billr sends this in: “Is ARLO still a category?”

Excellent question for discussion! Societal norms have changed a bit; I note the increased presence of gratuitous @#$% and $%^& ) in casual speech (with the words, not the @##$ euphemism, in a way that would have had the nuns kick me out of school until I brought my parents and begged for reinstatement. Similarly, as comic strips have depended less on newspapers and more on other outlets, implied or implicit Arlo material seems to have become much more common.

Sometime back, we awarded 9 Chickweed Lane a permanent ARLO award, which it richly deserves. But then, is Brooke McEldowney really sneaking over anything on anybody? Or has his syndicate just decided it’s a popular strip that’s making us money, so let’s let him do soft porn?

So, the ARLO category hasn’t been abolished, but I (editor zbicyclist) haven’t been tagging things as ARLO much.

In this case, Pam and Fred could have been inebriated co-workers discussing other co-workers in disparaging terms — and including the big bosses in their disparagement. But probably not.

Here’s another example from Sally Forth, a strip with began in the simpler (for comics) times of 1982.

I’d be interested on what others think.