A pithy comic strip about life, love, lust and puthy cats.

Est. 1985

Extra, Extra!

Forward to the Past

By Jimmy Johnson


Buy the new book, "Beaucoup Arlo & Janis!"Today's "Arlo & Janis!"
I scanned this old Sunday this morning, just for you. I drew a lot bigger back then! It took two passes on my 11X17 flat-bed scanner to get it all. That is the very reason I began drawing smaller, shortly after this cartoon appeared in 1995. It was about that time I started scanning the daily cartoons and digitally transmitting them to my editors in New York. I started drawing smaller so I could scan a cartoon in one pass of the scanner. It was sometime later before I began transmitting the Sunday cartoons, because they simply were too big to transmit by dial-up modem. As it was, I remember it would take 12 to 15 minutes to transmit six daily cartoons. Now, it takes about three seconds.

Recent Posts

Ghost of Christmas Past

This holiday Arlo & Janis comic strip from 2022 is similar in concept to the new strip that ran yesterday. I thought the latter ...

Spearhead

I have produced a number of comic strips related to Veteran’s Day. Especially in latter years, I have tried to emphasize the universal experience ...

Dark Passage

Remember: it’s that weekend. The return to standard time can be a bit of a shock in the late afternoon, but I rather enjoy ...

What’s old is old, again

You don’t have to be a rocket scientist to build a web site, but there are similarities. Everything needs to be just right, or ...

Back to the ol’ drawing board

I don’t have a lot of time this morning. I wasn’t going to post anything, but I’m tired of looking at that old photograph ...

Thursday’s Child

On Sunday, I teased you with the suggestion there are more changes coming here. There are. They will appear soon, and I think you’ll ...

314 responses to “Forward to the Past”

  1. Jackie Monies Avatar
    Jackie Monies

    HEY, I got to see it! Checked in just in time!

    Jackie

  2. Jerry in Fl Avatar
    Jerry in Fl

    I think that I missed it.

  3. Jerry in Fl Avatar
    Jerry in Fl

    Looks like a lovely day for the race though.

  4. Jerry in Fl Avatar
    Jerry in Fl

    Ok, it was an old joke, but then so am I.

  5. Jackie Monies Avatar
    Jackie Monies

    About St. Augustine, doesn’t grow well north of Dallas, doesn’t grow way up here (another zone higher) at all. Houston, Dallas and south cannot live without St. Augustine in their perfect yards.

    I met a sweet older lady in a garden center here who lived in one of Houston’s oldest and most exclusive neighborhoods on a couple of acres. She wistfully commented that her husband kept talking of retiring and returning home to our area of OK. She said she’d waver about it until she remembered Bermuda grass and the total lack of yardmen and landscape crews.

    Only Tulsa really has any semblance of that civilization.

    Love, Jackie

  6. Jerry in Fl Avatar
    Jerry in Fl

    I’ve always had St. Augustine, but I’m tired of fighting fungus. I’m doing centipede in the new lawn.

  7. Mindy from Indy Avatar
    Mindy from Indy

    Oh! St. Augustine is a plant! I wondered why you all had the patron saint of brewers in your yards.

  8. Jackie Monies Avatar
    Jackie Monies

    Thought about that for about 5 seconds while typing it, that some would think it was like burying St. Joseph upside down in your yard to sell your house.

    Maybe that is the answer for the fungus that plagues the grass down in Florida, bury a statue of St. Augustine upside down under the turf to get him to cure the grass!

    Heck, I just want to kill all the Bermuda, etc. in yard and install rocks like they do out in El Paso and New Mexico, Arizona! But I know no matter what I do the neighbors’ will contribute poison oak, poison ivy, Johnson grass and a host of thousands of weeds due to wind, birds, washing rain flow, etc. I had a grass spraying company turn down doing my yard because they said I’d blame them!

    Probably would, too.

    Love, Jackie

  9. Ghost Rider 6 Avatar
    Ghost Rider 6

    I suppose you could just 86 the greenery altogether and go Japanese Rock Garden.

    http://phototravels.net/japan/pcd3860/rock-garden-tofukuji-5.3.jpg

    Ask NZ in AZ about her lawn.

  10. Jackie Monies Avatar
    Jackie Monies

    Too Zen for here. A dog would come scratch it up or more likely a cat.

    And a snake would wiggle thru and mess up patterns.

    Love, Jackie

  11. Mindy from Indy Avatar
    Mindy from Indy

    I remember reading a bit about a lady who was trying to sell her home. She bought a St. Joseph to help, but kept getting varying accounts of how to place it. She tried all of them to no avail. She finally got annoyed and chucked it. Two weeks later, she read in the paper the local landfill sold.

