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”
Laughing at all of y’all again, which is good. We dropped a piece of a cheap bookcase while moving stuff out of my mother in laws storage shed (she passed away some time past) on my 10# chi-weenie’s foot, breaking it. He screamed and screamed, we ran to emergency vet since while next door to my regular vet, he was out of town naturally.
My helper on move is a vet tech, ex-dog breeder now working as a 911 police operator so she got it under control, got dog and me taken care of, all good now. She is out putting signs on stuff in front of house to sell since there happens to be a ten mile garage sale going on all up and down Oklahoma State Highway 9 and my neighborhood.
Lord knows I would not survive without good friends.
Love, Jackie Monies
Actual headline on AccuWeather site: “Tropical Depression Bill Leaves Oklahoma Underwater”. So I assume that either Jackie’s boats are coming in very handy for commuting, or that’s news hyperbole along the lines of “near vertical takeoff”.
Oklahoma did get flooded but people are out mowing, cleaning up, holding garage sales. Humidity is about 150% and my yard is pure mud.
Thought for the Day: “Some people drink from the fountain of knowledge, others just gargle.” – Robert Anthony
The Red River, border between Texas and Oklahoma is flooding. News report shows I35 bridge with water up the bottom of it. Appears parts of the two states are still fighting water.
Dear Jackie, I feel sympathy for your little dog; please pass it on to him. Golly, you Oklahomans are tough cookies! Yesterday horrible rain and floods, today (or tomorrow) a ten mile yard sale!! You have explained it well, I’m glad to say.
And many thanks for explaining the great Shoe Purge as well — I was puzzled, but now I see what you mean. I have never spent much money on clothes, or shoes. You have, but everyone is different; and now you are cutting back … that’s good.
Dearest Ghost, I love your recent handfuls of wisdom. I am laughing along with Jackie. Can I please steal your “fountain of knowlege” quote to share with my family?
Sure, Charlotte…since I stole it myself. 🙂
Oh no….it’s Mr. Bill….. http://radar.weather.gov/radar.php?rid=apx&product=N0R&overlay=11101111&loop=no
Nekked? Why yes, I do feel comfortable in my own skin 🙂
Nitey night…..
Steve – My condolences. Glad your family had the extra time to make memories.
Work has been and continues to frustrate me to no end. There is a movie? TV show?, I forget which, where the bad guy tells his captive the all will be well as long as said captive held onto her happy thoughts. I’m beginning to think I’m in the sequel. 🙁 Currently riding high as my boss’s least favorite problem child. However, I am aware he is only the bearer of bad news and most of this is not his fault. That said, he really needs to learn how to communicate effectively and provide more useful support. I, for my part, will try to take my lemons and make daiquiris with them.
For those battling Bill and other soggy weather – double-check the air pressure in your water wings and inner tubes before hitting the water. 🙂
Should anyone need additional lessons in adversity, may I suggest moving to Oklahoma? These people seem to suffer the wraith of God along with the Wraith of Grapes weather wise. Worst weather I have ever lived through, ice storms, tornadoes, gustnados, drought, heat, humidity, floods, snow, thunder snow, earthquakes, although that may not be weather?
And they do seem to get out, pick up the pieces and go on and rebuild, seldom pulling up stakes since the great dust bowl. In fact, many of those and their descendants have returned. They seem not far removed from their pioneer ancestors.
Yes, Charlotte, I am downsizing. I have too much, in this case the remains of purchases and belongings of not one but four individuals. It all needs good homes, I am overwhelmed by plenty.
Right now I am washing clothes since my housekeeper seems to have done no laundry in last month and I will be donating some things because they have somehow not fared well in the laundry she did. She also gained 28 pounds in my absence. The laundry soap is cheap brands I do not use, so that may account for the laundry but not the weight gain?
Love, Jackie Monies
Uh, something doesn’t add up there.
