Yesterday, July 29, 2015, marked 30 years of Arlo & Janis in newspapers. It’s an understatement to say the big anniversary bash was low key. Oh, months ago there were big plans, but the best laid plans of mice and men aft get knocked into a cocked hat. I confess to a certain ambivalence about the whole thing. To survive and thrive for 30 years in the newspaper syndication business is a rare accomplishment. Conversely, bragging about how long one has been around in the syndication business is tantamount to bragging about how lame and irrelevant one has become. That’s not always fair or true, but for some it is the consensus. I do want to say that I feel very privileged. I love what I do. Who wouldn’t? And I thank all of you who have made my livelihood possible over the years by reading Arlo & Janis and encouraging me. I consider it a personal favor, which I will return by drawing the best comic strip I can.
They Suit Horses, Don’t They?
By Jimmy Johnson
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177 responses to “They Suit Horses, Don’t They?”
Happy Anniversary Yesterday
My 33rd wedding anniversary is tomorrow. Would you mind sending my wife a note that I had something planned but “but the best laid plans of mice and men aft get knocked into a cocked hat.”? lol Coming from you it will seem quite fitting as she has sworn that she has spotted your peeping eyes looking through our windows!
Thank you for 30 years of A&J!
Congratulations, Jimmy, on 30 years. Your dilemma over how much to-do to make is noted! It is on par with birthdays and wedding anniversaries: On the one hand, we have accomplished much to get this far, on the other hand, some of that accomplishment was due to circumstances beyond our control. So how much do we whoop it up? My only answer is: When people start being embarrassed for you, you’ve gone too far.
Here’s to many, many more years of Arlo and Janis!
Best strip ever, and that includes Bloom Co. and others.
Peace, emb
Thank you Jimmy… for the strips… and setting up this lovely Village… we love you!
THANX!
Congratulations on a truly momentous anniversary and milestone, Jimmy, no matter how you choose to interpret it.
Now, get back to work cranking out those cartoons we know and love so well. 🙂
Congratulations and thank you for Arlo, Janis, Luddie, et. al., Jimmy!
I wish more newspapers had the wisdom to carry your work – c’mon L.A. Times!
Conversely, bragging about how long one has been around in the syndication business is tantamount to bragging about how lame and irrelevant one has become
Don’t agree, you are neither lame, nor irrelevant. Happy 30th. Now can I kvetch about a lack of story with one ‘toon or t’other? Love your work. Still looking for my A&J tshirt.
Congrats Jimmy! And thanks for A & J!
Did you ever think that scratching ink on paper would lead to a career lasting three decades and counting? Congrats on a very successful run.
Friends of ours celebrated their 30th wedding anniversary just a few days before your momentous anniversary- I still can’t believe what is so clear on my memory took place so long ago! But when dealing with good things like friends, marriages, and life’s pleasures (such as a well written comic strip), time slips by too quickly.
BTW JJ, thanks for the fan service in the anniversary strip: full frontal nudity! 😉
My, my. Seems some over on The Dark Side get really exercised if the free ice cream machine is not open here every day.
The Love Is… kids display a certain lack of, shall we say, anatomical correctness, which regrettably carried over to the depictions of our two favorite characters here. Although I see that, following the source material, Janis has chestular features and Arlo does not. I wonder if there is some cartoon convention regarding the portrayal of those particular accoutrements.
Congratulations, Jimmy! Happy 30!!
Thanks for all the fish! (Hopefully not a reference lost on everyone!)
Thanks for letting us into your vision of life and the world, since it strikes a chord with all of us and we feel like we are not the only ones who feel like that!
@JJ
Absolutely Fargone, 30 years of having you peeping through our Fargone windows to how us the foibles and vagaries of our generation has been comical, whimsical, poignant and instructional at times, I salute you on the past and eagerly look forward to the future!
BTW, I recently was asked if I wanted a newspaper delivered in our new area from a local company…I said yes, they only have 5 Sunday comics; gratifying to see you are in the Massachusetts publication”Milford Daily News”
@Mark in TT(did I get that right)
Thanks for the link to the motorcycle place in Alabama, now I have another place to go.
Nyce being back for a bit…..until the next time I am Symply Fargone!
Thank you for all of the wonderful strips that really do seem to mirror our lives! The two that I try to never miss are yours and “Love Is”, interstingly, so I found yesterday’s strip perfect!
Rusty
It only seems like a couple of years ago that you were celebrating your 20th. I was still gainfully employed at the time, and remember seeing the 20th anniversary strip at work. I am retired now, and am hoping that it will be a long time before you retire, as a major project of everyday is now checking the daily strip. Have a great year.
bill
Arlo and Janis is a GREAT comic strip, and consistently so over the course of its first 30 years! THAT is a tremendous accomplishment. I’ve gotten countless smiles and chuckles from reading it daily, but also thousands of insights into human behavior and my own mind and life! THANKS, JIMMY!
Ah, dear Jimmy, surviving and thriving as long has you have in the hostile environment of newspaper funnies is quite noteworthy. It is not as though you have spent 30 years on Wayne’s World broadcasting to an eight-block radius. You have reached a lot of people and they have enjoyed your work.
Would you have ever thought 30 years ago that you would celebrate the date of completing 30 years of A&J by drawing your eponymous characters with full frontal nudity? =O 😉
It doesn’t feel like I’ve been reading A&J for 30 years, but certain;y for a long time, so maybe so. At any rate, I’ve enjoyed every day of it and had many of those days seem like you’ve been watching us ala The Truman Show. 🙂
Jim, just don’t make it “So long and…”
Symply, good to see you again!
Ghost and everyone else, 🙂 !
Seems like yesterday. You just keep getting better.
Ooops, not your wedding anniversay? Or birthday?
Love Jackie
Just popped in to say congratulations!
Also, I believe at 30 years you have officially earned tenure, and can thumb your nose at all editors and censors, drawing anything you like. Pretty sure that’s the code. 🙂
Peace,
-McD
Dear Jimmy, have enjoyed reading A & J for many years, in the Boston Globe, and my late husband Chris did too. He was especially taken with your series inspired by your father’s experience in WW 2. Exactly the same thing happened to him while he was in the Army, in combat in France (or maybe Belgium or Germany.)
Many thanks for your terrific imagination and good drawing skills.