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!”
Black Is the Old Black
By Jimmy Johnson
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62 responses to “Black Is the Old Black”
Aha! I am not only person here who read Apt. 3-G but not for same reasons, apparently!
No, I agree with Jimmy totally on this one, including last sentence.
Village, let’s all laugh a little and Ghost, this is your wakeup call!
http://www.gocomics.com/arloandjanis/2012/10/18
Thanks for locating the old strip, Dan. Both strips are bona fide classics. And what is it with men that they can “hear” lingerie being slipped on and show up just at the opportune time. It’s true! They must have another sense that we gals are missing. Not fair.
It took only 23 minutes, Jimmy!
Well of course Janis will be in a state of undress….She needs to try on Robin’s clothes.
So is Robin married? The story line reminds me of an episode of Tim Allen’s Last Man Standing where Patricia Richardson (who played his wife in Home Improvement) moved in next door and the show was full of references to Home Improvement. Almost feel like Robin may be in a parallel universe. I think that it will be a great story to follow.
Free the nipples!
Debbe
Thanks for the info
We “sent them for pot pies”
And we did not need fumigation in those days – we soaked and scrubbed nest bottoms, new excelsior, sprayed nests and belts, cleaned and sprayed floors.
When first married came home from dehorning heard of beef cows – wife took all clothes and
threw them before I got in house.
Mark TT
Still have 3 Oscar Brand LPs from long ago, of the bawdy song persuasion.
emb
Were you in MN 50 years ago on the 17th? My introduction to MN. (Just started at Winona SC) New out of the Army I was looking for places to hide from shovel detail.
@Village Loon and JJ,
I Symply have the evidence. Just got back from an extended holiday(5 Fargone weeks) without much connectivity(by choice)…have not been lurking at all ately and I return to a discussion about one of my most treasured pieces of art that is from our genial host JJ! It is framed and a most beautiful rendition of Janis from a certain angle that clearly shows the what Arlo is so happy to perceive from his vantage that we so sorely lack due to censors!
@the Village
An oddity regarding the dateline:
It was odd leaving at 7 PM Saturday March 7th from Auckland, 20+ flight hours later we arrive in Boston on Saturday March 7th at 9:45 PM(2 hours and 45 minutes after we left Auckland), I go to bed, wake up the next day at 9AM , set all the clocks ahead 1 hour for daylight savings time…..and realize that it is not Monday the 9th, but Sunday the 8th! I have a concert to go to that night with New Riders Of the Purple Sage. Got to bed at 1 AM that night……
I am one of those that has that ‘perceived’ reputation that I am still trying to get rid of.
I remember that strip from 2012, but I don’t remember the “underboob” (and I would have noticed it), so I’m guessing that it was whited out for the newspaper. If so, shame on the editors.
” 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?”
Well, because we live in an uptight society with unrealistic views on morality. At least we don’t make our women wear beekeeper suits. (Yet.)
Two of Ghost’s favorite cartoons show up on the same day…there is a God! And why shouldn’t there be more cartoons of Janis dressing and undressing? I’d suppose she does each at least once a day, even when she’s not trying on a lot of new (to her) clothes.
Also, it’s good to know that, as recently as a couple of years ago, Janis had the superstructure (and the confidence) to eschew a bra when she so decided. I feel quite sure she still does today. But I still wouldn’t mind some empirical evidence of that. 😉
Jimmy certainly knows how to get us out of the winter doldrums… well, at least the men!
Well, Gal, just consider this A&J’s equivalent of Sports Illustrated’s winter Swimsuit Edition.
But there’s always the possibility of a story-line where Arlo joins a gym and gets ripped working out, thereby providing some eye candy for the ladies when he appears in his drawers. 🙂
Gene Rodenberry wrote about his battles with the NBC censors back in the 60’s. The costumes for his female actresses could have their delcotages cut almost to the top of th nipple without a coment from the censors. His biggest battle, though was over one costume that covered the young lady up to her neck but revealed less than an inch of “underboob”.
I found this line in one of the Vorkosigan novels by Lois McMaster Bjould: “Reputation is what people think of you; honor is what you know about yourself.”
sideburns, excellent books, as are the Honor Harrington series. Have you read any of Charles Stross’ works? He started out as an IT specialist and got into writing. In particular I like his Laundry series.
OF due 1445-1505 CDT. nap. emb
http://www.nps.gov/features/yell/webcam/oldFaithfulStreaming.html
Methinks Arlo popped in about 15 seconds too late…!
No, not yet, Mark. I just finished re-reading The Cosmic Computer by H. Beam Piper. BTW, I name my computers after places you can’t visit, and my laptop’s name is barrayar.zeff.us.
“emb Were you in MN 50 years ago on the 17th? My introduction to MN. (Just started at Winona SC).”
That would be 17 March ’65. We moved here in Sep. ’58. Robins were often back by then, and one year we got about 20″ of new snow in mid-March. Got into the 40s F today, with some sun. Lots of lawns are bare. Neither saw nor heard robins today.
Peace, emb
“Perhaps the promise of spring can give me some much needed energy.” It worked for Nanki Poo and Yum Yum, not so much for Koko. Nap! emb
sideburns, the Laundry series is sort of H.P. Lovecraft meets Len Deighton, or John LeCarre with some dry, offbeat humor thrown in. Give one a try. There are a couple of short novellas in ebook form.
Harking back to those Rich’s and Davison’s newspaper ads of yore, you weren’t looking at women in underwear. You were looking at women in body stockings with the bras and panties work over the body stockings. Don’t believe me? Go look at the online archives!
Jimmy, I remember complaining to you once that Janis doesn’t have enough junk in the trunk. But that’s a discussion for another Day.