Good God, Jackie, I am horrified by your laundry and housekeeper problem! Laundry is very dear to my heart and I hate seeing it done “wrong”. And all the bad weather in Oklahoma! You make a good dramatic story of it, but it must be no fun at all to endure.
And to Mindy from Indy … you are certainly rising above the frustrations at work. Good for you that you can take the lemons and do so well with them! Thanks for the laugh in your last sentence!
Laundry and housekeeping is dear to my heart too, Charlotte because I was raised on a farm in the 1950’s when we washed the “hard” way, bleached and starched everything and hung it out to dry on a clothes line with pins and then flung water on it, rolled it up and ironed it all, even the sheets and underwear, with a very heavy iron. Including those infernal cancan petticoats and heavily gathered sundresses! I was very, very good at laundry! In Houston I just sent it all to the dry cleaners and an ironing lady but I can tell you, I know how.
Ditto on dirt. I clean floors on my hands and knees like Cinderella. And have cleaned boats and yachts for a living and they are harder than houses.
And I pay a decent $10 per hour including lunches and breaks which is more than retail businesses pay around here. And am generous in giving away my surplus possessions.
No Ghost, it does not add up. I hand her large bills for supplies, so she is off supplies if I keep her and I am back on. And no money for supplies or food or whatever. If I keep her.
Love y’all, Mindy is not only one with employee problems. Out to do some more laundry.
Love, Jackie
For those who want to know where I am going to summer camp, this is part of the program:
http://pocketyachters.com/Port_Townsend_Pocket_Yachters/Pocket_Yacht_Palooza.html
There’s more but this kicks it all off. My date is the gray haired guy with the beard and the microphone in his hand.
Love, Jackie
Jackie, just so you know, this fall you will be expected to write an essay on “What I Did on My Summer Vacation”. Unexpurgated, of course.
For what it’s worth, I don’t mind doing laundry and housework and in fact am pretty damn good at it. (And of course, I cook pretty well, too.) I always maintained than being in the armed services will make a pretty good housekeeper out of one.
Are you applying, Ghost?
I am truly awestruck at the people who care so much about these little boats. They are heroic!
I agree Charlotte. They are many of them my heroes.
Thanks for the link, Jackie!
Debbe 😉 Here’s some sunshine for you, hon. From the looks of the Radarmaschine, you didn’t get much today.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IDZqmF3zS04
Debbie – Found you something for those Miss Prissies who want to roam. A chicken harness! http://www.valhoma.com
Good morning Villagers….
…as Mr. Bill slowly slides to the east, I bid good riddance..(ok, who here remembers ‘Mr. Bill’ from SNL?)
AND to wake up to Mr. Clapton’s guitar, thank you GR 😉 I enjoy your music links in the morn.
Indy Mindy, how in the world did you stumble across the chicken harness…I would most likely put it on ‘Skittles’ 🙂
Miss Charlotte, you and I have something in common. I am very, and I mean very meticulous when it comes to my laundry. I button shirts, fold my towels a certain way, clothes get taken out of the dryer immediately and hung up. I even hang my T shirts. Ain’t braggin’, but I can fold fitted sheets like they came out of the package.
Jackie…ten dollars plus meals….and 28 pounds heavier….hmmmm!!! What are you going to do when you have to leave again for another extended period of time?
Old Bear…yes, sometimes the pics don’t come up, I assumed it was my computer.
Glad you agree Mark..
gotta go….Happy Caturday
Just finished my breakfast of champions…..banana and P&J and started looking at Old Bear’s link…
here’s one:
http://perfectlytimedimages.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/7-perfectly-timed-pictures-animals.jpg
thanks for the link, Old Bear, have it bookmarked now 🙂
Debbe, well there is far less stress here at my place than on the Chicken Ranch and I will put you into protective custody, what with a county deputy sheriff in back apartment. You can live in my master bedroom and the big Chippendale canopy bed. Sorry, no chips and dales come with it, you have to bring your own. And roosters would love it out here, lots of bugs and critters to eat and a garden.
Love, Jackie