Black Watch

by Jimmy Johnson

Buy the new book, "Beaucoup Arlo & Janis!"Today's "Arlo & Janis!"
Today’s retro strip is an old classic that I know many here won’t mind seeing again. As for yesterday’s A&J, the strip that apppeared in newspapers, I said I would tell you something about it. I hope I didn’t oversell the thing; it’s not a big deal. However, many of you seem to want to know how things work. Yesterday’s strip was a good example of a cartoonist pulling one out (insert your favorite metaphor). I wanted to do a strip about the arrival of spring. I noticed it came early on the calendar this year, but I couldn’t really think of a joke. I normally work fast, but I was stuck. I even drew the characters in position, with no gag, no words in their mouths. Frustrated, I put it down and went to work on other strips. Finally, with deadline looming and the other five strips in the can, I picked up the strip and, voila, Janis spoke her lines. OK, it’s not the greatest comic strip ever, but that’s not the point. It’s a good comic strip, one that was nothing one moment and finished the next. Trust me. It could have been worse.

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