Arlo and Janis by Jimmy Johnson for March 25, 2022

Look at her eyes! Janis thought she was making a move but got blindsided by the plans Arlo already has.

Adm. Ackbar knows how this turns out

Well, it could have been worse, Arlo. You could have said, “I tell my friends you are going to have my baby.”

Where does that candle disappear to and reappear from?

Arlo certainly wasn’t shy back then.

Signed and sealed.

A simple “Thank you for dinner” would have sufficed.

I love the range of emotions in Janis’ face. Those expressions add to the story of the strip.

Sometimes the kiss of death to a relationship. I got scared off a couple of times.

I think Janis can see the future (panel 3) and realizes Arlo IS going to marry her. Anyhow, the girls perked up. Now that is settled, back to beer and pizza.

Well, Arlo, being the first date, it was a strange thing to say. Glad she didn’t run away thinking you were not a cute weird hippie anymore but only a weird. Ah, the joy and power of love at first sight. :D

His statement in panel 2 made the whole world disappear.

The missing candle in panel 2 is the “defect of the day” – if you spotted it first, you won the prize.

“I’m still here” spoke volumes.

…and decades later…

Not a line usually successful on a first date.

Once I asked a girl I started dating why she cut her fingernails so short. It was from a habit of biting them. 36 years later she still bits them but I don’t ask anymore.

Want to have some fun? Click the ‘all the way back to the beginning’ button so see how the strip started out.

Arlo is faster on romance than Earnest T. Bass, needs to throw a rock through her dorm room window and start courtin Janis!

Janis in 3rd panel…wide eyed and listening!

My wife and me were love at first sight. Just like the romance novels, I guess. I have never read one but I have seen Hallmark movies at someone else’s home. I saw her at a community center and was stricken when we locked eyes. Apparently the same for her. I don’t know what came over me but I walked up to her, took her hands in mine and said “When can we get married?” She did not run or get mad or anything. She looked up into my eyes and said; “I graduate college in two months.”

Two months and two weeks later we were married. We had one date, the night we met. I saw her next on our wedding day (I had to go back to Camp Pendleton until then). Her parents were furious and wanted nothing to do with it, so we married at the Camp Pendleton chapel. My first sergeant gave her away. Twenty-five blissful years and several children until she passed away in her sleep from an undiagnosed (naturally) aneurysm.

So there really are unicorns out there, but they are as rare as people say. I was blessed. I’m just waiting for my time to come so we can be reunited.

His way with words, man—I’m just giggling here.

I would give up my paychecks for the rest of my life if I could get married. (Think for a minute…)

The candle’s still there…. it’s just a POV change from the opposite side of the table – it’s actually Arlo & Janis who swapped seats for a moment! :)

Another eerie parallel. This strip reminds me of my girl (together 51 years now) and I. We ate at Le Petite Village in Berkeley. The wine-jug candle with wax flowing out on the table kept everyone from seeing the piles of dust and cobwebs everywhere. Good food, though.

Generally, love bombing does not lead to a good relationship. These two were very lucky. Generally when a person comes on strong early on, they are manipulators, among other icky traits.

“I’m still here.” means “NOPE.”

Ok – I gotta ask. When did she die her hair from black to brown?

She’s still there. Maybe she’s been thinking the same thing.

After this dinner, whose place are they retiring to for the night?

[sings] “And then I go and spoil it all by saying something stupid, like ‘I love you!’”

Arlo is so subtle…