Out of The Gene Pool

Out of the Gene Pool was an American comic strip drawn by Matt Janz that appeared daily in newspapers nationwide. from December 31, 2001 until June 22, 2008. The strip grew from a much earlier strip Janz had drawn called "critters" (spelled in all lowercase), where a bunch of odd-looking creatures overran a small town to the disgust of its residents. The Washington Post Writers Group, which syndicated Out of the Gene Pool, helped Janz develop the strip into what eventually became the final product.

For the final eleven months of the strip's run, Janz changed the name to Single and Looking and completely refocused the strip, cutting out many of its characters. Janz hoped that this would get more newspapers to pick up the strip, but the change did not help and Janz announced that he would stop drawing Single and Looking after the June 22, 2008 strip. In doing so, he said that while he enjoyed his time on the comics page he wanted to give his space in newspapers to comics with "actual growth potential".

Since Janz decided to end the strip, Out of the Gene Pool has continued in reruns on GoComics.com. Janz also has put out what he said will be the only collection of strips, "Big, Hairy Noses and other comical flaws"; this collection consists of what he believes are the "greatest hits" of the series.