Everybody Loves Janis
Cidu Bill on Dec 16th 2009
Okay, in the fourth panel I’m guessing that Janis means she appreciates Arlo because he’s still alive. Or something like that. and Arlo is responding that… okay, I have no idea.
And I have to say, Arlo seems to pretty okay with Janis’s implication that she’d need an Excel spreadsheet to keep track of all her former(?) lovers…
Filed in Arlo and Janis, Bill Bickel, CIDU, Jimmy Johnson, comic strips, comics, humor | 17 responses so far
Elyrest Dec 16th 2009 at 12:18 am 1
The guy who died is someone Janis knew in the biblical sense (my god that sounds silly) and I think she’s telling Arlo that she’s glad that she knows him in all the senses. Arlo, of course, knows what a catch he is and would hardly be bothered by men Janis had known before him.
A spreadsheet? Really?
Kate C Dec 16th 2009 at 12:34 am 2
I swear that there was a storyline where Janis talked about having a boyfriend who died in Vietnam. Or am I confusing this with another strip?
I also don’t get the implication that Janis has had that many lovers. The “that I know” just refers to keeping up with them, not that there’s hundreds.
Mark in Boston Dec 16th 2009 at 01:04 am 3
Yesterday we saw Arlo put the little ornament on the tree — although I don’t think Janis saw him do it. That’s something Janis wouldn’t expect Arlo or any man to do: treat the last souvenir of his wife’s former boyfriend with respect. And yet Arlo did it. What he said was, in effect, “You may be acquainted with me but you hardly know me.”
PeterW Dec 16th 2009 at 01:06 am 4
It’s too serious a time for her for me to believe it, but Arlo could be saying that there are libraries that could be filled with what she hasn’t “known” about him. (Yes in the biblical sense)
Mitch4 Dec 16th 2009 at 02:51 am 5
@Mark — That’s roughly the story and outlook of Joyce’s “The Dead”, one of the greatest of 20th century short stories (well, a /long/ short story, or novella).
Ooten Aboot Dec 16th 2009 at 06:39 am 6
My theory based on this and the preceding four days’ strips: Arlo understands how Janis earned the little ceramic candy cane ornament that her recently deceased ex-boyfriend gave her. (think symbolism - anything more would have to go to the Arlo page.) He’s saying it’s okay that you have a past that you’d rather not share with your spouse in detail; so do I. Both wisely left it at that. The following Saturday strip was unrelated.
The Bad Seed Dec 16th 2009 at 08:39 am 7
I don’t think Janis necessarily means “known” in the biblical sense (although I’m not ruling that out). She could mean this is the first person she’s known to have died who she’d been really close to, which I relate to. I’d been to dozens of funerals in my life (including my grandparents) in my first 25 years, but those of my brother and my friend Patty affected me in a whole different way. And any death of someone I went to elementary through high school with seems to hit me extra hard, even if I didn’t really know the person.
yellojkt Dec 16th 2009 at 08:50 am 8
The whole story line implies that the guy was a fromer lover of Janice, but Arlo is the one she loves now. That doesn’t dim her memory of the other guy.
padraig Dec 16th 2009 at 09:49 am 9
I thought Arlo was just trying to lighten her up with a “You ain’t seen nothin’ yet, baby” kind of remark. Good on him. Then again, easy for him to be graceful, he’s the guy that’s still alive.
Tom Dec 16th 2009 at 01:17 pm 10
Janis is something of a comics-page hottie. One might easily assume she has a litany of former lovers to keep track of.
furrykef Dec 16th 2009 at 01:24 pm 11
I don’t think Janis necessarily means “known” in the biblical sense (although I’m not ruling that out).
I’d say there’s a 95% probability that it’s what she means. The pause followed by emphasis is a common mark of a euphemism (since you’re struggling to find a tactful way to put it). And, considering that she’s talking about an old boyfriend, well, it’s perfectly applicable.
And, of course, this is Arlo & Janis we’re talking about, and Jimmy Johnson is famous on CIDU for slipping details like this past the censors.
- Kef
Twailorach Twailonic Dec 16th 2009 at 01:36 pm 12
I think Arlo’s reaction is sweet, but should be no big deal. Unless one marries one’s high school sweetheart we all come with our complements of experiences, memories, trophies, ghosts, and battle-scars. It’s our past experiences that make us who we are today, and that includes former lovers.
My spouse recently found out that not only an old lover, but the FIRST lover passed away far too young. It sad, and I found the emotional response quite understandable and was happy to be supportive.
In other words, love isn’t a finite resource. Having loved someone else in the past doesn’t mean that one loves ones current lover any less now. If anything, our experiences teach us how to be better lovers - in the romantic and the physical sense.
Jeff S. Dec 16th 2009 at 02:56 pm 13
@The Bad Seed… My parents were 40 when I was born, so I do not remember my grandfathers’ funerals, and I barely remember my maternal grandmother’s funeral. My immediate family was travelling in Europe when my paternal grandmother passed, so my dad flew back to the US to take of everything. Those were all the funerals I had been to until I was a year and a bit out of high school. One of my closest friends in the grade below mine accidently killed himself. We lived just a few blocks from each other and went to the same 1A school. It hit me HARD… still does to this day, some 30 yrs later.
Adam! Dec 16th 2009 at 04:12 pm 14
hahaha, spreadsheet
buzz Dec 16th 2009 at 05:20 pm 15
C’mon, the name of the strip is Arlo and Janis, two counter-culture idols of the 1960s (altho Guthrie’s heyday was decades earlier). I think it’s safe to assume they’d answer Jimi Hendrix question in the affirmative.
Ooten Aboot Dec 16th 2009 at 06:49 pm 16
Buzz, you may have confused Arlo Guthrie (born 1947) with his father Woody (1912-1967) whose heyday was indeed 2 to 3 decades before the 1960s.
Todd Dec 18th 2009 at 04:29 pm 17
She definitely “knew” him, in the biblical sense, as the previous strips in the arc show. It had to with a Christmas decoration, which she said she earned.