Part of the reason I gave Arlo a passion for boats was so I could draw scenes like the third panel above. The main reason, however, was my own passion for boats. I make a lot of jokes about the “Where do you get your ideas?” question, but I’ve rarely attempted a serious answer. Some ideas come from passive sources such as reading or television or conversations. However, I think the best ideas come from personal experience, or at least personal interests. I do know I’m at my best when something actually is happening in my life. It’s rather depressing how often this is not the case, but that’s another issue. Take, for example, the silly little sequence that ran the week of October 26. A month or so before that, I had been whacking at a thick canebrake growing alongside my driveway, removing dead growth and fretting about snakes. Then, through a miraculous process, the “Indiana Jones” strips soon emerge. See? You can’t really explain it.
Message Received
By Jimmy Johnson
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85 responses to “Message Received”
was indiana jones from indiana?
Why is “Tex” a suitable nickname for a guy from Texas, but “Louise” for a guy from Louisiana is not?
ida from idaho?
How about Louis Armstrong from New Orleans, Louisiana?
I suppose it would be inappropriate to ask Jimmy about the inspiration for the “handcuff key” cartoon.
Good one! Wish I’d thought of it.
A lot of writers are experiencing the same issue as you are Jimmy. My wife has had some issues with work that has caused some writer’s block, but when she is passionate about a subject the words come out easily. With working at home, the commute is eliminated and there is plenty of time to write, right? Plenty of time to write, but nothing to right about.
I have to admit that I daydream a lot when I am doing my long walks. If I had the talent to write, I would certainly have the process to dream things up. When I start my walk, I will think of something and 4 or 5 hours later, I am thinking of something entirely different! Most of it is pretty silly. Maybe I have more in common with Jimmy than I care to admit?
BTW, that was a great little series! And today’s retro, too!
There’s a great 2-week series with sailing dreams starting Aug 11 (https://www.gocomics.com/arloandjanis/1998/08/11). Spoiler alert! “Your voyage depends on how you handle whatever it sends.” Some of the best advice ever!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY emb —
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It is worth shouting about.
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I’ve never owned a boat or done wind sailing, but I can certainly live vicariously through the Arlo boat strips!
And my wife enjoyed the one above as she sometimes think I don’t listen… (and sometimes I don’t…)
Re the 11-17-20 real-time cartoon: Something I learned from dealing with my all-female staff members over the years…you know that old saying “Flattery will get you nowhere”? It ain’t true. Flattery, when done skillfully, will get you just about anywhere you need to be.
Not to mention some places where you shouldn’t be.
I wouldn’t know about that. 🙂
Good one!
Jimmy your sailing fantasy strips were highly admired by the sailing world. Not just the dreamers but the sailors. This oldie is superb and accurate and funny. You were and are the best. I know I was talking to half the small boat people in America back then. You were loved.
We miss the boat dreams.
I do, too, Jackie! I do, too. Worst creative mistake I ever made was giving Arlo his own boat. If I were truly creative, perhaps I could come up with some improbable machinations to reset everything.
JJ, just don’t declare a previous season or arc to have been a Dallas-type dream, ok?
TR– I hated when they did that to Newhart! :O
Have it blown away and sunk in a hurricane. There have been plenty lately on the Gulf Coast to justify that storyline.
Sounds like Arlo & Janis need to take a Covid-19 quarantine cruise. Let him live the dreams– sometimes dreams do come true!
Trying to sell a boat can be a long running arc and a source of much humor, frustration, hope, despair that could run forever. You and I know that.
It would also introduce Arlo searching/dreaming for the perfect smaller boat. Sailing a schoonrr is hard. Have Arlo admit it is too much for him and have him look for a .much smaller sloop to day sail.
Re 11-18-20 real-time cartoon: Sideline, nothin’! Arlo’s probably lucky that he did get arrested by the COVID Police on a charge of “Reckless Endangerment by Means of Public Sneezing”, or something.
On a more serious note, I truly hope that someone runs across this cartoon in a few years and says, “Huh?”
“…didn’t get arrested…”
I hate when that happens…
First, I really hate sneezing into a mask, which happens when I leave a building into bright sunlight. Or eat dark chocolate.
Second, I loved the series with the cops who ran Arlo in for NOT buying enough to support the economy. Or was that a dream sequence I had?
Mall cops starts 2/23/2009.
No, you didn’t. They were mall cops. In their golf cart.
Here’s some good holiday news!
https://www.ksl.com/article/50051522/peanuts-holiday-specials-to-air-on-pbs-in-deal-with-apple
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