Have I shown you this? It’s an idea I was fooling around with back at the turn of the century. You know, you used to hear that phrase used a lot before the century actually turned but not so much since. I guess all that century turning could get confusing. What was I talking about? Oh, yeah… this was going to be a fanciful strip about these kids who lived in the low country, sort of like son Gene’s family now. I dug this particular one out of some old stuff a few days ago, and it’s been lying around on my desk since. So, I thought I’d show it to you. The boys’ names are Skeeter and Nat. Get it? Skeeter and Nat!! Ha Ha! There are several more of these prototypical strips around somewhere, and if I find them, I’ll show them to you, too.
Saturday in the studio
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 ...
194 responses to “Saturday in the studio”
No, I don’t get it. Unless it is some sort of bug reference. There are no bugs here at the moment. (Canada, winter)
Good cartoon, even though you chickened out on the lumps on the front of the mermaid.
John, I am so sorry for your loss. In the midst of the sadness remember the love.
David, I hope the tests are in your favor and we soon hear that your new kidney is working in tiptop shape!
I remember you once said that the Syndicates (sounds like organized crime!) did not like to run strips that were regionally based because it might only appeal to one part of the country. Personally funny is funny. But how would you have found time to do TWO strips?
Hard to believe that the turn of the century was 15 years ago (14 to some of you). That means our HS seniors have no memory of the 1990’s!
John, my heartfelt condolences. David, I know based on my sister-in-law’s transplantation, that a kidney can be transplanted anywhere from 48-96 hours after the donor’s death. Yes, there is the odd experience of waiting for the donor to die. I can only suggest to pray for God’s Will. If you receive the organ, the donor’s family will feel feel better knowing that something good came as a result of their loved ones death. So live life to the fullest!
It is an interesting strip. I wouldn’t mind seeing more. Is there any other “magic” besides mermaids?
I think a strip of Gene and his new family might make a good spin-off. We already care about the characters. And the fan base here seems to miss it when we don’t have a Gene strip in a while.
Not strange that you would pick this particular part to set your comic in. I have a good friend who is an elementary school teacher in the bend of Florida’s gun barrel shape, the kind of teacher you’d pray your child would get. Retired Air Force special forces, the kindest of the kind with kids. He has kids still living in the swamps, on shanty boats, in shacks hidden in the wild.
When Mike was in the hospital, every kid in the class drew and wrote a little get well card themselves and they were sent to Mike en mass. Boats and the water and wonderful children learning to care for the right kind of heroes. I know John Boy told them stories about Mike and his courage.
How rare to have teachers who try to teach values.
Love, Jackie
If there were no regional cartoons there never would have been POGO
I Go Pogo
Prayers to the grieving, Prayers to the suffering, and Prayers for us that never had it so good.
O/B
Interesting. Would Skeeter and Nat’s boat have had the names of people you wanted to give shout-outs to on its transom? 🙂
Lumps or no lumps, it appears whichever of the boys that is in the bow is prepared to watch the mermaid leap for a while.
Oops. Someone else beat me to the Pogo connection.
Bravo! Bravo! I go Pogo! (Wish I still had that campaign button) And Albert and Owl and all the denizens of the swamp.
My current possum I am feeding is of course Pogo. Very handsome possum.
John, my thoughts and prayers are with you.
David, I’m praying for the best possible outcome for your kidney transplant.
Jerry, I knew you were joking! A friend of mine in Florida, a transplanted Michigander, told me that some recent, harsh winters had been rough on Florida natives.
Jackie, please contact your physician today about your blood sugar levels so that timely changes can be made to your insulin schedule, your diet, and your activities. Besides the life-threatening aspect of low blood sugar, brain cell loss can occur. You’re right that activity levels and stress are factors. You will benefit from the input of experienced medical professionals in balancing this equation. You do know your body best, and I apologize for taking this liberty. Please know that I am prompted to do so though a serious concern for you. As my Mom’s sole caregiver, I had experience with extreme blood sugar levels.
You’re welcome. Or something.
http://news.yahoo.com/vomit-charlies-sudden-friends-staff-cartoonist-163403612.html
Jackie: “How rare to have teachers who try to teach values.”
