Monday, November 10, 2008

Whine, whine, whine

We made a number of changes in our comics Sunday and Monday, dropping two comics ("For Better of for Worse" and "Ollie & Quentin") and adding four new ones. "Opus" also is history, but that wasn't our choice; his creator quit drawing it.

Already the calls are coming in from people whose lives have been destroyed by these changes, which one reader called "disgusting." Even after just two days, one caller has decided that the new strips are all stupid and worthless. And to have to go to the classified section to read "Peanuts" and "Family Circus" is apparently too taxing for some subscribers. "Why can't you put them all on the same page?"

We can't because we have added comics and they can't all fit on one page anymore. And we dropped "For Better or for Worse" because its creator has reached the limits of her imagination and decided to go back to the beginning of the serial comic and retell it. We'd like to give other cartoons a chance instead of offering reruns.

"Why don't you just keep the same comics?" a reader asked. We might, if we kept the same readers, but our readership changes every day. How many of our new readers would be satisfied with "Snuffy Smith," "Alley-Oop" and "The Katzenjammer Kids"?

7 comments:

Brant said...

I loved "Snuffy Smith." The others, not so much.

Ellipses said...

This is at least the second blog post regarding the controversy that arises surrounding the comics... It must be a splendid time we live in when people feel compelled to act on such dire matters as their favorite cartoon dog either being cut or moved in the local newspaper...

Anonymous said...

Aahhh yes, pressing concerns indeed for Washington, PA!

Glad everybody has their priorities in order...

Anonymous said...

Bring back:

Andy Capp --Drinks & beats his wife. Fits today's society.

Fritzi Ritz -- Single mom with endearing child. Fits today's society.

Nancy -- Bully named Sluggo. Who doesn't know someone named Sluggo? Fits today's society.

Archie -- Typical high school kids. Acne is their worst problem. Who doesn't know someone who wears his turtleneck pulled up over his nose? Fits today's society.

Anonymous said...

Is it possible to bring back Calvin and Hobbes reruns, or do your syndication agreements prevent this?

Park Burroughs said...

No, that's not possible. The artist, Bill Watterson, would not permit that.

Piers Baker said...
This comment has been removed by the author.