When I wrote this in Decemberish, I really thought this'd fit in like four panels, at most...

But when I was laying out the dialogue, I just couldn't get it to flow in less than eight. I might have been able to do like six with a few that were just really heavy with the balloons, but I wasn't happy... I'm still not super happy.

This strip exists for the play off of the John and Jack Sr. strips we've got on the other half... if those didn't need the bounce that this gives, I'd have scrapped it and done one of the next strips that would have worked in three or four panels.