So maybe there were drones in 2013, when this A&J comic first appeared, but there weren’t so many. I might as well go ahead and cop to it, because it always generates discussion despite the fact many of you know already. The cartoons running this week in newspapers and on the GoComics site are reruns. I did take a few days off. I’ll be honest with you: the ability to substitute a week of old material now and then is one of the best things to happen to my profession since I began, back when Hector was a pup. When Hector was a pup, a cartoonist, if he (or she) dared, would drag his chains up slimy dungeon steps and knock on the heavy oak door. He would hear a bar being lifted on the other side, and the door would creak open. Backlit by the blinding light of the outside world, a Syndicate Big Wig would demand, “What do you want?!” If the cartoonist dared stammer, “A day or two off, please,” he would be kicked in the face to tumble back down the stairs. followed by the SBW’s booming voice, “Get back to work! There are no days off in this business!!” I never received a lot of sympathy about these conditions from my friends. They’d say, “Yeah, but you could work six weeks ahead and have six weeks off!” Well, in theory, yes. Some friends! Anyway, times have changed. Thanks much to the creator-oriented culture of Andrews McMeel Syndication, cartoonists are no longer chained in the dungeon. We now wear ankle bracelets and work on the sunny fifth floor, and we do get time off. When I do take time, I could tell my editors, “Pick something to rerun! I’m outta here!” I could, but I don’t trust them. I do take time to choose and refresh material I think you will enjoy. I hope I’m right.
Before There Were Drones
By Jimmy Johnson
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43 responses to “Before There Were Drones”
Re 3-2-21 retro cartoon: From the way Arlo is dressed, it must be a “nippy” day. The pokies would be spectacular, although technically they wouldn’t be pokies unless Janis were wearing something from under which they could poke.
She also needs to be wary of that folding chaise lounge. They have been known to fold up and pinch the devil out of, uh, things.
“I do take time to choose and refresh material I think you will enjoy.”
I liken that to ordering the “Chef’s Choice” in a fine dining establishment…the best of the best.
Though you specifically said “fine dining establishment”, in many other restaurants, the “Chef’s Choice” is simply what is oldest and/or they have the most of.
a/k/a “leftovers”. 😀
An old-time restaurant owner/operator once told me that your profit in the food bidness is what you *don’t* throw into the garbage can. For instance, tonight’s excess baked potatoes are tomorrow morning’s hash browns.
Or, if the establishment doesn’t do breakfast, you use the leftover baked potatoes for twice baked potatoes on the daily special.
Good thing I looked, or this would have gone out from Steve. I’ve had the data vanish before, but this is the first time it’s shown somebody else’s.
Are we to revisit the old contention re: whether or not the man is Arlo? I don’t think he is; I think he is just someone passing by and having a larcenous streak.
Hah! I see, before I change it, that the box below already bears the name of Bruce! [not writing last name shown]
Most of you seem not to value “That is priceless” highly. This is for the others. Charles R. Knight was one of the finest animal artists of his time, & might be worth a search. Not his fault, but the biology/paleontology of this painting [not Melchior’s comment] is 4 decades out of date. This dinosaur probably could not squat like that with its tail loosely lying behind it.
https://www.gocomics.com/that-is-priceless/2021/03/02
It was probably an active, warm-blooded beast with a more efficient breathing system than that of mammals like us, & of the small, mostly nocturnal mammals that were its relatively common neighbors. I.e., it had a one-way circulation of air through lungs & air sacs like those of its current living relatives, birds.
Peace,
Glad you posted. I’m a frequent visitor to Jimmy’s page and an infrequent commenter. But I remember you posting these back when I did read the comments, frequently. I’ve got a new addition to my “MyComics” page!
Thanks, emb. I credit Charles R. Knight’s dinosaur art as one of the influences that got me interested in the creatures. A modern artist who does great work in that area of art is William Stout. http://www.massivefantastic.com/2015/06/awesome-artists-william-stout.html
A cyclopean centaur? Or is it a centaurian cyclopes? In either case, that’s different.
Ray Harryhausen used one in his 1973 film The Golden Voyage of Sinbad. https://gwangipedia.fandom.com/wiki/One-Eyed_Centaur
Oh, and that movie also had Caroline Munro.
I remember Caroline Munro from one of the James Bond films. She was quite pneumatic, as I recall, and certainly met the criteria for being a Bond Girl.
Yeah, my phone does not like this blog or vice versa. It did have Ghost’s name on my signature, so on my prior post I signed it Ghost From Royal Oak MI.
Anyway, I posted “I thought that when cartoonist got stuck or were in a hurry, they would look at past strips and repurpose them. Maybe change the clothes, background, a few of the words. Jimmy has had a few that were similar, but I am sure that our illustrious leader never did that!
I will try this from my phone again…..
Hey it worked this time! lol
Before there were drones my wife would scout out likely places for “makin’ whoopee.” We had to give that up over a decade ago when the local national forests became too popular for our taste.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ANRPmTZRqkg
Hey, I am Ghost too! That’s a surprise. He just fed me dinner, cheeseburger casserole.
Hey, I am Ghost too! That’s a surprise. He just fed me dinner, cheeseburger casserole.
Previous two posts were from Jackie. Obviously, although lessening, the blog’s malfs continue.
Who hates packing and unpacking enough to want to move the whole house?
https://www.ksl.com/article/50117692/have-you-seen-this-moving-an-entire-139-year-old-house-through-san-francisco
Back in the 1960-70s when we sold to restaurants and hung out with foodies and entertained them we bought stacks of that heavy unbreakable stuff.
My kids called them “the dog dishes” and one (if not both) inherited some and bought more. I still have some in my cubboard, the long oval shape.
It’s hard to break.
In 1980s we helped move a 100 year old home down NASA1 to become part of our Bay Area museun. It was a frightmare.
It always gave me pause when I saw Free Historic House to Be Moved offered.
Why is my newspaper showing repeats of your strip?
(Waterville, Maine’s Morning Sentinel)
Read Jimmy’s post above…
Pair of Egyptian geese & their goslings at the Tau refuge in S. Afr.
https://explore.org/livecams/african-wildlife/tau
Peace
As an amateur copy editor, I love Dustin’s industrious kid sister. [They don’t date the URLs separately.]
https://www.arcamax.com/thefunnies/dustin/
Peace,
Fifteen days ago, the temperature was -5F in the front yard. Right now it’s 68F, and I spent the afternoon in it, raking pine straw and cleaning out a drainage ditch. With my shirt sleeves rolled up.
Interesting day today (3/3): The MBH had eye laser surgery to try to clear up the lens she had installed last summer. Results unknown, but no obvious difficulties.
.
Later, the resident cockatiel – she who has laid eggs atop a curved cage and also while atop a kitchen chair [it fell] – needed a visit to the vet because one toe nail was pointing upwards instead of backwards. It isn’t there anymore, and the other nails are trimmed, too.
.
An acquaintance at church has an unusual name. On a search site I like, I found exactly one other person with the same two names [but with different middle names & other data, so not the same person]. Each is 107 years old, too!
This Saturday Ghost and I get our second COVID-19 shot. I am beginning to think of going out to enjoyable events safe to attend and wheelchair friendly.
Our restaurant for Saturday has patio seating and good distancing practice.
Reading about dealing with COVID-19 and depression there was lots of good advice– daily modest exercise, healthy meals, a hobby, humor/laughing. Planning dates, activities was one.
I am planning going to museums beginning this month. Gilcrease Museum in Tulsa.
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