, and JJ has already said (IIRC) he is keeping this completely non comercial. I would have nothing against the donations button (I think I have already mentioned the Street Performer Protocol in here) but I suspect it would not provide a consistant revenue stream.
I am still hoping for The Book, but don’t think I will stop coming here after I get that. (I will just have to find another excuse to come here.)
curmudgeonly ex-professor on 08 Sep 2009 at 12:01 am #
Are we close to setting a record for most comments under a single strip yet?
The difference between paying for a membership to a web site and buying a paper is I don’t have to recycle the web site. Yes, I am that lazy!
BTW, please don’t give the corporations any ideas about how they can charge more for what we used to get for free. That they actually listen to.
Rick in Shermantown, Ohio on 08 Sep 2009 at 4:11 pm #
Connie:
I understand your thinking, but I still hold that free content has hurt many people, and, especially in regard to journalism, we’ll be the ones who pay a stiffer price in the future when the fourth estate becomes a boneyard.
Also, I support the idea of paying for someone’s “intellectual property.” I like the idea of paying Jimmy to keep both the strip and this site going.
K in ND on 01 Sep 2009 at 8:53 am #
I get the feeling this one would fetch a very high charitable donation! I’m very much impressed by the artwork here. I hate two the paintings as far as personal taste goes and what I’d want on my wall, but it’s obviously a lot of work to put into a strip. No pun intended.
K
Sili on 01 Sep 2009 at 10:52 am #
No wonder the CIDU category for artists’ who sneak one past the censors/editors is called the “Arlo Page”.
Poor Janis, of course, would complain about needing to lose weight.
Boise Ed on 01 Sep 2009 at 11:46 am #
I have long been disgusted at the hypocrisy that TV and movie can get away with extended scenes of bloody, gory violence, but show a nipple for 1/30th of a second and it’s like the world is about to end. I was about to say how fortunate we are that painters haven’t been subjected to that, but now that I think about it, most of the good paintings were done before TV or movies existed.
Let me second K’s lauding of the artwork here in A&Jland.
chris on 01 Sep 2009 at 12:10 pm #
Maybe Arlo needs to pick up painting as a hobby. I see two themes coming together.
Rich in Belchertown on 01 Sep 2009 at 5:53 pm #
Maybe it’s the resolution on my monitor, but I’m having a hard time making out the image in panel four. Is that a nude woman, or a manatee?
Bert on 01 Sep 2009 at 6:27 pm #
Maybe it’s a nude manatee.
Ghost Rider 6 on 01 Sep 2009 at 6:28 pm #
Pavlov’s cat??
Jim in SE Mississippi on 01 Sep 2009 at 6:37 pm #
Maybe that answers the questions about what breed of cat Luddie is…he’s a Pavlovian.
John in LA late of PNS on 01 Sep 2009 at 7:27 pm #
My all time favorite artist used cartoons to flesh out his ideas. Anyone ever hear of Thomas Hart Benton of MO? He was one of the regionalists during the depression. Two other Regionalists that were pretty well known were John Steuart Curry and Grant Wood the guy that did ‘American Gothic’. Curry did ‘Bleeding Kansas’ for the Kansas State House and of course Benton did the art in the Missouri Statehouse.
And speaking of art that might be considered naughty by some, check out Bentons, Susanna the Elders 1938, and his Persephone 1938-39. Wish J.J. Could sneak those painting in. Cartooning at its BEST. :-]
Ken from Framingham (Boston Globe reader) on 01 Sep 2009 at 7:36 pm #
I love impressionism, mostly because of all those paintings of ladies bathing in little tubs like they did on the Beverly Hillbillies. That may not be the best reason to favor a particular art style, but I for one can’t think of a better one.
Ken from Framingham on 01 Sep 2009 at 7:38 pm #
By the way, I recently dropped my Globe subscription, after about 25 years. I just wasn’t reading it anymore. I blame the internet, but I feel sad and guilty about it too.
Luey Lipshits on 02 Sep 2009 at 5:01 am #
What, No dogs playing poker? I guess that would insult Ludwig.
sandcastler on 02 Sep 2009 at 9:23 am #
Ken from Farmington………
We recently cut back to only the Sunday paper, was so little news in the daily editions. We both feel some guilt and mainly miss the comic section. We use the internet to track our favorite toons, A&J in particular, sorry Jimmy.
Dave on 02 Sep 2009 at 11:13 am #
I dropped my local paper a couple of years ago for a number of reasons.
#1, price kept going up
#2, content kept getting less and less, with more and more advertising
#3, they began referring to my area (the Merrimack Valley) as being “Boston North” instead of letting us continue to have our own identity. Our area is nothing like Boston and the refusal to identify us as separate from Boston and the paper’s desire to tie us into Boston got to be too much for me. We’re also more than 30 miles away from Boston.
However, I do miss the comics.
