There absolutely is nothing noteworthy about this old A&J strip except it gives me something to talk about this morning. In the course of preparing these posts, I look at a lot of old work; it isn’t my favorite task of the day. Many times I come across something that, today, makes no sense to me at all. Too often, the explanation is that it makes no sense; other times, it is because the old strip was topical, as in this comment on the passing of film critic Roger Ebert. This morning, I had to stop and think what I was getting at seven years ago. But I don’t mind topical humor. We’ve talked about this before. Given the choice (if they are the only two) between drawing a pedestrian comic related to some current event, thereby given it a shiny new sheen (see above), or doing another Arlo-isn’t-listening-to-Janis gag even if it might be funnier, I’ll choose the former. However, topical cartoons don’t hold up very well over time, but when one produces a daily comic strip, it is a price worth paying, I think. Besides, I can use the Arlo-not-listening gag the next day!