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Jimmy,

I see that your current strips appear on a different Web site (comics.com). Are you under any restrictions from United Media when it comes to what strips you can post on arloandjanis.com? Thanks!

--Rich

Rich, that is a very good question! The site to which you refer, comics.com, is the official United Media site, home of today's A&J strip and many other worthy features. Arloandjanis.com is a personal site maintained by me, the guy who creates A&J. I didn't actually ask United Media for suggestions when I began this little project, and so far they haven't bothered me with any. Some people have suggested I add a link to the day's current strip at comics.com, and I may do that soon. However, for the time being, I've been content to do my thing and let them do theirs.

I will say I have always found my editors at United Media to be reasonable and tolerant.

I deeply suspect that you have hidden cameras all over our house.  How else do our conversations make it into Arlo & Janis word for word?  For instance, the cat cartoon posted today happened to me just last week (and uncountable times before that)!

My husband first started noticing this a couple of years ago and would email me asking, "Why did you tell Jimmy Johnson about that argument we had last night?  Now he's published it for the whole world to read!"  It took me months to convince him that I wasn't to blame, that Mr. Johnson must have somehow gained access to our apartment and planted spying devices in every room.

'Fess up, Mr. Johnson.  We've looked for the cameras everywhere, but so far you've been too devious for us. 


--Claire

Claire, the cameras and microphones are under the dresser. You know, where you never dust.

Mr. Johnson:
 
   For a while I was very frustrated and angry at you.  Now I'm just very sad at the state of your comic.  Arlo and Janis used to have vibrant and wonderful story lines that gave rich, full lives and personalities to the family.  Now you do cat jokes week in and week out.  I'm puking up fur balls!  I trace the decline to right after your characters came back from Cuba.  I don't know if you got heat for that series and now have just given up or what, but I'm sure I'm not the only one writing to you about the sorry state of your strip.  When the Far Side went into decline he quit.  Might I make a suggestion...?

--Larry
 

P.S. I also found the series where Arlo hated the dog Gene was sitting to be very offensive.  You just trashed the Arlo character completely.  To have him so mean and cruel to the dog was just stupifyingly wrong.

Several of you have written mentioning the Cuba series, and I will get around to running some of it one of these days here on arloandjanis.com. That series produced--by far--more "snail mail" than anything I've every done, well over 90 per cent of it appreciative and in support of restoring Americans' right to travel.

I don't have time to dig it out, but a few years ago, Arlo and Janis (not just Gene, per se) sat a dog for friends. One other person, besides Larry, has written me to say Arlo was cruel to the dog. That person suggested I have the cat run over by a car for laughs.

I challenge anyone to show me a cartoon where Arlo was cruel to the dog. He did treat the dog to the same, acerbic spoken comments to which he treats the cat. And he did give Gene some cavalier advice about walking the dog, and he received his come-uppance in the form of a visit from an animal-control officer.

And good luck with that fur-ball problem, Larry.