Tom K on 02 Sep 2009 at 12:38 pm #
If any of my fellow A & J fans are interested, I am selling an original strip featuring Arlo and Ludwig that I purchased from Mr. Johnson. Financial circumstances are forcing me to sell it. Anyone interested can look it up on e-bay.
Bob, near Mark on 02 Sep 2009 at 2:24 pm #
I still wait to look in the paper to see Arlo’s and Janis’ daily tribulations. I read through our daily paper, then read the comics page, but I like to save A&J for last as I have breakfast.
We only get a Boston paper (Boston Globe) on Sunday, now. The Herald has become little more than a pamphlet (at 75 cents now), and the Globe is getting thinner. No more TV schedules (but who’d read them now, anyway). They’ve even cut out two weeks of their weekly magazine section throughout the year.
Ohio Betty on 02 Sep 2009 at 3:08 pm #
Bob, near Mark: I always save Arlo and Janis for last, mostly I think for the chance to savor it some more.
We still subscribe to two daily newspapers: The Cleveland Plain Dealer, which rarely features anything on our rural burg (which is 40 miles south of Lake Erie, anyhow), and the six-day-a-week Gazette, which focuses mostly on our county seat but does feature other villages, townships, etc. more prominently than any of the other daily papers (and is the only area daily to carry Arlo and Janis!).
The Plain Dealer has suffered terribly during what can only be assumed to be the print media’s death throws. The print edition (and the staff!) has contracted and contracted again, till my heart breaks, every time I open the paper.
But we won’t be ending our subscriptions to either paper any time soon. I have friends and former colleagues who work at the PD, and I have three teenagers for whom I want to set a good example. All three still skim both papers every day, and the older ones also troll CNN and ESPN for news that interests them.
Regular print newspapers may soon be a thing of the past, but I want my kids to at least know what they’re missing.
Mary in Ohio on 02 Sep 2009 at 5:20 pm #
My Land, Betty! We are NEIGHBORS! Except I get the Akron Beacon Journal, which covers our area a bit better (and always has, in my view) than the PD, though it has certainly shrunk and diminished too. I used to work for the Gazette, briefly, so I have a soft spot in my head for it, plus it is the only way to keep up with the local obituaries (2 former students in the last month – in their late forties.) And, just FYI, JJ, the Gazette has carried A&J for a long time!
Anne on 02 Sep 2009 at 7:08 pm #
The Boston Herald was 68 pages for $1 today and half of that was want ads or legal ads. The Globe was not much better but they’ve stopped printing the number of pages. I subscribe to the local Quincy paper, why I’m still not sure but, all in all I read 3 dailies and one additional weekly. that’s $3 a day! I need to stop this habit. Plus read my hometown paper online. Maybe I’m a news junkie… on the plus side the comic pages for the 2 Boston papers are without repeats.
As for my art I prefer moody ( emotionally moving) photography with lots of contrast or lots of color ( B&W is best). But I am learning about some impressionist art from A&J. Thanks Jimmy!!
PS –my nearly 11 year old son also reads the available papers and watches the news! Voluntarily!
Steve in Royal Oak, MI on 02 Sep 2009 at 8:59 pm #
I have not subscribed to a newspaper in over 28 years, but I have picked up both Detroit papers at the news box or store. For the last few years I have picked up my paper at a local gas station where the clerks must laugh as they could almost set their watch by me. I will wait in line (if there is one) even though I am sure that I could drop off my money and leave if I wanted to.
In regards to watching the news on TV, I avoid the networks and cable news. I try to find alternative sources on the internet, but it is hard to find unbiased and news on sensationalized topics. At least if I do not like an article in the newspaper or on the internet, I just don;t read it.
HC on 03 Sep 2009 at 7:24 am #
Similar to Steve (Royal Oak), I get our local paper (the one with A&J) daily at the local gas station (and could probably drop off the $.50 and run like Steve)when I go to the PO to get our mail. We don’t subscribe because we live a long way from the main road (and have the snow plow bill to prove it) and the paper delivery people (and postal service) will not come down our private road to deliver to the house. I tried the “on line” version when I retired (and gave up the subscription delivered to the office), but it just isn’t the same. I even look at the local ads because I find I can get some “news” even from them…find out who is up to what…etc. And I too, save Arlo and Janis for last. The down side of all this is that I don’t get to read it until about mid-day, and some comments here pertain to the current day strip, which I haven’t seen. Sometimes, this spoils it because I have an idea of what I’m about to see … and sometimes, it just doesn’t make any sense until I see the strip. Ah well. I could always read the paper first, then look at my computer (oh what a thought). The husband reads the comics first, and sometimes only the comics. I pay $2.00 every Sunday for the Syracuse paper just so he has his funny pages …. and they don’t include A&J. That requires a trip to the local supermarket as they won’t deliver to us either.
Connie on 03 Sep 2009 at 9:48 am #
I was never much of a paper reader. In fact, the only thing in the paper that I read religiously were the comics. Too many killed trees and recycling to deal with for that little bit of interest. I’d rather read books.
