Arlo and Janis by Jimmy Johnson for June 29, 2012

♫ ♫He’s Arlo the Sailor man! ♫ ♪

Hopefully it’s not:♫ ♪Just sit right back and you’ll hear a tale…♫ ♪

Orion

Can’t help but wonder, where’s the cat? Will he like open water?

♫ ♪ ♫ ♪ ♫ ♪ ♫ ♪ ♫ ♪ ♫ ♪ ♫ ♪ ♫ ♪ ♫ ♪ ♫ ♪

Just sit right back and you’ll hear a tale, a tale of a fateful trip,

Two guys signed bills of sale that day, in a four panel strip…

A FOUR PANEL STRIP.

The story had been getting rough, boat ownership was tossed…

If not for the clever strips that J.J. drew, the plotline would be lost…

THE PLOT LINE WOULD BE LOST…

The schooner changed its ownership, the paperwork was filed…

For Arlo… and Janis, too…

The college boy… and fiancee…

Their little girl… and the cat…

They’re all the Family Day!

♫ ♪ ♫ ♪ ♫ ♪ ♫ ♪ ♫ ♪ ♫ ♪ ♫ ♪ ♫ ♪ ♫ ♪ ♫ ♪

♫ Rock the boat, don’t rock the boat baby, rock the boat, don’t tip the boat over…♫

there are times – like this one – where silence conveys everything we need to know far more than words could ever hope to convey. Who knows what adventures JJ has for A&J&family and for us faithful followers. We wait with baited-breath. Head ’em up & move ’em out.

finally – now they can take it home and put it in the driveway like on ‘Cougar Town’

@Barry Hoskings: That’s “bated” breath. It’s short for “abated.” What you’ve said means that we’ve waited with worm breath, or whatever it is you use for bait. #everybodyknowsthisstuff

Baited breath is a cat at a mouse hole after eating cheese.

Yay Arlo! You have been wanting this during the entire comic strip!

Well, I found it touching.

FINALLY!!!!

Finally!!

How awkward would it be now, if Gene does find another gal while finishing up school?!

Finally, after all these years!

Noooooo! The sail boat plot is now ruined. For years he came close but never got it. That was the fun of it. What next, Charlie kicks the football with Lucy holding it?

BOAT – Bring Out Another Thou$and

And Luddy can sit on his shoulder :-P

The two happy days in the life are the day you buy your boat and the day you sell it.

Consummation at last.

Hey, have y’all heard this one?

A boat is a hole in the water you fill up with money!

< Ducking thrown objects >

That song can be sung to “Amazing Grace”

Can we start planning the wedding now?

In reply to a question that arose yesterday, one of the meanings of ‘beard’ is ‘one who serves to divert suspicion or attention from another.’ It’s usually applied to a woman who accompanies (or even marries) a closeted gay man, but has a more general sense. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beard_%28companion%29

Gene, as so many sons, built his father’s dream [here a boat] and now the father lives with the fruit of that labor.

Yeah, just that easy.

@Tony:FTW!!!

Orion

Tony deserves to win a Tony!

uh oh

@Tony; Props for your most excellent satire in the key of D !To the ’toon; two men, paper and pen, a handshake and no $600 an hour lawyer to bungle the deal until way past Christmas 2013..

Yes, not only are words unnecessary, but they would have been drowned out, as A&J toon ‘tators everywhere erupt in a jubilant chorus of celebration! ♪♫♪ Oh happy Day Oh happy day Oh happy happy Day; Oh happy day When Arlo bought Oh when he bought When Arlo bought The boat at Gus’s café!

It was a long time coming Arlo.

Soooo… enter “Giligans Island” scenario?

This would be a really bad example of a funny strip for anyone starting… yes, I know it’s the finishing of a long arc, but not even a crack, joke, pun, or wink!

>RING RING<

Gene? Hey, hon, it’s me.

Oh, I have some unbelievable, wonderful news! Are you sitting down?

Gene?

Gene? Are you there, baby?

Gene?

As Johnny Carson said, for Arlo, the second happiest day of his life. For Gus, the happiest.

Well done Arlo!!!!

It would be Ludwig with the baited breath, right?

The deed is done..Muah-ha-ha-ha-ha!

YAY!!!!!

If there’s one thing in my life that’s missingIt’s the time that I spend aloneSailing on the cool and bright clear waters……

This strip has a lot more to say than even what has been expressed here in the comments, sure all the jokes about getting a boat is second best to getting rid of it, etc. etc. – yes it’s something that Gene worked hard on, it’s something that Arlo is so happy to finally have, but there is also a subconscious bond being made between families – in a way that only the patriarch’s of each family can do, expressed in that handshake. Well done.

OK, there was one day in this arc where the dialog didn’t make it on line; we needed someone with a dinosaur print copy to fill us in. Is that the case here, or does today’s strip really need no dialog?

It only took like, what, 15 years?? FINALLY! Congrats Arlo on your dream coming true! (And you Jimmy, for finally writing it!). I hope this doesn’t mean the strip is nearing its end….

@night-Gaunt49Not so sure about that. Gene was a little kid in the strip 15 years ago.

I didn’t see the tenner pass.