Talk is Cheap

by Jimmy Johnson


Buy the new book, "Beaucoup Arlo & Janis!"Today's "Arlo & Janis!"
It started over a week ago, with a few days off in Little River Canyon. The Little River in the northeast corner of Alabama is unusual, because it’s one of the few rivers anywhere that runs most of its entire course on top of a mountain ridge, in this specific case, Lookout Mountain. In the process of doing so, the river has cut one of America’s deepest gorges east of the Mississippi River. Google it if you’re interested. Anyway, I was in a rented cabin without so much as a cell-phone signal. Sure, I could have dragged myself out of my ravine and found a signal, but I was taking a few days off. Then, immediately upon my return, real life struck back with a vengeance, and that consumed a few more days, but here I am.

I’ve written here a lot about the ideal comic strip being a marriage of drawing and writing, and it is true. However, in the early going most of Arlo & Janis leaned heavily on the writing, for that is what I was trained to do. The above Sunday comic from 1994 is an illustration of that. It makes a pithy and, I think, worthwhile observation, but it is simply dialog. Written down, without cartoons, it could be understood. As spoken word it could be understood. Just because it was given to Arlo to deliver the lines doesn’t make this a bad comic strip, but a comic artist shouldn’t rely on this sort of thing every day. Keep in mind, by the way, that when this was drawn, I was referring to Phil Donahue and Geraldo Rivera. Most Americans had not yet heard of Jerry Springer and his imitators. Sometimes, I truly despair.

64 responses to “Talk is Cheap”

  1. Jerry in Fl Avatar
    Jerry in Fl

    There are also comments down from the day’s current strip. I know that some of you put comments there and I tried to find out if everyone was having the same problem but no answer. Oh well. Can the proper authorities please put a better lock on JJ’s chain so this doesn’t happen again?

  2. Jerry in Fl Avatar
    Jerry in Fl

    Lily, you are correct. That won’t kill anything.

  3. Bill Avatar
    Bill

    Gosh, televisions were wide in 1994!

  4. Ghost Rider 6 Avatar
    Ghost Rider 6

    I wondered why my doc told me, if I used hydrogen peroxide, to dilute it 1:1 with water and use very sparingly. I checked Wikipedia and found this: (with citations)

    “Historically, hydrogen peroxide was commonly used for disinfecting wounds, partly because of its low cost and ready availability compared to other antiseptics. It is now thought to slow healing and lead to scarring because it destroys newly formed skin cells. Only a very low concentration of H2O2 can induce healing, and only if not repeatedly applied.”

    So I guess pouring it right out of the bottle onto a wound and doing so frequently may not be the way to go.

  5. Ghost Rider 6 Avatar
    Ghost Rider 6

    Bill, if you meant TV’s were thick, front-to-back, in 1994, you were correct. I recently replaced an old and little used 20″ “flat-screen” CRT set in one of the bedrooms. It was 26″ in depth and weighed at least 50 pounds. Its replacement was a 23″ HD wide screen that seemed to weigh about 5 pounds.

  6. Lilyblack Avatar

    No, like the article says, dilute it 1:4 with hot water and then soak it. No isopropyl alcohol

  7. Ghost Rider 6 Avatar
    Ghost Rider 6

    Thanks. Maybe that will help the dead skin slough off, too.

  8. sideburns Avatar
    sideburns

    Thank you, Sandcastler. The stone (3 cm) is being removed Wednesday morning. Rosh Hashonah starts at sunset and lasts until sunset Friday. (…and the evening and the morning were one day.)

  9. Lilyblack Avatar

    Sideburns: God watch over you.

  10. Debbe Avatar
    Debbe

    Good morning Villagers….

    What day is it? Hump day for some of you. Same BS, just a different day. Loved hearing my rooster crowing yesterday morning….but, it keeps it up, may have to move him to a bottom tier.

    GR 😉 thanks for the ‘tune’, and the “oozing” details of your infected index finger 🙂

    Gotta go….

    Ya’l have a blessed day….

    Oh, did any of you read about the woman from Florida who had a third breast implant? Pokies 3 will be the title of her reality TV show….seriously????

  11. Debbe Avatar
    Debbe

    Sideburns…..a prayer for your quick recovery, and you too Steve………Amen

    TR…thanks for that link.

  12. sandcastlerâ„¢ Avatar
    sandcastlerâ„¢

    Sideburns, speedy recovery. Should you wish a sixteenth century view of bladder stones, Michel de Montaigne wrote a pointy essay on his personal experiences. Probably best read post recovery.

  13. Galliglo from Ohio Avatar
    Galliglo from Ohio

    Prayers, Sideburns…

  14. Llee Avatar

    Little River sounds (and looks, via Nat.Parks website) really really cool. Thanks, Jimmy, for widening the world a bit more!