I never watch cable news either, I hate the dramatics they make everything into. If I were a more reactionary person I’d have duct taped myself in my basement years ago. Instead, I now ignore all of it and shock people at work when I have no clue who is dating whom or what fatalistic catastrophe is now looming on the horizon. I do watch local news, but mostly for the weather and only when I have the day off since I’m working when it’s televised.
I find what I need (or want) on the internet and watch TV just to veg out. I kill trees primarily for my stacks of books that I’m building into tunnels as I type.
Sorry JJ, but The Lansing State Journal holds no excitement for me any more than The Daily News Tribune (LaSalle County, Illinois) did for me when I was a kid.
Leary on 03 Sep 2009 at 10:40 am #
I read here that a lot of people do not watch cable news and neither do I… Who does? and how do they stay in business? I do scan the local on-line paper here in Atlanta, but gave up on print papers long ago. I’m afraid I go through life mostly uninformed. Maybe Jimmy could insert a little news and current events in A&J to help me out…
kimbis on 04 Sep 2009 at 8:29 am #
I started subscribing to the local fish wrap just because I wanted to help support it.
I’m glad I did. If I didn’t I would not have found out that a nearby law school is having a “mini-course” in law for the average person. It runs over 8 weeks, 2 hours on a Tuesday night. It was only 20 bucks, and that includes the printed course materials. Should be an interesting overview.
There are all kinds of cool local things I found out about, like “Howard the Combine Kitty”, because of subscribing to the local paper. (It’s a touching story – http://www.ingham.org/ac/ ) It really IS worth it if you want to be part of your community.
Phil in Sugar Land, TX on 04 Sep 2009 at 9:31 am #
Leary – The cable news networks took a lesson from daytime soaps. There isn’t enough interesting news in the world to fill 24 hours. They tried repeating the same stuff over and over, but you can only hold the audience through one cycle.
Why do people get wired into that daytime TV? My guess is that it offers drama to people whose lives are as boring as re-reading the same newspaper for 24 hours.
So…why not sell the same drama as news, with people yelling at each other on camera, fingers pointing everywhere for some imagined fault, people getting killed over and over in slow motion, entertainers getting together or breaking up. I’ll bet there are people who hang there lives on this stuff.
Occasionally one cand thresh a kernal of information out of this chaff, but I think I’d rather sort through the advertising to find news in a newspaper.
Phil in Sugar Land, TX on 04 Sep 2009 at 9:39 am #
One more idea, coming from reading the previous post once I had hit the Enter key…
Since Jimmy probably doesn’t have a spell/grammer checker handy that he could add to this blog, I think I’ll try writing the posts in the word processor before pasting them in here. Something that might catch the misuse of ‘there’ for ‘their’ as well as mistyped words.
One of the things on my ‘Bucket List’ is to learn to type before I die.
John in Richmond Texas on 04 Sep 2009 at 10:23 am #
About today’s 09/04 “yep”. It is SO important to do nothing sometimes, there is absolutely nothing wrong with that and we need to do it more. My wife’s work schedule is 80 hours in 9 days with every other Friday off. She will feel bad or make excuses for “not doing anything all day” and I assure her that I am very happy she has the opportunity to sit and stare in the backyard all day. We’ve been getting so little rain, we’re sure to sit on the porch for at least some of it
The Houston Chronicle wants people to use their website. It was $17.00 a month for delivery, they changed that to $22.00 a month BUT, it’s still $17.00 for Wed-Sun delivery and getting Mon and Tues only on the web, they have it all there, page by page (I haven’t done it yet)
But advertising is where they make their money, so they would always have to deliver the Sunday ads, want ads and home sections, etc.
I’m afraid if I have to start reading the paper on a Kindle I’ll need coke-bottle glasses, cuz I have real crappy cornea trouble. I keep waiting for an actual huge broadsheet sized Kindle
David S in Oshkosh on 04 Sep 2009 at 12:20 pm #
Today’s strip (Friday)is maybe my favorite A&J ever, which is saying a lot. The final panel, and the pacing leading to it, not to mention how it communicates the main idea of the strip, is a fine illustration of why it’s possible to consider the humble comic strip real art. Thanks so much!
Jim in Southwest Illannoy on 04 Sep 2009 at 3:39 pm #
A&J, making relaxation an art form.
Jim in SE Mississippi on 04 Sep 2009 at 7:05 pm #
Phil in Sugar Land, TX: Us of yur wrod processr and then cuting and pasteing is an excelent idea. Tha’s what i nomrally do, because wen I post dirctly, as I’m doing nw, it doesnt alway work out as wel.
Bob, near Mark on 04 Sep 2009 at 9:31 pm #
Jim in SE Missupuppi,
Uze Fibrefox insted uv Enternut Exploder. Haz spel cheque.
