Arlo and Janis by Jimmy Johnson for July 08, 2013

Arlo came that close to breaking the fourth wall

And there’s no plain to ex-time it!

Kind of like the time sequence in Pleasantville. One weekend in “real” time could equal 4 years in TV time.

Come on, Arlo. You’ve got all week.

So actually only a real life week has passed since we’ve seen Gene and his new family?

Brilliant!

Hit me right where I laugh!

uh oh! Arlo’s getting meta!

He has all the time he needs to explain it, since time in the comics can be expanded or contracted at the whim of the cartoonist. (Good call to NOT have Arlo explain it!)

I have enjoyed comic strips since the 1950’s and my tastes are very eclectic (you know, I like different kinds of strips), . I really liked Calvin and Hobbes, I really like Frazz (note the juxtaposition!!!), I’ve followed Brenda, and Gil and Winnie, Moon and Mandrake, Orphan Annie and Annie Rooney, Terry and Dick, Charlie Malarkey and Charlie Brown. Dilbert because I live that life every day. And the odd ones no one remembers like Smidgens and PJ McFey. But I have an especial affinity to strips that try to take into account real life, show character growth, and wink occasionally at the audience. Not like Dondi who was stuck in 3rd grade and 1958, like forever, but like Walt Wallet and Skeezix (who is my living mother’s age), Chipper and Clovia, their relatives, friends (and with people who actually pass away) and their real life adventures, even the weird one or two. Arlo and Janis is my current favorite because it meets all that, and today’s strip is the epitome (look it up) of all that I like. (reminds me of a ‘madcap Manhattan weekend’)

So Arlo has confessed a isn’t a real person after all…. wow! What next? Superman, Dagwood, Aunt Fritzi?

Uh oh, he’s on to us!

It can be a day or a minute, depends on the comic and the particular arc.