Today, I’ve chosen another really old A&J for you, from 1987. I talk a lot here about the evolution of my drawing and sometimes about the evolution of the writing, but I don’t think enough is made of how much the personality of the characters has evolved over time. Arlo and Janis both have become familiar, knowable individuals. In the early days, as in this cartoon, nothing defined the players beyond an air of whimsy that always has existed within the strip and married-couple banter, hopefully from a fresh perspective—mine—but still married-couple banter. The development of the characters is, of course, a reflection of growth in drawing and in writing, yet it’s more: while a sum of the whole, it almost is a separate metamorphosis, the satisfying outcome of the cartoonist’s craft.
Punch Line
By Jimmy Johnson
Recent Posts
Ghost of Christmas Past
This holiday Arlo & Janis comic strip from 2022 is similar in concept to the new strip that ran yesterday. I thought the latter ...
Spearhead
I have produced a number of comic strips related to Veteran’s Day. Especially in latter years, I have tried to emphasize the universal experience ...
Dark Passage
Remember: it’s that weekend. The return to standard time can be a bit of a shock in the late afternoon, but I rather enjoy ...
What’s old is old, again
You don’t have to be a rocket scientist to build a web site, but there are similarities. Everything needs to be just right, or ...
Back to the ol’ drawing board
I don’t have a lot of time this morning. I wasn’t going to post anything, but I’m tired of looking at that old photograph ...
Thursday’s Child
On Sunday, I teased you with the suggestion there are more changes coming here. There are. They will appear soon, and I think you’ll ...
252 responses to “Punch Line”
Ruth Anne. now that you mention it, I realize that many if not most of the jokes I know I first heard in high school and college. (And the dirtiest ones, too!) I don’t whether to praise myself for my memory or condemn myself for all the time I wasted back then. 🙂
Remember…
The Navy Rules
Put to sea.
Drink coffee.
Deploy Marines.
Drink coffee.
Recover Marines.
Drink coffee.
And Debbe 😉 , you shouldn’t post things like “nip in that there cup” out of context for me to find while I’m drinking a cup of chai.
Yeah, but what about the redheaded Army brat with Air Force uncles who marries the Navy man whose parents (yes, his mother, too) were in the Marines?
🙂
USMA, USES,
GO ARMY!
SINK NAVY!
Siri, that should read, USMA, USRA!!!”
Sorry, I left off a “Drink coffee”.
The Navy Rules
Drink coffee
Put to sea.
Drink coffee.
Deploy Marines.
Drink coffee.
Recover Marines.
Drink coffee.
Jean dear, seems to me you have all the bases covered, all by yourself. 😉 Also, “Redheads Rule!” 🙂
But of course, so do blondes and brunettes. And everything in between. What about gray or silver, you ask? Just shades of blonde, as far as I’m concerned. 🙂
Gray – what gray-
That is just feed dust in my hair.
Debbe: Yes.
Not plugging any particular airline, but Lufthansa has put together a then-and-now slide show to mark 60 years of operation, and I thought it might be of interest to those who like aircraft (as I do) and are nostalgic (as I am).
http://www.lufthansagroup.com/en/themen/service-is-our-tradition.html
Ghost, shorter and simpler: Women rule!
Good one Ghost
Would be nice to see some of the original employees if they were still around.
From the 80’s anyway.
This gives a whole new meaning to the expression “spilling your guts”. : http://apnews.myway.com/article/20150612/us-odd–truck_spill-chicken_parts-da2e022a46.html
And it’s been near 90 here for over a week!
GR6, thanks for sharing the Lufthansa link. Especially the one with the photos of a smartphone, was unaware the Germans where that far advanced in 1955.
sand, I believe what the 1955 Lufthansa stewardesses are looking at is a B&W Polaroid print one of them snapped of their cute Co-Pilot during their overnight layover. The 2015 Flight Attendants, on the other hand, are looking at a full-color HD video one of them recorded of their cute First Officer during their overnight layover.
Just for the record, I cleaned that up considerably prior to posting it.
1) where s/b were, Siri needs to stop jumping to conclusions.
2) GR6’s tale would be more reasonable if you reversed the player’s role in the filming activity.
3) how does an old AF type know about the actions of the less glamorous civil types?
4) did he spill coffee or egg salad on his post?
More likely a sloppy chili dog.
1) One word…edit 🙂
2) Query Loon ref “gender equality”.
3) Stories. Lots of stories.
4) Ghost is exceedingly careful to avoid spillage at all times.
Debbe, I hope that things are a little better at work. Here’s my favorite chicken joke-two chickens keep checking books out of the library. Finally the librarian decides to follow them. They go to a pond where they give the books to frogs. The frogs throw the books away exclaiming “red-it, red-it”.
All the convenience store posts reminds me of walking in on robbery in progress in Houston before cell phones could not get pumps on, no one could answer help button. Went in and no uniformed clerks. Two guys in muscle shirts and a lot of gold jewelry behind counter. Couldn’t operate credit card machinr, asking for cash, store full of bit ching customers oblivious to robbery in progress
Got out and found pay phone to call in, then called corporate of store chain. Report I got was clerk tied up in cooler while till and safe being emptied and I hope it was true and not dead clerk. They’d hang around get cash from customers and take cash from safe too.
The scary thing to me was no one else noticing.
Jerry, must not be French frogs, seeing as how they have more brains than legs.
Which (you guess) reminds me of the elderly lady who left the grocery store and found four strange men sitting in her car. She put her groceries down and pulled out her pistol. She screamed at the men to get out of the car which they quickly did and they ran off down the street. Getting in the car she found that her car key would not work and she then noticed her identical car three spaces away. Feeling extremely guilty she drove to the police station and confessed her error to the officer at the front desk. He broke up laughing and pointed to four men a few feet away who were reporting a carjacking.