Arlo and Janis by Jimmy Johnson for September 10, 2012

In two strips in a row, Mary Lou’s pointed out that this is her idea, her wishes, and Gene is either incredibly distracted or is trying to distract himself. What’s really going on here?

Janis is taking this better than I would expect, but her last question has a sword’s edge to it……and look what it does to Mary Lou’s eyes…..

I agree with Tony. While JJ has written her as superficially likable, there is an undercurrent of selfishness that is disturbing. “I – WE knew exactly what we wanted”. The original pronoun is the operative one.

I don’t know, but I think a lot of guys would rather prefer a small wedding with the less fussing about the better. Maybe just going to a J.P.

Gene’s already zeroed in on the whole situation. Wedding is just a formality to him. He’s started his “life everafter”.

When I married my wife she already had the big wedding with her first husband. So our wedding was small and the most expensive things were the bed and breakfast rooms and her ring.

and you could have recycled the old ring….lol

My daughter and son-in-law did this very same thing. They planned a big 4th of July party with closest friends and family and it turned out to be a very well planned “secret” wedding. Only 3 people in the whole place knew what was going on before hand (they helped with the planning). It was terrific! I sat in the back just to watch the faces of everyone there. First there was shock. Then awe. Then, depending on the person, either joy or utter disbelief. LOL

I don’t see selfishness it this at all. There is no way Gene wants a big wedding and they certainly don’t owe one to Janis. Mary Lou is too practical to want to blow a wad of money on a big show.

Why is Mary Lou’s top purple?

Interesting use of visual metonymy in panel 4: Gene is pointing at his wrist, even though he does not appear to be wearing a wristwatch. I’ve stopped wearing one myself, since there are clocks everywhere I go: on my phone, in my car, on my computer, on my TV, and they all keep better time than my old wristwatch.

I’m still wondering if this might be caused by the “romp” they had back at the first of June….

My wife and I got married in my parents back yard, probably less than 50 people and it was over by 5:00PM and cleaned up by 6:00PM. Probably spent less than $500 for everything. Best $500 I we ever spent, going on 36 years.

A small wedding best in this situation.

catman, me too…

Jus’ wundrin’….but, where do you draw the line between a selfish woman and a strong woman? Or a practical strong woman?……

“I think that Janis’ statement about a “hassle free wedding” being a romantic illusion is right on the money.”.Exactly. And that seems to me to be the point of this strip.

We told a few of our family about a day before we went to the JoP. Worked out best for us. My shoes were the most expensive thing besides my ring (which was in the 100 dollar category, not 1000 dollar category).

Yep, “I”. Mary Lou is getting comforable and letting her guard down.