Jim in SE Mississippi on 04 Sep 2009 at 11:39 pm #
Bob, near Mark: Thanks veddy veddy much, old chap. However, I no longer use cheques…I pay my bills electronically, don’t you know.
(Those two previous postings look a lot like what you often see on blogs that aren’t arloandjanis.com, don’t they?)
Connie on 05 Sep 2009 at 7:53 am #
kimbis, you must live near me! I’m in Lansing. Used to work for the Capital Area Humane Society back when they were in the old building, next to the waste water treatment plant. Just us and the cockroaches.
I did get one of my kitties (now crossed over) from ICAC though. And a few rotties for a rescue group I worked for several years ago.
Thanks for the link and the kitty story. I’m sure Combine Kitty got adopted. nothing like some publicity to get them a forever home.
Have a fun, and safe, holiday weekend everyone. I’m working today, tied to the pager until tomorrow morning, then after that, homework.
Who has more fun than me?
Jim in southwest Illannoy on 05 Sep 2009 at 12:02 pm #
What happened to comics.com? I keep getting a dns error when I try to view the site.
louisiana-lady1937 on 05 Sep 2009 at 2:20 pm #
What happened to the “Click to read the New Arlo & Janis comic strip for this day”? Starting today when I clikc on this I am thrown onto an irritating “Suddenlink” search results page. Again, what happened? I am lost without this daily fix for many of my emotional needs.
Jim in Southwest Illannoy on 05 Sep 2009 at 3:07 pm #
Louisiana-lady, it appears the whole site (www.comics.com) is down.
Annaribbit on 05 Sep 2009 at 6:43 pm #
I have tried both Friday and Saturday to connect to comics.com and I keep getting the “Internet Explorer cannot display this webpage” I also would like to know what is happening. Even yahoo.comics and other newspaper sites that connect to comics.com will not display. I even went to United Media/United Feature Syndicate and it only has to September 4th comics.
Mary in Ohio on 05 Sep 2009 at 6:48 pm #
Still down at 7:47 pm EDT. Sheesh. Thanks for the heads up so I didn’t keep trying – my security suite sometimes blocks everything (Open the pod bay doors, HAL.)
Jim in southwest Illannoy on 06 Sep 2009 at 12:09 am #
I’m also having withdrawal fits from not getting my current A&J fix today.
Bert on 06 Sep 2009 at 7:47 am #
I don’t think the comics.com problem is that the site is down. The net’s DNS servers (or at least the ones that my Verizon account is using) appear to think that the domain comics.com (or http://www.comics.com – I checked both names) doesn’t even exist.
Maybe whomever the comics.com site uses to host their server isn’t paying its bills.
Dub Randall on 06 Sep 2009 at 7:59 am #
Long time reader of these comments. First time contributor. I live deep in the woods on weekends and comic.com has been my comic page fix till I return to print media during the week. It has been a long couple of days. When I realize that the site was not working, I came here, cause I knew I would find the answer.
Thank you all for sharing my pain.
Erick on 06 Sep 2009 at 8:05 am #
Bert – I tried switching dns servers… different error message, same result.
Jean from Dahlonega GA aka Trapper Jean on 06 Sep 2009 at 9:10 am #
Wow. I sure miss a lot when my Internet connection is down.
We gave up on the Atlanta paper years ago when they did a comics page survey-which are your favorite comics?-and printed the results, then cut the ones that scored the highest and kept the rest. Of course there were other reasons, but that was the final straw. We did take the Gwinnett County paper for a while, but it finally died. Now we take the Dahlonega Nugget. It’s a weekly, with no comics, but it does have all the local news so we can keep up with what’s going on.
Now I’m off to catch up with three days worth of comics. No Arlo & Janis for three days makes me very cranky.
Jean from Dahlonega GA aka Trapper Jean on 06 Sep 2009 at 9:14 am #
The comics.com site is still down. Sunday morning without Arlo & Janis just sucks royally.
Jim in SE Mississippi on 06 Sep 2009 at 9:47 am #
I second what Jean from Dahlonega GA aka Trapper Jean said.
Ryan Loghry on 06 Sep 2009 at 9:50 am #
Jean — No kidding. I finally thought to check here to see if it was me, or comics.com. I need my comics!
Bert on 06 Sep 2009 at 10:05 am #
AHA! I have good news and bad news concerning comics.com
Instead of relying on DNS servers to find comics.com, I found a site that mentioned its IP address, then I entered http://64.58.142.26/ into my browser – and the site came up!
… sort of. Looks like the site structure is there but none of the comics are. My guess is that whatever processes update the comics there refer to the site by name rather than IP address, so none of its feeds can get there either.
Bob, near Mark on 06 Sep 2009 at 10:20 am #
Bert,
Tried the IP address in both Firefox and Internet Explorer. Both browsers got to the comics.com home page with a message saying the latest versions of both Adobe Flash and Java need to be installed. The attempt using IE did produce a delayed box that kept repeating a “loading” message. Looks like comics.com may be experiencing a Java or Flash bug. And with it being a long, holiday weekend, perhaps everyone there has “gone fishin’.”
redagainPatti on 06 Sep 2009 at 10:26 am #
wonder what happen… wonder too if they will come back… wonder if they will ever tell us what happen???
