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

Est. 1985

Extra, Extra!

Black Is the Old Black

By Jimmy Johnson


Buy the new book, "Beaucoup Arlo & Janis!"Today's "Arlo & Janis!"
Today, a true classic from 10 years ago. I ran across some discussion on the Web the other day about A&J. No, I did not Google myself! I used Bing. A few years back I had drawn Janis getting dressed, much as in the strip above. She was slipping into a camisole in the process of donning a heavy cable-knit sweater, and the very lowest sliver of her right breast was depicted. Big deal? Well, apparently. It generated a lot of internet discussion (“Underboob” it was repeatedly called.) and even a newspaper column about whether this was “appropriate” for the comics. I don’t have time to post a link to the cartoon, but I have every faith that if you watch the comments below there will be one within the hour. So, I ask, why is it okay to show any and all of the female breast above the nipple (after 5 p.m., of course!) but not anything below? Besides, I truly was not trying to be lascivious. I grew up reading comics 50 years ago. The women in The Heart of Juliet Jones and Apt. 3-G rarely wore anything but underwear! And the paper was chock-a-block with illustrations of lingerie available in the Atlanta department stores. Trust me on that one. Besides, there is a double standard at work here. I could draw Arlo in his drawers a hundred times and not generate one comment. I’m not saying this is strange; I’m just saying it is true. It is also true, I guess, what our mothers told us when we were young: “If you get a bad reputation, well… that’s it!”

Recent Posts

Ghost of Christmas Past

This holiday Arlo & Janis comic strip from 2022 is similar in concept to the new strip that ran yesterday. I thought the latter ...

Spearhead

I have produced a number of comic strips related to Veteran’s Day. Especially in latter years, I have tried to emphasize the universal experience ...

Dark Passage

Remember: it’s that weekend. The return to standard time can be a bit of a shock in the late afternoon, but I rather enjoy ...

What’s old is old, again

You don’t have to be a rocket scientist to build a web site, but there are similarities. Everything needs to be just right, or ...

Back to the ol’ drawing board

I don’t have a lot of time this morning. I wasn’t going to post anything, but I’m tired of looking at that old photograph ...

Thursday’s Child

On Sunday, I teased you with the suggestion there are more changes coming here. There are. They will appear soon, and I think you’ll ...

62 responses to “Black Is the Old Black”

  1. Jackie monies Avatar
    Jackie monies

    Why not just fig leaves? Or cod pieces like ancestors?

  2. emeritus mn. biologist Avatar
    emeritus mn. biologist
  3. Ghost Rider 6 Avatar
    Ghost Rider 6

    Yep, Rick, over the years having an all-female staff has led to me learning things I didn’t know I didn’t know.

    Jackie, that must have been an interesting bar to visit.

  4. Galliglo in Ohio Avatar
    Galliglo in Ohio

    Denise – yes, it IS great! I used to irritate my children when they were young by telling them to “Look it up!” They thought I was copping out. Perhaps I was, at times. But my main motivation was to expose them to the joy of learning. I think it stuck more with my daughter than my son.

    Now, if I find myself wondering about something, I do look it up. As an example, I worked an online jigsaw puzzle this morning. It was a picture of three (beautiful!) Scottish kittens. Then I thought – what is different about Scottish kittens? Lo and behold, there is a breed of cats, originating in Scotland in the early 1960s, that have ears that are folded, pointing forward. Fascinating!

  5. Jackie monies Avatar
    Jackie monies

    Called Scottish Fold cats, most original name!

    Ghost she had degree in psychology and walked around with the surgeons at UT burn hospital in Dallas Went to St Louis and pay was half So she started as bunny suit wearing cocktail waitress at huge new casino Went upstairs to VIP room for high rollers and got to wear same uniform as barman Lasted longer than anyone and I am betting psych degree paid off Expensive club to join since it bases on your losses

  6. Ruth Anne in Winter Park, FL Avatar
    Ruth Anne in Winter Park, FL

    Jackie – your comment about your daughter’s preferences reminded me of a story my sister-in-law told recently. She had friends over for dinner and prepared her standard baked chicken breast concoction. Her young guest was a bit bewildered when she began to cut it – she’d never had chicken with bones before.

  7. Jackie Monies Avatar
    Jackie Monies

    Daughter won’t buy or touch boned meat so no deboning either. I will point our I have 4 hours of college credits in slaughtering and cutting up meat products, in other words, butchering, as well as meat judging on hoof and cut up, And on college judging team.

  8. Mindy from Indy Avatar

    Debbe – Lots and lots AND LOTS of fog last night and this morning. I-65 was closed both ways, as I’m sure you’ve read about by now. Yes, the warm weather needs to stay. I want my windows open!

    Mmmm. Bacon.

  9. Rick in Shermantown, Ohio Avatar
    Rick in Shermantown, Ohio

    Galliglo in Ohio:

    Thanks for that origin! I had never heard that before.

    Still, I don’t see how a clam could be happy – starfish will still be after him.

    Also, I’ve never seen a clam smile, be it high tide, low tide, rip tide, or Tide.

  10. Ray Kremer Avatar
    Ray Kremer

    I don’t know, in the parts of the web I go to, guys love underboob. It’s a novelty I suppose, a relatively new entry into partial-breast-baring fashion. That’s probably why the stick-in-the-mud folks don’t like it, it’s something they haven’t seen before, haven’t gotten used to.

  11. Lee Avatar
    Lee

    On a closely related note, my all time Jimmy favorite is the strip for 08/06/2004. (It’s on the Comics site.)

    That’s how I first realized that that very short head baker at the place I’d get my coffee and pastry from in the morning (she was emptying the lower levels of what they call a speed rack) was also a very attractive woman.

    We’ve been married now for twelve years…