This classic A&J comic strip, from 15 years ago, is the first in a worthwhile little sequence. As usual, all the strips can be accessed by clicking on the link beneath the cartoon. The coloration of the strips in this period was mediocre. I have never laid blame directly on the anonymous minions who colored my work after I’d submitted it to my editors, and I am not doing that now. To be honest, theirs literally was a thankless task. I am chronically up against deadline, which didn’t give them much time, and I did not provide a lot of guidance myself. (We’re talking about coloration of daily strips here, not Sundays.) For a long time, the coloring was not important to me. This might seem strange, but I have to admit I was stuck in the past. At that time, not a lot of newspaper clients demanded colorized daily strips, and they paid the bills. The Web was, well, the Web; it wasn’t important to me. Newspapers still pay the bills, for now, but I’ve come around on this. A lot of editors now expect color comics seven days a week, and many, many people view my work on the Web. It grows more important every day. Plus, I decided it is a good idea to put my best foot forward wherever I go. I now color the daily strips myself, although I still work on deadline and don’t give myself time to do my best. Karma truly is a bitch.