Maybe not so rare, and maybe not so good when some do. I did it a lot, but probably half or fewer of them realized it. They knew I went to church, but also that I treated all equally.
They knew that, if an Hh woman married an HY man [h = the allele for hemophilia, Y is the Y chromosome, which makes you male, but has no H/h locus], any daughters would be carriers, like their mother, and the chances were 50:50 that a son would be a hemophiliac. Then I asked, should they have kids? I didn’t provide an answer, but they learned that decisions have results. I am blessed with a Hh DIL who has no children, I think / deliberate choice by her and that son. She has sisters by the same hY father, and recently a grandnephew was born who is hY.
Similar questions / ecologic realities, overpopulation, pollution. I often pointed out that one job of a liberal education is not to make you more comfortable, but to teach you what the choices are. Another is to make your life richer, whether it be Shakespeare, classical music, or germ theory. Also, of course, there were students who perceived a conflict btw. science and faith. They knew I was open to one/one discussion about that, and often we were both enriched.
Peace, emb
Yeah, I didn’t say it was right, I was just mentioning some short-sided comic executives. I remember Snuffy Smith as a kid too. I suppose BC is kind of another one.
Jackie stress can greatly alter the insulin levels, so I would at least consult with a Dr. or Diabetes support group.
My daughter drove from Chicago to Royal Oak and I forgot that she was coming. When I heard about the huge 193 pile-up on I-94 between Kalamazoo and Battle Creek that included a truck loaded with Fireworks catching fire (Ironically near Climax, MI) I emailed her and she texted me and said she was on I-94. We figured out another route and she would screen shot her location off the Map on her phone so that I could figure out if there was any accidents along the way. She made home in time for dinner, but 2 hours late.
To John in Richmond, Texas — my sympathy for the death of your wife. I hope your family and friends can help you get through this sad time.
Steve in Royal Oak, my goodness, what a hair-raising story! I’m glad your daughter got home safely. Now I am worrying about my daughter and her husband who are are driving from Buffalo to Chicago today (Saturday). The weather radar shows all clear if they made it out of Buffalo okay … lake effect snow there apparently.
You all are going to have to laugh at me. I made a list of the six specialists I see to control my diabetes and assorted body malfunctions. Put it on a legal pad and got ready to schedule them all, heart, eyes, endocrine specialist, autoimmune, my biopsy on my thyroid, sleep study.
All the stuff I let slide some while Mike was so sick.
Picked up phone and looked at date and info on phone, realized it was Saturday and everyone was closed!
Nope.
I didn’t know that was a US expression. Thank you. To me, the “low country” is the Netherlands.
I miss Pogo, it was one of those gems that could be taken on a very cerebral level, or at a very basic level. As for Barney Google and Snuffy Smith it is still out there, I read it every day. I enjoy it more because I live in the Appalachians and am very familiar with some of the stereotypes it uses.
Gnat- a biting insect that gets you in Florida, worse than mosquitoes. Some people call them “No seeums”.
One is named Skeeter for the mosquitoes, the other one Nat for the gnats that sting you.
Love, Jackie
Miss Snuffy and Loweezy. Is it on net or in your paper?
I grew up with all my relatives being like that strip, so I found great humor in it, it was so true. Preacher riding the mule? Even the way they dressed.
The Appalachians came to Louisiana about 1800-1810 and settled in the middle of the state in Winn Parish where the hills, dirt, rocks and pine trees were like “home”. They kept the languages and habits too including the log cabins, design styles, everything.
Love, Jackie
I was wondering if this strip was done before or after the depiction of Janis as a mermaid (or was it a siren)?
Dear Jackie, good that you are working on the medical checkups. Isn’t it always the way, when someone needs to see the doctor or book appointments, it’s the weekend! Happens so often. Monday will be here soon and you can make those important phone calls.
I liked Li’l Abner a lot, growing up, and preferred it to Snuffy Smith or Barney Google. Better drawing, wildly unlikely and hilarious plots, endlessly different characters. But perhaps you folks who live in the South didn’t find it all that funny … too close to the bone as some would say … let me hear how you feel about it?