OK, so this comic strip from December of last year isn’t exactly “rare.” It’s Arlo and Janis sitting on the sofa, for cryin’ out loud. However, there is something out of the ordinary going on here. Can you tell what it is? That’s right! In the third panel, Arlo’s dialog runs to four lines. It is an unwritten rule here (where all rules are unwritten!) that dialog in a comic strip not run for more than three lines. You’d be surprised how easy this really is. Dialog tends to be terse and to the point, and much of what I write is dialog. I believe punchy dialog actually lends authenticity; remember that, would-be comic strip artists, and writers of all stripes.
I bring up dialog, because I periodically get emails from readers who complain (always nicely!) that they have a particularly difficult time reading the text in Arlo & Janis. I don’t doubt they have problems. Newspapers so reduce all comic strips these days that they’ve become almost impossible to read, particularly for the demographic that is keeping newspapers afloat. I do wonder, though, if A&J is particularly unintelligible. I look at other strips in the newspapers, and I don’t see many of them being any easier to read. I like to think it’s because Arlo & Janis is the one they want to read. Anyway, I have two points about this subject. 1) I am aware of the problem. I have gone to a thicker lettering pen, but I think this sometimes makes me squeeze the lettering, which probably is the worst thing I could do. I have experimented with computer fonts made from my own lettering. This is promising, but I haven’t been able to develop one yet that really pleases me. Perhaps I need to expand the three-line rule to four lines. In short, I am working on it. 2) I would like your observations and suggestions on this matter. It might help.
316 responses to “A Rare Arlo & Janis”
Royal Oak Steve, I would love to have that sort of deer encounter happen! How magical! Your lot is large indeed for RO…when was the your home built? There’s a home on 13 Mile in Royal Oak that we almost bought back in the mid-80s…we still call it “our house” when we drive past. Built in 1927, it was on a narrow but really deep lot and had a big chicken coop out back.
Denise, I thought of your “silky camo negligee” early this morning as I was pulling on an old pair of camo fatigue pants to go to the gym. Some images are just hard to get out of my head. Fortunately. 😉
Debbe 😉 No, Tall Busty Blonde is not named Lorraine, but she did also have a similarly prominent pair of chestular appurtenances. But no, those were not the first things that caught my attention…her legs did. And her shorts. Then it was her cleavage-causers. I know, I know…it’s terribly chauvinistic of me, but if she went to the trouble to look (and dress like that), I feel it would be most impolite of me not to notice. 🙂
And TBB was back today. One piece exercise suit, but the lower half was shorter (and tighter) than yesterday’s shorts. And those were short. Humm.
Debbe 😉 I never get tired of the “Lorraine” video. 🙂 Better than any cat video, by my lights.
Ghost, this song sounds like the TBB you mentioned: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GWj8eD5-X1E
Bayou City now feeling TS Bill’s wetness. Steady rain since midnight, with bursts of tropical downpours. Had dental appointment this morning, arrived to find office closed.
Good, it’s back!! Wonder if Bill got to the site’s servers?
Had lost the site for a few hours, now it is back.
Old Faithful erupting… amid what looks suspiciously like snow. Weather says temp is 68 degrees, so snow is unlikely. Possibly a recording from earlier in the year?
http://www.nps.gov/features/yell/webcam/oldFaithfulStreaming.html
David
Camera was zoomed in to the point that only the minerals (white) were visible. Imagine my embarrassment.
Denise: Our house was built in 1954. We moved there in November 1996. We are on a dead end street with the railroad tracks right next to us. Loved it for Prom, HS & College Graduation parties and even served breakfast and opened wedding gifts the day after our son was married.
But times change. We don’t need that big of a house and with my lawn mowers in bad repair, the time has come to move to a smaller, cheaper home and save more for retirement. One of my favorite movies is Funny Farm. Chevy Chase is a writer (like my wife) who moves out to the country to disastrous results. So they decide to enlist the town (who have treated them poorly) to help them sell the house. One of the lines has Chevy saying “Cue the deer” and they release it so that they prospective buyers can see it. Not planning on doing that, but I might give them a close up picture when we close.
OF may be about to spurt; a goodly crowd has gathered expectantly. Site’s time prediction was for more than an hour ago, so is useless now.
OoOOOooooooo000oooOooooOoooOOOOOO!
