Today’s cartoon goes back to September, 1996. By then the characters had achieved their final form; that is, they looked more or less as they do today. Obviously, though, they still had their original hairstyles. For example, take a look at this cartoon from May 2, 1994. This is, incidentally, as far back as the GoComics online archive goes. In the 1994 cartoon, Arlo is fundamentally Arlo, but Janis still is in the process of evolving from earlier versions. She’s almost complete. I kind of like the gag in the older cartoon! Drawing is easy; writing is hard.