Comics.com, you are missed.
Please dont rest in peace.
Greg on 06 Sep 2009 at 11:08 am #
To add to the comics.com discussion, I have a comic that used to be carried by the Boston Globe emailed to me every day (Over the Hedge). For the past two days, the email has arrived, but none of the graphics, including the comic strip, are there. Instead, where they would normally appear in the email, an ‘X’ appears instead. It would seem everything about the site is not working.
jferd on 06 Sep 2009 at 2:23 pm #
i’m totally lost….our local paper (g.r.press) doesn’t carry the strip, and i’m missing my daily fix.
Eric Goebelbecker on 06 Sep 2009 at 2:49 pm #
It’s amazing at how crappy comics.com, dailyink.com and ucomics.com get away with being.
Today was the first day in a long time that I was able to read all of the dailyink.com comics in my daily e-mail on the first try. Usually I have to open the message a few times throughout the day before all of the images fill in.
If I was a creator, I would think long and hard about taking my business to someone that knew how to run a webserver. There must be a motivated 16 year old kid somewhere in their neighborhood.
Ron in Provo on 06 Sep 2009 at 3:15 pm #
Surely losing Comics.com, with our daily fixes of A&J, 9 Chickweed Lane, Peanuts, etc., is a sign of the Apocalypse!
Jim in SE Mississippi on 06 Sep 2009 at 4:29 pm #
JJ: If this problem with comics.com continues tomorrow, could you post the 9-6-09 cartoon here on the blog? And, for that matter, the 9-7-09 cartoon? I think you can tell it would be greatly appreciated.
redagainPatti on 06 Sep 2009 at 5:32 pm #
I hope he can post the 9-5-09 also…. I can only get to the one on the 4th. Lets hope he is not off fishing too.
Bonnie Jeanne in Pittsburgh on 06 Sep 2009 at 5:57 pm #
The silliest thing about comics.com being down it the site http://downforeveryoneorjustme.com keeps telling me it is just me that can’t reach it. I want to slap it upside the head and tell it to check again because I KNOW it isn’t just me.
Connie on 06 Sep 2009 at 6:02 pm #
If JJ sends the graphics into the parent company for them to post, he may not have access to them to post.
I never realized how many of my favorite comics are on comics.com. Dilbert, Get Fuzzy, Arlo and Janis. This sucks! My only chance of seeing them today is to buy a paper. Seems a bit extreme to pay almost $2 for 3 comics. Even A&J!
Explains why Yahoo hasn’t updated their A&J and Get Fuzzy strips since Friday.
This has to be a sign of the end of the world!
Bonnie Jeanne in Pittsburgh on 06 Sep 2009 at 6:12 pm #
Maybe print newspapers conspired with a hacker to bring down comics.com so people would realize they do need newspapers?
Ken too on 06 Sep 2009 at 6:26 pm #
I have an email subscription on the comics.com website. Daily, I receive an email with dozens of comics attached, among those is Arlo & Janis. Over the weekend, the emails have arrived with no graphics. Clicking on the “My Comics” link also gives me the irritating error message that everyone else seems to be getting.
My guess is that something major is down, and since it’s a holiday weekend, nothing will get fixed before Tuesday. Even the Yahoo comics page only has last Friday’s strip as their current offering.
Ron in NW IL on 06 Sep 2009 at 6:57 pm #
I usually get A&J Sunday strips on Yahoo news page. Today it isn’t there, and aboout half of the lesser comics are not updated since Friday 9/4. I’m ready to dump some tea or find a town meeting. Think it would be well to take Monday off and breath out … breath in … breath out … breath ..
Jim in southwest Illannoy on 06 Sep 2009 at 7:25 pm #
I’m having severe withdrawal symptoms. Aaarrrrgh!
Rick in Shermantown, Ohio on 06 Sep 2009 at 7:30 pm #
Ron:
“Surely losing Comics.com, with our daily fixes of A&J, 9 Chickweed Lane, Peanuts, etc., is a sign of the Apocalypse!”
Evidently, not all of the horsemen are present yet. I am still able to bring up 9 Chickweed Lane and Peanuts.
Rick in Shermantown, Ohio on 06 Sep 2009 at 7:31 pm #
Con:
“I never realized how many of my favorite comics are on comics.com. Dilbert, Get Fuzzy, Arlo and Janis.”
Can’t speak to “Get Fuzzy” as I don’t check on that one.
I am still receiving “Dilbert,” both online and in my local paper.
Rick in Shermantown, Ohio on 06 Sep 2009 at 7:33 pm #
Bon Jean:
“Maybe print newspapers conspired with a hacker to bring down comics.com so people would realize they do need newspapers?”
