As soon as I mentioned how hot and dry it had become, the dam broke—which is a good thing. Almost 2.5 inches of rain fell on the flowers and vegetables in my backyard last evening, and now tropical moisture is in the mix. Maybe August won’t arrive until August after all.

Action figures, especially of fantastical creatures from movies like “Star Wars,” were a big deal when the above cartoon appeared in 1987. Looking through these old Sundays for the first time in a long while, I’m struck by what a different strip A&J was back then. The writing wasn’t as fresh and clever as I remembered, but the artwork wasn’t as bad, either.