Sorry, just giving my new snorkel a test run. Hoping the new batch of canoes come in soon. This is getting ridiculous. The old home place in Ohio is precariously close to taking on water. Mere yards from the Wabash river. Mind you, in that neck of the woods, the Wabash is more rightly called a creek – it begins only a few miles to the south. However, many, many years ago, some government geniuses decided to reroute the river. (Why, I do not know.) When it rains like this, the Wabash simply runs thenew course AND the old one.
Hey! I wasn’t done yet!
Anyhow, my old hometown is blocked off from some directions by flood waters, and my new hometown is fairing only slightly better. The water is playing hell on the new pothole patches – canoeing is going to be the better option if only because everyone has lost their suspensions.
Possibly a new semi-practical fashion trend for the soggy ones.
https://www.pinterest.com/pin/281193570458377008/
PA – Ghost – DO NOT Google “fashion scuba gear.” 😉
Mindy, I’ve seen Daisy Dukes before, but I’d have to call those “Daisy Ducks.”
OK, Lady Mindy, trusting you as always, I will not google “fashion scuba gear”. However, if I later find it involves string bikinis, I will will be pissed. 🙂
And if it was the Army Corps of Engineers that rerouted the river, they apparently don’t have to have a reason, other than it was a river and they are engineers.
Jackie, I totally refuse to believe that, at 107 and 5 foot 2, you looked “scrawny”. I also refuse to believe you didn’t look pulchritudinous in a string bikini. And from your own previous posts, I believe I can safely add “pneumatic” to the list. Hum…pneumatic and pulchritudinous; I believe I’ve heard that before. 😉
True, few of us are ever going to look as good as we did when we were 20. (Actually, I had a better body at 40 than I did at 20, because of the same thing I’m doing now…eating healthy and exercising regularly.) Most of us develop various physical and health limitations as we age, but that doesn’t mean that we can’t still strive be fit and to look the best we can at any age. Narcissism? I don’t think so, but I do think looking good makes you feel good and improves your attitude. And it’s a sign of discipline and perseverance, something I find very sexy in a woman, more so than her looks.
Ghost – Not so much string bikini as “creatively cut” wet suits. Your blood pressure has been warned.
sandcastler™ goes out for coffee…
http://www.catamarans.com/images/Lagoon/440/waterworld_01.jpg
Mindy, have you been shopping in Cabela’s Navy Sealette department?
GR6, could have used the pontoon for this mornings coffee run. Rains have ceased, and sun was out for a moment. Now about the Army Corp. of Engineers, that was my primary MOS.
Ghost, to make up for not looking for “fashion scuba gear”; http://picture-cdn.wheretoget.it/3z16df-l-610×610-shirt-cover-knit-crochet-jessica+burciaga–bikini-swimwear-monokini-orange-beach-accessories.jpg
GR6
Look good will make you feel good will make you look good. It is a vicious circle.
GR6, Jackie, Etal
https://www.youtube.com/embed/Nhr8kG6PEOc?feature=player_detailpage
I think you will like this. I tried posting earlier but as others found – no connection.
Withdrawal symptoms.
Folks Bill is in Oklahoma now and he isn’t welcome . We are already waterlogged and flooded. My backyard looks like Pogos swamp.
A strange thing happened today which I took to be a divine angel messenger in the ladies room. I am in putting on makeup when this tiny older beauty came in with a heart bypass zipper down her chest, just two weeks post surgery. Well, it was a heart hospital office building.
Said blonde was a year older than me and tiny, petite, beautifully dressed, size 6 jeans. Except she had lost over 100 lbs. IN TOPS not WW and had been walking 5 miles a day, all in past year. Talk about inspiration she was 5 ft. 2 and the same . Weight as my goal weight and heavier than I was ar 20. So, it was like looking at what I had and could be again.
Whoa! God works in mysterious ways.
Went and had grilled salmon, asparagus, quinoa and a green salad, less than 600 calories. Then bought myself four pairs of properly fitted and GOOD walking shoes and a dozen wicking socks. I have enough bras, sorry Ghost.
Inspiration pass it on.
Love Jackie
Jackie: I rest my case. Leave it to God and Ghost to inspire you.
To add
Sometimes the kitty has claws &
And sometimes the bird is a Hawk.