If it’s not true, it should be. I have been waging my own little private war against free content by subscribing to papers, buying books, purchasing CDs and DVDs, etc.
Rick in Shermantown, Ohio on 06 Sep 2009 at 7:35 pm #
Con:
“Seems a bit extreme to pay almost $2 for 3 comics. Even A&J!”
Not for me, because I already do.
Speaking personally, I want to see JJ make this a pay site. Five or ten dollars a month is more than fair.
Ken too on 06 Sep 2009 at 8:08 pm #
Rick, I used to be a subscriber to Comics.com. Then they changed up the format, refunded membership fees, and made it into a free site. I suppose that it is now advertiser supported.
The fees were along the lines of $15 a year.
I have to pay similar fees to the King Features site for their DailyInk access.
Bonnie Jeanne in Pittsburgh on 06 Sep 2009 at 8:20 pm #
Donation button I’d support on this site, as I do on many others, however if it were strictly a paid site, I don’t think many would go for it. And I think there is substantial research that shows requiring payment never flies for websites. It has to be optional, or ads. And I really don’t like ads. Five or ten dollars a month is quite steep. Salon.com is $30 a year, but you can access the entire site for free if you watch an ad. We elect to pay the $30.
CoBass on 06 Sep 2009 at 8:28 pm #
I can’t help people with the Sunday A&J, however…
If you’re jonesing for your A&J and comics.com fixes, visit http://www.unitedfeatures.com/?title=C:Comics That site carries most (but not all) the strips which are on comics.com. This includes A&J, Cow and Boy, Get Fuzzy, Luann, Over the Hedge, Pearls Before Swine and many more.
Not, however, Sundays. The “Sunday Samples” you may see are just that – samples from the past, not the current Sunday strip. The current strips are in the “Current Samples” page that is linked directly to the comic name. The “Current Samples” appears to update at midnight Eastern time, and appears to only include daily strips, not Sundays.
If you can’t find the strip you’re looking for at the United Features site, try http://www.creators.com/comics.html. This site DOES have Sunday strips, but it DOESN’T have any of the strips I mentioned above. I’m not sure when creators.com updates.
Finally, the Houston Chronicle website is another good place to get your comics fix, http://www.chron.com/apps/comics/showComics.mpl No A&J and no Sundays, though. The Chronicle site updates at midnight Central time, 1AM Eastern.
ATTN: Rick in Shermantown, Ohio
Where are you finding 9 Chickweed Lane? AFAIK, other than the Houston Chronicle site, ever site on the web carrying 9CL links back to comics.com, and is currently down.
mr. h on 06 Sep 2009 at 11:11 pm #
For those of you who don’t mind fiddling with your computer a little bit there’s a trick that you can use to get to the site that will also let you see the actual comics. See a discussion of the problem and the solution here:
http://www.softsailor.com/news/7155-comics-com-down-for-second-day-in-a-row.html
About 2/3 of the way down the page is a post by “Comic Geek”. For those of you who know about such things, you basically have to edit your Hosts file to include the IP addresses for comics.com and assets.comics.com.
It works…I am reading Sundays A&J right now
Note that you have to use http://comics.com (no www) for it to work the way Comic Geek says. It’s a hassle, for sure, but not knowing when it will be back was driving me crazy.
Di on 07 Sep 2009 at 6:29 am #
September 07, 2009 and I still can’t get any of the yahoo comics to load in current comics. Friday’s strips keep loading instead.
I’ve tried comic.com and I get a message that the web site is unavailable or has moved! Even did google searches to try to find alternate routes for the comics and nothing works!
Withdrawal!!!!
Jim in Southwest Illannoy on 07 Sep 2009 at 6:41 am #
When comics.com was a pay site it was $10 or so a year and I paid because I liked the convenience of being able to go back in the archives. gocomics.com is still a pay site and I subscribe to it. kingfeatures went to being a pay site, but their rates a higher and there were only a couple cartoons I went to there anyway, so I don’t subscribe to it.
I hope they get back up soon. As someone else already said earlier, I wonder if they’re all out for the holiday. I guess we’ll find out tomorrow.
stancmc on 07 Sep 2009 at 7:15 am #
Try http://www.featurebank.com/ . It has some black and white versions of several comics.
Stan
Robin in GA on 07 Sep 2009 at 8:02 am #
Think back to the “leftovers” strip, and then read the last letter here:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ucda/20090907/lf_ucda/befriendingformercolleaguemaycausetroubleatwork
Which one of you jokers wrote that letter? : )
Jean from Dahlonega GA aka Trapper Jean on 07 Sep 2009 at 8:25 am #
Robin in GA-*snicker* I promise I didn’t write the letter, but it is funny. The one about the woman with the dog reminds me of my sister, who isn’t quite that bad, but I can see it happening.
Bonnie Jeanne-as conspiracy theories go yours sounds pretty good to me.
