Jim's Journal
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Jim's Journal is a comic strip written and drawn by Scott Dikkers, co-founder of The Onion. The strip first appeared in the University of Wisconsin The Daily Cardinal newspaper in 1988.
In 1990, Dikkers assembled the best of the Jim's Journal strips into a collection, I Went to College (and it was okay) [link], self-published at first, then distributed by Andrews McMeel. Four more collections followed: I Got a Job (and it wasn't that bad) [link], I Made Some Brownies (and they were pretty good) [link], I Got Married (if you can believe that) [link] , and finally I Feel Like a Grownup Now [link] , also available from Andrews McMeel.
The strip
On the flyleaf of the first Jim's Journal collection is a felt-pen drawing of a nondescript young man sitting at a desk and writing in a notebook. Above him are the words, "I'm Jim. This is the journal of my day-to-day life."
And that's just what the strip is: nuggets of experience, not processed by Jim, but merely recorded as he moves passively through his world. No context is provided, though anyone who's been to college, worked a minimum-wage job, or lived in a rundown apartment building can supply it. Jim and his friends muddle through school and a series of dead-end jobs, have vague dreams (never seriously attempted) of working in the entertainment business or the space program, and share thoughts such as "I don't think life is absurd or meaningless. I think it's funny." In Jim's world, it is enough to simply exist, and order a pizza once in a while.
The humor
Dikkers' purpose was to parody the typical four-panel comic strip, creating a character-driven strip with a main character who had no discernable personality, observational humor that provided no insights, and no comic timing, just strips that ended without a gag, or sometimes without even a conclusion. Dikkers calls this style anti-humor, "creating humor by poking fun at other humor". (Dikkers, 1999)
Some readers were indeed amused by this anti-humor, seeing in it a reflection of their own uneventful lives. Others struggled to analyze it and find a deeper meaning, similar to the meaningless profundity found Zen koans. Some were angered by what they saw as a joke at their expense; when the strip was syndicated in other college newspapers, some students at the Kansas State University distributed "Kill Jim" t-shirts.
Characters
Jim
It's tempting to describe Jim as a slacker, but since slackers are generally marked by the creativity they exhibit in avoiding work and responsibility, he is excluded from that definition. He is an almost completely passive person, speaking little and almost never initiating conversation, content to go to school or work, come home, and occasionally venture out in the company of his few friends. He is a keen observer, though he seems to lack the capacity to draw conclusions about what he sees.
Tony
Jim's college roommate, and later off-campus apartmentmate. Tony is impulsive, often trying out new lifestyles and hobbies, but his short attention span and low threshold of disappointment prevent him from making any major changes. He loves practical jokes, but lacks the knowhow for them to succeed, and appoints himself expert on many subjects, though his attention span for other peoples' interests is slight.
Tony was the (stereo)typical college student: drinking and partying, trying to cram an entire semester's worth of work into a week, and hopelessly pursuing girls who dismissed him as immature. After college, he was unable to find a job that would let him use his economics degree. After a long tenure at his older brother's shoe store, he moved "up" to selling cable TV subscriptions over the phone.
Ruth
Jim met Ruth while working at McDonald's. She is cheerful and kind, if a bit overbearing, and easily the most mature and responsible character in the strip. She was made crew chief at McDonald's, and after graduation, found a job in her chosen field as a dental assistant.
Late in the strip, she and Jim were married, though Jim never documented any change in their relationship before the wedding. Since then, she has devoted herself to the roles of wife, wage-earner and homemaker, and has been gently trying to influence Jim to be more ambitious.
Steve
Steve was brought into the strip as a third roommate when Jim and Tony moved into their off-campus apartment. He attended the same high school as Tony, a year behind him. Steve was intimidated by the college experience at first; it has never been made clear whether or not he graduated, nor what job he holds, if any. His fondness for junk food and junk TV led to an iconic strip panel, in which he sat in front of the TV eating cereal right out of the box.
Steve strives to be intellectual and creative, without much success, but his native intelligence puts him ahead of Tony, who once tried to play a practical joke on him that fell utterly flat. At times, he exhibits some whimsy, climbing a tree "because it would be fun", or cracking jokes that no one gets except him.
Mr. Peterson
Jim's cat. Steve returned from his hometown with a kitten, who he named Mr. Peterson for no known reason. When he attempted to have the cat neutered, Mr. Peterson was revealed to be a female, but her name was not changed. When the three roommates took separate apartments, she became Jim's cat by default.
Work
Jim works a series of minimum wage jobs. He initially applied at McDonald's as a way of meeting people and filling downtime, and quit at the end of the school year. Early in his sophomore year, he was called back to McDonald's, then, after leaving college, applied at a bookstore, where he worked for a short time before being laid off. His longest-lasting job was at a copy store, where he once envisioned a bleak future as the manager. At Ruth's insistence, he left the copy store for another dead-end job at a grocery.
We were never told what Jim's major was in college, and he has never expressed a desire to pursue any particular line of work. No mention is made of a budget and whether his income is sufficient without his parents' or wife's assistance. The impression is that Jim works simply because that is what people do.
Recreation
Jim has no hobbies to speak of, only occasionally joining Tony or Steve in a game of basketball or billiards, or reading Trivial Pursuit answers for hours at a time. Entertainment for him is either reading a book (at someone else's recommendation), watching a movie, watching Mr. Peterson, or sitting in front of the TV, flipping channels.
References
- The Pretty Good Jim's Journal Treasury. Andrews McMeel, 1999.
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