Welcome to a week of Gene, starting with his 1996 “introduction” to his soon-to-be girlfriend Ruth. Yes, the “other family” within Arlo & Janis is back in the current strip after a lengthy hiatus. I’m glad they’re back. I’ve missed them, as I know many of you have, because you tell me so, sometimes in no-uncertain terms. I deliberately gave them a rest; well, as much as I “deliberately” do anything. This gave me a chance to let some stale old story threads expire and, hopefully, restored my enthusiasm for the coastal crew. This is important, because concentrating on son Gene and his young family really is like drawing a different strip, and a different kind of strip at that. I’m going to talk more about this in the coming posts. I think we’ll have an interesting conversation.
37 responses to “Moment of Ruth”
But what about Arlo’s sailboat? He now owns it!
I agree that Gene is like a totally different strip. And that might be a good thing. Good luck as I always liked Gene. He is a bit like Arlo and a bit like Janis. Not sure about Ludwig though.
I’ll look forward to more adventures.
Yes, the boat! The boat!
Ruth was a feisty, passionate lass. She just sort of passed from the storyline…
This is in contrast with Susan (the girl in the first thought balloon), who callously dumped Gene and moved along without a second’s look back, causing him serious sadness. Of course, the last look we had at Susan at this website was the strip of August 16th, 1995 as she moved closer and closer to Gene in the darkened movie theater. What happened then?? Alas, there is but a single week of August 1995 strips online, and it is not the week with Susan.
Might we get to see the rest of that episode? *Puss In Boots Eyes* 😀
Peace to everyone. Prayers for the lost love ones and for all who need them or not.
JJ, Glad to have Gene and his family back. They are a welcome break for you and us. Received a political cartoon from a friend in PA and on the back was Arlo & Janis! I think it was from the Pittsburgh area where they live. If the local paper had A&J, I might subscribe to it. I was among your first runs with the Auburn-Opelika News back when. Heading to the Loveliest Village in a couple of weeks for the A-Day Game. We’ve been on a college football fast since November.
God bless us every one.
It’s sometimes a bit hard to tell in the comics universe, but it would be fair to assume that Arlo and Janis are midrange-Boomers and Gene and Lou (as Gus calls her) are midrange-Millennials. So yes, a strip about the youts would be an equine of a dissimilar hue.
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CW29085WoAAtpIy.jpg
Didn’t Gene date a girl named Retta (or something like that) once upon a time?
I don’t know about Gene, but Jimmy did.
R.I.P Patty Duke
December 14, 1946 – March 29, 2016
Very happy to see that Jackie posted this morning, Tuesday. They are too busy for hospitals, and she will see an orthopedist when she gets back to Oklahoma. If she had really dislocated her hip, she wouldn’t be able to get up and walk around, even, so I guess it’s not as bad as I feared. I hope she isn’t in so much pain, anyway!
GR6, has cousin Cathy posted anything on Patty’s passing?
Jackie has first available appointment with her Orthopedist Wichita is Thursday, April 14 which is traditional last frost date in Oklahoma for gardeners. I am thinking lower vertebrae because it hurts down thigh, in hip joint and now into bottom of right foot.
And making me nauseated.
Yay, Jackie [not a dislocation, and knows the difference btw nauseated and nauseous]. Peace,
Jackie, vertebral compression fracture without trauma is always a concern for “people of a certain age”, especially women. (Both my parents experienced them.) Hip, abdominal, and thigh pain may be symptoms.
Been there, done that, had the physical therapy. Not fractured, just displaced disk, which resolved itself with PT and exercises. Same symptoms, except nausea. First time, don’t know what happened. Second time, carrying 2 small suitcases down long flight of stairs from Chicago EL station to street level one-handed while holding stair rail with other hand.
Get well soon, Jackie!
Patty Duke was only 69 and it hit me really hard when Garry Shandling died, he was only 66. He was one of my few really favorite entertainers, that I really cared about to follow, maybe just also Albert Brooks. I saw Garry Shandling at a benefit once, during the height of The Larry Sanders Show, he was absolutely great.
John, we are arriving at the age when the body rules us. I was discharged from the hospital on Saturday after my longest stay ever, six days. Feel like I aged two decades in that time. Slowly recovering. Have a months worth of follow-up visits with specialists, trying to determine why my body crashed.
Sand, glad you are recovering, albeit slowly. Yes… many of us are of an age when body parts start wearing out. Better to wear out than to rust away!
We are rapidly losing some of the big ones and I think that we will have some shockers this year. Debbe, thanks for the cats. Mine missed me for a week and they are staying close. Even the macho man Elvis is climbing in my lap while we watch tv in the evening.
We had a county officer shot in the line of duty earlier in the month. (Whatever night I had to pull that third shift.) Today was his funeral and procession. One of the local high schools, where he was a security officer, held the services. They were turning people away. Over six hundred emergency vehicles of some stripe from four states, the police security detail, and the VFW security detail, plus the family and friends od the officer. The procession was over an hour long. Three news helicopters, coverage from the cemetery at 5am!, a media circus, all in all. The final turn was at my store’s corner. Some mild ugliness in my lot, and some idiot robbed a bank down the street.
It was an incredible sight, but it had to be exhausting for the family.
Greetings and good wishes as needed to all, agreement on Gene’s blond (??!!) hair, and to all those who know how to use correctly nauseous or nauseated.
I suspect the problem with Gene’s hair is that it’s been so long since he last appeared here, the colorists have forgotten what color it is. Or, more likely, there’s been a 100% or greater turnover in their ranks.
http://www.gocomics.com/arloandjanis/2015/03/16
Oh, and Arlo…what exactly are the rules to that game? And how is the winner determined, hmm?
Debbe 😉 The ultimate pop piano man. This is a very well done video, too. I had somehow never seen it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gxEPV4kolz0
That video brought back a lot of memories of people and places and situations, from hours spent on both sides of the bar. All those hours were pure gold for an indefatigable people watcher like me.
GR6, have seen the video before. For me, it ruined my illusion and ratcheted the song down on my playlist.