On the problem at comics.com-I read several comics on the Seattle PI page, and since some I usually read at comics.com are at SPI I thought to read them this morning. Well, seems like clicking on the comic strip’s name takes one to the comics.com page, and I still can’t read the strip. bummer.
Bob, near Mark on 07 Sep 2009 at 8:47 am #
For all the comics.com-less readers, try:
http://www.unitedfeatures.com/?title=C:Comics
Go to the “strips” paragraph, and click on Arlo and Janis. They currently (as of Sept 7th) have A&J from Sept 2 through Sunday, Sept 6.
Ryan Loghry on 07 Sep 2009 at 9:02 am #
Hurray! For Bob near Mark.
Ron in NW IL on 07 Sep 2009 at 9:43 am #
Hooray indeed! For Bob near Mark, who has saved the day and rescued the long weeekend. We can breathe easier and whistle a happy tune now. Thank you.
Phil in Sugar Land, TX on 07 Sep 2009 at 9:46 am #
Thanks Bob, you are a gentleman and a scholar! That’s a nice picture of Jimmy too. Wonder how old it is.
Anonymous on 07 Sep 2009 at 9:51 am #
HERE IS HOW TO ACCESS COMICS.COM AGAIN!
I got this from http://www.softsailor.com/news/7155-comics-com-down-for-second-day-in-a-row.html in the numerous comments below the story. I will save you some reading time. I will only share how to fix it. If you want to know why, to the site and read all the comments.
Make sure you have administrator privileges on your computer to change a read only system file.
Open Notepad word processor.
Go to C:\WINDOWS\system32\drivers\etc
Open the file named “hosts”
(If no files are showing in the Open dialog window, change the File Types at the bottom of the window to “All Files”)
At the top of this file is some instructions. After all the instructions, add these 3 lines:
64.58.142.26 comics.com
64.58.142.26 http://www.comics.com
64.58.142.223 assets.comics.com
Save the file. It will probably force you to save this as a text file. If so, you will have to do this:
Browse on your computer to C:\WINDOWS\system32\drivers\etc
There are several files there. One is “hosts” and one should be “hosts.txt”
Rename “host” to “hosts2″
Rename “hosts.txt” to “hosts”
Another very important thing to know:
This will work until Tuesday or Wednesday or however long it will take them to fix the problem. Once the fix the problem, you have to go back to that folder, delete the “hosts” file that you made and rename “hosts2″ to “hosts” again.
OR, you can just wait until they fix it.
Cheers.
James Riley on 07 Sep 2009 at 9:53 am #
Jimmy,
I just sent a long post on how to get comics.com working again but I forgot to put my name and email in the proper boxes. Was my post lost or did it go through?
Thanks.
James
James Riley on 07 Sep 2009 at 10:01 am #
Well, there’s my answer!
HERE IS HOW TO GET COMICS.COM UP AGAIN.
I got this from this website and the comments below the story. If you want to know all about this, read all the comments.
http://www.softsailor.com/news/7155-comics-com-down-for-second-day-in-a-row.html
You call follow these instructions and comics.com will work immediately. Or, you can just wait until Tue/Wed/Th or whenever they get their problem fixed.
Make sure you have administrator rights on your computer so you can change a read only system file.
Open Notepad word processor
Click File/Open and browse to C:\WINDOWS\system32\drivers\etc
Near the bottom, change “Files of type” to “All Files”
Open the file named “hosts”
At the top of the file are some instructions. After the instructions, add these three lines (just copy and paste them from here if you like):
64.58.142.26 comics.com
64.58.142.26 http://www.comics.com
64.58.142.223 assets.comics.com
Now save the file. It will probably force you to save it as a .txt file. If so, you have to do this:
Browse in your computer to this folder: C:\WINDOWS\system32\drivers\etc
Make sure you see these 2 files there: “hosts” and “hosts.txt”
Rename “hosts” to “hosts2″ and rename “hosts.txt” to “hosts”
VERY IMPORTANT: Once they fix the problem at comics.com, you will have to go back here, delete the “hosts” file that you made and rename “hosts2″ to “hosts” to get comics.com again.
Now, close your browser and open it up and go to comics.com and enjoy all your comics!
Cheers,
James
P.S. Don’t ever type a very long message and forget to put your name and email in the proper boxes above. You do not get a warning or 2nd chance; the message just disappears!
emeritus Minnesota biologist on 07 Sep 2009 at 10:13 am #
Thank you, Bob near Mark.
And Phil, “Wonder how old it is”! Reminds me of the cynical New Englander:
“Look at those black and white cows on the hill.”
“On this side.”
Mary in Ohio on 07 Sep 2009 at 11:42 am #
I still have several of the comics.com individual strips bookmarked, and I can get Dilbert, but none of the rest will come up.
Mary in Ohio on 07 Sep 2009 at 11:53 am #
Me and my big mouth (keyboard?) Today I can’t even get Dilbert.