  12. Jackie Monies Avatar
    Jackie Monies

    That is funny! Daughter buried St. Joseph, house took forever to sell, she moved, didn’t unbury St. Joseph, had to go back and sneak into yard and unbury him, clean him up.

    Idea seems to stem from superstitions about “torturing” or “punishing” Saints to make them grant your appeal. Never having done so, I have no idea but you can even buy St. Joseph “Sell Your House Kits” on line shopping sites.

    Love, Jackie

  13. David in Austin Avatar
    David in Austin

    Dropping by to say hello. Nothing going on here of note, so no news. Haven’t disappeared, at least yet.

  14. David in Austin Avatar
    David in Austin

    The “here” referenced above is my physical location, not a commentary on the electronic community on the blog…

  15. Ghost Rider 6 Avatar
    Ghost Rider 6

    Was anyone else as amused as I by Gene’s “deer in the headlights” expression in today’s (3-16-14) cartoon? I can think of a couple of reasons why he might look that way. Anyone else have a thought on that?

  16. TruckerRon Avatar

    It looks to me like a laid-back male has married an obsessed gal with control issues! Yep, that’s the look in his eyes!

  17. Debbe Avatar
    Debbe

    Good morning Villagers…..

    Sideburns….you don’t, I was being facetious (there’s ya a $50 word for the day 🙂 ). I thank you for serving our country and I am glad the government has instituted the VA to take care of our veterans. It beats the alternative….which I am still toying with, Obamacare!

    My husband is disabled and draws Medicare, but he does not qualify for any Medicare supplements until he reaches 65. He qualified for disability benefits immediately without any hearing. Yesterday, he went to see a bone specialist, had X-rays taken, and they found two dark spots on his hips. He is now scheduled for an MRI…..we have to pay the remaining 20 percent. That hurts when one is also on a limited income.

    Enough of that……

    TR….you nailed it, couldn’t have said it better.

    Read the comments this am over on Dark Side, and GR got them started. one is saying the third panel (which shows a bird flying) may signify a stork….gosh, what kind of coffee do they drink?

    GR 😉 I don’t think bourbon on Cheerios would be tasteful, in more ways than one. But now Kahlua is a different story…and that’s a story from some 40 years ago. Man, those were the days.

    Jackie…you have to figure out how to post pics when your flora fauna is completed. I love wildflowers, and you belong among the wildflowers (yeah, I know, there’s a song there 🙂 ).

    later……………

  18. Debbe Avatar
    Debbe

    Indy Mindy…ever try this, think I will just for grins and giggles……

    https://i.chzbgr.com/maxW500/8318672640/h9DF6A799/

    I’ve brought home some feathers from work and have tied them to a string….at the age of nine, my Snowee can still jump….not as high as she once could, but it’s good exercise.

    =^..^=

  19. joe-boston Avatar
    joe-boston

    JJ- Where are you? Very few daily updates in last few months!

  20. TruckerRon Avatar

    Debbe, I also am disabled and on SSDI because of my weird heart arrhythmia. In my state I have the option, which I chose, of selecting a Medicare advantage plan. It is better than most traditional Part B plans; it limits the out-of-pocket expenses with a lower deductible and reasonable co-pays. This year the premiums for it are withheld from my SSDI before I ever see it and are costing me just $109 each month.

  21. Llee Avatar

    Jimmy, how goes the wine making? Love the heron in today’s piece… and those silly kids 🙂

  22. emeritus minnesota biologist Avatar
    emeritus minnesota biologist

    OF predicted to erupt at 9:27pm CDT ± 10 minutes, but it looks to be going to start sooner.

    http://www.nps.gov/features/yell/webcam/oldFaithfulStreaming.html

  23. emeritus minnesota biologist Avatar
    emeritus minnesota biologist

    Started about 0910, winding down now. Few spectators this early.

  24. sandcastler™ Avatar
    sandcastler™

    Jimmy not ‘The Rendezvous’, reminds me of a club I use to frequent. I second the heron, nice surprise panel or whatever it is called.

  25. Jackie Monies Avatar
    Jackie Monies

    Sandcastler, “The Rendevous” was also a club we used to go to when I was in college but it was set up as a supper club and night club for the more affluent citizens of Monroe, LA, not college kids.

    Something’s never change! Trite names for southern towns’ locals, I guess. Fifty years later.

    Blue Heron or something like that is more creative.

    Love, Jackie