A pithy comic strip about life, love, lust and puthy cats.

Est. 1985

Extra, Extra!

The Dancing Bears

By Jimmy Johnson

May, 9, 1987


OK, you’ve seen enough of Janis sunbathing on the beach. One thing that was fundamental to Arlo & Janis for many years after its inception was kid humor, provided by young son Gene. When writing material about a young married couple, one handicaps oneself tremendously without at least one little kid in the cast, and Gene filled the role well for A&J. He was always available for a generic little-kid joke (see above), but over time—for some reason—he also evolved into the favored focus of many story lines, strips woven into a narrative that would play out over a week or more. This led many places. I’ve been telling you I would talk about this, and I will, but I’m going to let you in on a little secret. Next week, our final retrospective week in newspapers and on GoComics, I’m featuring early strips about Gene and his love interest Mary Lou. So, here on the Website, beginning Monday, I’m going to devote next week to Gene and Mary Lou and all that. Have a good weekend!


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33 responses to “The Dancing Bears”

  1. emb Avatar
    emb

    Happened earlier on, also.
    Peace,

  2. Jackie Avatar
    Jackie

    Heat indexes in Oklahoma are high triple digits. I sleep all day, do laundry in shifts as I wake up.

    Tomorrow is big day, i put on clothes and go to Tulsa for blood work and cancer injections for treatment. Were it not for that I’d be a naked hermit. It would cut back on laundry considerably.

    Dropped the cute underwear when cancer changed my life. Giving serious thought to that friend who said about her possible demise due to huge weight loss:

    “But don’t she look good in them purple bell bottoms?” Said at her funeral.

    1. curmudgeonly ex-professor Avatar
      curmudgeonly ex-professor

      That’s a truly amazing heat index you have!

  3. Jackie Avatar
    Jackie

    My favorite Gene arcs begin “When Gene Meets Mary Lou”.

    Can it have really have been 25 years? Two kids