Bob, near Mark on 07 Sep 2009 at 12:15 pm #
Mary in Ohio,
If you go to the bottom of the page on that United Features link, you can read Dilbert in Spanish. (It’s in English further up the page.)
BTW, it was a Google search that rode to the rescue. “Ta-da-dum, Ta-da-dum, Ta-da-dum-dum-dum!”
Robert in Seattle on 07 Sep 2009 at 1:02 pm #
Technically comics.com isn’t “down,” it’s still working just fine. But its DNS servers don’t work, which means when you type in “comics.com” it doesn’t come up with the right numeric address for the site.
It is entirely possible to view current comics, although a bit tedious.
Here’s Monday’s A&J:
http://64.58.142.223/dyn/str_strip/000000000/00000000/0000000/200000/90000/4000/500/294590/294590.full.gif
The geeks are explaining how to do it in the comments at:
http://comicsidontunderstand.com/wordpress/2009/09/06/comicscom/
K in ND on 07 Sep 2009 at 1:22 pm #
Er…comics.com is working for me now. Don’t everyone rush it at once; it might fail again.
K
Dave on 07 Sep 2009 at 1:36 pm #
comics.com is working for me now too. Appears that someone earned some overtime today, going in to work to fix it.
Anonymous on 07 Sep 2009 at 2:50 pm #
Based on the bio at the United Features, whaddya bet Arlo has a high school class reunion coming up next year. Or maybe even this year? Oh my…the possibilities…
Rick in Shermantown, Ohio on 07 Sep 2009 at 4:15 pm #
Bon Jean and Jim:
I understand your comments and feelings in regard to paying, but this site is something different, something special.
Moreover, although it is strictly an emotion, I feel an attachment to A&J and want to help JJ keep it going. With newspapers decreasing and with JJ bearing the cost of maintaining a Web site and bandwidth for my enjoyment, I’m willing to pay five to ten dollars a month.
Rick in Shermantown, Ohio on 07 Sep 2009 at 4:21 pm #
Crud.
Just as I hit “Submit Comment,” I had an idea.
http://www.comics.com should return to charging for its services. However, instead of receiving unfettered access to everything, the company should limit the strips to which one can subscribe. For example, pay twenty dollars a year, select four strips; pay twenty-five, select six; etc. In case, the artist would earn a percentage.
Another part of the idea is that comics.com would eliminate the copy and email function. People would still be able to “print screen,” as far as I know, but perhaps the technology exists to foil that, too.
Final idea: An artist would still have the right to offer his/her strip for free on comics.com if desired. I can see how a new artist would want that option.
Rex from TX on 07 Sep 2009 at 4:41 pm #
A little late to the discussion as usual, since I generally get my Arlo and Janis fix from the newspaper (I just stop by here to get see the A+J classic and see if there is any news of the book coming out). I am fortunate that my local paper still has the good sense to carry his strip.
I don’t think a pay site will work for this, and JJ has already said (IIRC) he is keeping this completely non comercial. I would have nothing against the donations button (I think I have already mentioned the Street Performer Protocol in here) but I suspect it would not provide a consistant revenue stream.
I am still hoping for The Book, but don’t think I will stop coming here after I get that. (I will just have to find another excuse to come here.)
curmudgeonly ex-professor on 08 Sep 2009 at 12:01 am #
Are we close to setting a record for most comments under a single strip yet?
Ghost Rider 6 on 08 Sep 2009 at 1:12 am #
Yes.
Jean from Dahlonega GA aka Trapper Jean on 08 Sep 2009 at 5:37 am #
Thanks, Bob, near Mark! You’re a gentleman and a scholar.
One more for the comments count.
Connie on 08 Sep 2009 at 10:25 am #
Rick in Shermanton,
The difference between paying for a membership to a web site and buying a paper is I don’t have to recycle the web site. Yes, I am that lazy!
BTW, please don’t give the corporations any ideas about how they can charge more for what we used to get for free. That they actually listen to.
Rick in Shermantown, Ohio on 08 Sep 2009 at 4:11 pm #
Connie:
I understand your thinking, but I still hold that free content has hurt many people, and, especially in regard to journalism, we’ll be the ones who pay a stiffer price in the future when the fourth estate becomes a boneyard.
Also, I support the idea of paying for someone’s “intellectual property.” I like the idea of paying Jimmy to keep both the strip and this site going.
Leary on 14 Sep 2009 at 7:14 am #
Sorry I missed all the drama… I was on vacation away from all electronic devives. I’m just posting to see if we can get this over 100.
Rick in Shermantown, Ohio on 18 Sep 2009 at 4:38 am #
no post
Rick in Shermantown, Ohio on 18 Sep 2009 at 4:38 am #
Here’s 100. Who wants to be 101?
Jean from Dahlonega GA aka Trapper Jean on 20 Sep 2009 at 3:57 pm #
Don’t know if anybody will see this since we’ve moved on, but I’ll be the 101st poster here.
Go me!