Arlo and Janis - Content - Physical Attraction

Physical Attraction

Many of the most notable jokes are based on sexual attraction, especially Arlo's desire for Janis. Despite having been a couple since meeting in college in 1973 (a backstory revealed in a series of strips that also functioned as a parody of the book and film Gone with the Wind), Arlo and Janis are still besotted with each other. The libidinous content of the strip can be surprisingly overt to readers accustomed to more sanitized newspaper comics. And in a medium where long marriages are often presented as either sexless or antagonistic (The Lockhorns, Andy Capp, etc.), these strips that show the couple's love and ongoing attraction to each other offer an alternative.

"There has always been knowledge of sex in Arlo and Janis, and the fact that married people have sex," Johnson said. "I think it's silly to ignore that humans have sex. It's like ignoring eating and sleeping." Johnson also wrote, "I'd be willing to bet you five dollars I was the first cartoonist to depict a couple exchanging sexual fantasies in bed."

On the "Comics I Don't Understand" website, "The Arlo Award" is given to a cartoonist who slips something past the syndicate censors.

Janis's negative body image has been a popular topic over the years. She sees herself as at least a little overweight, and unworthy of wearing a two-piece swimsuit. Arlo, on the other hand, persistently tries to convince her to put on the bikini again, and he once realized that based on this schism, one of them must be insane.