Arlo and Janis by Jimmy Johnson for May 30, 2012

Each day is the first day of the rest of your life. Enjoy it you two.

So where’s the kid? She’s the 800-pound gorilla in this relationship.

What I like most about Arlo and Janis is that Jimmy isn’t afraid to just throw family comedy strip conventions to the wind and do whatever he wants. When was the last time you actually saw a Background (or that Foreground) in a daily, especially given the size constraints?

Look at it this way kid, you’ve loved her for years, might as well accept it and live with it.

I disagree; he’s not fearful. It’s exactly as Gene said last week, a long standing argument. She mentioned Gene finishing college while he countered that’s she is not very spontaneous. It’s not the first time they’ve brought up these topics up in their relationship.

Meg is with Grandpa. Gene and Mary Jo need some time alone.

I think the surprise twist is that there’s actually an 800 pound gorilla in the bushes behind them. Grrraaahhrrr!!!

Remember, Mary Lou has had to make real decisions in the long term. She’s a bit a head in that area and has learned about impulsiveness and its costs. And it’s not the things that are the same that make a relationship great. It’s the differences.

Pogo is my favorite for scenery.

Mary Lou, make sure you give him the freedom to be a man. You don’t really want to be married to a wimp, do you? And Gene, remember to your dying day that she’s the girl you fell in love with, and always be as quick to forgive and forget and as anxious to please, impress, and delight as you were before the onset of familiarity.

Hmm… I say spanish moss, not kudzu. Since when does kudzu leave ANY part of the tree it’s on visible? ;-)Of course either one suggests somewhere southeastern. I’ve been wondering where the strip is supposed to take place; has it ever been established?

I think the uprooted tree in the third panel is significant. Passing by it reminds them how even things with great potential can be uprooted and destroyed. Probably provided impetus to have a good heart to heart conversation in the final panel to try to avoid experiencing an “uprooting” of their relationship.

It looks like instead of ‘talking’, there will be some ‘listening’. It’s always the most important part of a conversation.

Enjoy the picnic guys!

i figured the location in the mid Atlantic region on the coast. Delaware, Maryland, Virginia and the Carolinas have a similar look in geography and vegetation.

It looks like Spanish moss to me too….is there Spanish moss near the Gulf coast?

He’s had feelings for her since they met on the beach many years ago.

Sorry but I have always hoped they’d break up. It is too much for him at his young age. And he never got to have the “college experience.” He needs to live and have his own life. Speaking of which, why don’t Arlo and Janis have any friends? That has always bothered me. They are booorrring – especially Arlo – all he does is ruminate on the different ways he is getting old. Ugh.

Strip today reminds me of Pogo. Walt Kelly was a masterat that kind of stuff.

I see no one seems to think it an issue that they’re picnicking in the road?? Maybe a truck ran over the gorilla.

In sequence:block supports on the house, tall pines in the background, spanish moss and a lonely road to the east with no shadows. I’d surmise it ‘The Talk’ somewhere along rte. 90 miz’sippy or north Florida coast, source of the best crab cakes around. (but I still get sick even smelling them)

They’re not in a road, they are on a beach… that’s sand.

Thanks to all for pointing out the Spanish moss. Of course, it should be gray, not green. At least not bright green as it is here.