Big Al's Dog

Big Al loves his dog!

I came up with this idea by thinking what it would be like if someone brought their dog to school. Back then? In the late 1970s/early ‘80s? It was a weird idea! Now? Not so much. “Support dogs” are often allowed in places where pets were forbidden in the 20th century. Not sure so much if they are allowed in class at middle school.

Facial expressions and emotion are a key to my humor. I directed a lot of plays and performed a lot of improv comedy in high school and for a year afterwards. Acting taught me a lot about doing physical comedy (I.e. slapstick, like I mentioned last week). Often, it’s the delivery more than the joke itself that makes someone laugh.

One of the important elements in this comic strip (to me) is Joe’s reactions to what happens in the classroom: He is uncomfortable about Al’s dog, which adds tension to the situation. It’s also (hopefully) amusing that the classroom teacher, Mr. Fotz, tries to be accepting of “his new student.” And of course, by introducing the “Lord of the Flies” book early on (that miserable excuse for a book we were all forced to read every year) and the idea of “children turning into animals” is meant to ratchet up the stupidity of the situation.

Although this wasn’t the funniest JOE comic strip of all time, I like to think that it did the trick: Short, stupid and amusing. After all, if it wasn’t? Jovial Bob Stine would never publish it in Bananas magazine, right? So I hope you enjoyed it.

In other news, I hosted a party for the new issue of PUNK magazine: The Every Loser/Iggy Pop magazine. People are going nuts for it. Seriously, this is one of the best issues of PUNK I’ve ever created, Iggy’s new album is IMHO his best solo album (Funhouse can never be beat, of course), and if you do not immediately purchase a copy you are missing a great opportunity.

BUY IT NOW at:

https://store.iggypop.com/

I will be posting some photos from the party event and other promotional stuff here, and on my blog (johnholmstrom.com). A lot of things are starting to happen at PUNK Magazine HQ! So please stay tuned.