Monday, April 25, 2011

Ham

10 comments:

The Digital Hairshirt said...

Honestly, I wish I had heard this line when my mother, then 79 years old, was dying of cancer back in 2008. She would have laughed her ass off. And repeated it to everyone she met thereafter.

Stilton Jarlsberg said...

@Digital Hairshirt- I'm sorry for the loss of your mother. She clearly had a wonderful sense of humor and would have understood the (admittedly unusual) "hurt till you laugh" idea behind Johnny Optimism.

I lost my own mother a year ago, the day after first casually imagining the "Johnny Optimism" character. In the wake of that loss, I produced several hundred of these cartoons as a way of keeping a grasp on life's funny side even in the midst of pain. Which, in one way or another, we all have to do from time to time.

Incidentally, despite the stockpile of cartoons, I continue to produce new ones all the time. I can't help it; I just love the little guy.

Shayne said...

Ba-dum-dum! Very ouch (like always)!

Stilton Jarlsberg said...

@Shayne- Yes,"very ouch" sums up most of these cartoons pretty well!

I must admit that I enjoy the ones where Johnny takes a shot back at "Braces Girl." She always delights in goading him, and it's the only time we might ever see Johnny firing a cutting remark... he's too sweet and innocent to say anything hurtful on purpose unless pushed pretty hard.

Still, as others have wondered, is this genuine animosity between the two...or a flirtatious spark? Even I don't know yet; part of the fun with a strip like this is once the characters start getting well-defined personalities, they tend to surprise me as much as anyone else. I just happen to be the first guy who gets to read the strip!

Jamie said...

You said that before that it is possible Braces Girl is just bad at flirting. That should probably be amended to "REALLY, REALLY, REALLY bad at flirting".

Also, you're new widget is either the funniest thing I've seen all day, or the most depressing.

Jamie said...

AGH "You're" instead of "Your". All my worst typos happen on this site! Clearly Johnny's horrible situation is eeking out and infecting my fingers (seriously, that happens, I read something just like it in a Batman story once).

Stilton Jarlsberg said...

@Jamie- Frankly, I don't think she's flirting. I think she's mean. But then again, I could be wrong.

Glad you noticed the new "Last Laughs" widget! I'd like to add some more things to the site to make it more fun to visit. And the "funniest or most depressing" quandry suggests that it's a good fit.

By the way, the widget is free for anyone to copy if they'd like to add it to their blog (hint, hint).

Suzy said...

With Johnny's great luck, the little girl with the dolly will be "flirting" more so than the braces girl. Which is pretty scary. But which pretty much fits Johnny's life I guess. haha.

Stilton Jarlsberg said...

@Suzy- There are a number of women in Johnny's life: the girl with braces, the girl who is a constant (and possibly dangerous) companion to "Mr. Duck," and the girl who enjoys finding terrible things in her medical book. Are any of them destined to get closer to Johnny?

It's hard to say, but according to Woody Allen "the heart wants what it wants." Of course, he said that just before marrying his ex-wife's adopted daughter who he'd been shooting naked pictures of, so maybe he's not the best guy to dispense romantic advice.

Suzy said...

Oh was it a Duck? Sorry I thought it was a Doll...whatever...the little girl who reads too much Stephen King....haha.

Well, I will stick around to find out!!!