Whose strip is in and who go the boot over the Labor day weekend (UPDATED)

There were several shake-ups on the comics page in newspapers across the country over the weekend. I’ve compiled the list of which features are out, in, and under evaluation.

First up:  San Diego Times-Union has picked up Stephan Pastis’ Pearls Before Swine – which takes the place of Frank & Earnest.

The Austin American-Statesman has been rotating in features in the Boondocks space since April.  They’ve run Candorville, Tina’s Groove, Prickly City, and Six Chix. Now it is Cory Thomas’ turn with Watch Your Head.  Readers are asked to write in with comments about their favs. In October one of the above mentioned will get a more permanent spot on the comics page.

The Daily Press in Hampton Roads, Virginia is bringing back Peanuts after dumping the feature in 2002. Most of the reason is logistical – they’re squeezing six pages of Sunday comics on to four pages and they’ve reduced the sizes of all the features, but need one vertical strip which Classic Peanuts offers.

On the flip side, readers are being asked whether The Flying McCoys or The Middletons should be dropped because they are not offered in a vertical format.

The Appeal-Democrat in Marysville CA, has dropped Baldo and picked up Mark Leiknes’ Cow and Boy citing Baldo’s low score in a recent readers survey. Cow and Boy was picked up to “introduce some fresh faces to the Comics page.”

And I saved the best for last.  Phil Heron, editor of the Delco Times (Delaware) openly admits:

I am not, nor have I ever been, a comics person. Oh, I know what strips we run, but I donâ??t read them every day. The truth is I donâ??t read them at all. I suppose back when I was in college, I paid some attention to Doonesbury, but thatâ??s about it.

As a non-comics person, he had the audacity to drop “The Phantom” during the middle of a climatic episode in the serial in order to pick up Mark Tatulli’s Lio which was esteemed to be more appealing to the younger crowd.  The Phantom crowd came out of the woodwork – mostly older readers.

What to do? He brings back The Phantom and axes the next feature in line (Broomhilda) to see what kind of reaction it gets. So far, he reports back that nobody cared. Broomhilda is gone. Lio is added and Phantom fans save their feature for another day.

UPDATED: Lio’s Mark Tatulli writes in alerting me to another newspaper that has made some major changes to its funny pages.  The Gazette (Canada) has dropped Herman, Garfield, Beetle Bailey, Adam and Sally Forth.  Also, Wizard of Id, Hägar the Horrible and Real Life Adventures will no longer be in color and Blondie has been moved from Saturday to Sunday.

On the flip side, Between Friends, Non Sequitur, Rhymes With Orange, Dog Eat Doug, Pearls Before Swine, Lio and Pooch Café have been added to the paper.

45 thoughts on “Whose strip is in and who go the boot over the Labor day weekend (UPDATED)

  1. That brings the score to

    Phantom fans: 1
    Uncaring, Non-listening Editors: 213

    It’s about time the Phantom fans actually won one for a change. I read the Phantom as a kid 30+ years after it first appeared. I wouldn’t still be reading it as an adult if some editor had said “This comic is over 30 years-old. I think we need to drop it for some new strip like one of the dozens of titles that have come and gone in much less time, just because they seem relevant to the moment.” As they once said in the funny pages, Sheesh!

  2. respectfully disagree. phantom had its time. read the books or go to the library if you want to be sentimental about a strip from your youth. Give new strips a chance or the artform will implode on all the “they help me remember a simpler time” dinosaur strips that people over 70 love but outside of that, have no relevance in the 21st Century sans their vocal minority fanbase who likes to be transported back to their childhood with the morning newspaper instead of looking at the date across the masthead.

  3. respectfully disagree. phantom had its time. read the books or go to the library if you want to be sentimental about a strip from your youth. Give new strips a chance or the artform will implode on all the “they help me remember a simpler time” dinosaur strips that people over 70 love but outside of that, have no relevance in the 21st Century sans their vocal minority fanbase who likes to be transported back to their childhood with the morning newspaper instead of looking at the date across the masthead.

  4. Since I’m many, many years younger than 70, I’ll take it by your definition that you’re not calling the Phantom a dinosaur strip. Good thing, too, as Paul Ryan, Ben Raab, or Graham Nolan, who are doing the strip now are definitely not dinosaurs, but some of the comics industry’s leading creators today. The Phantom has changed over time, where as many years before I was reading the strip he fought pirates and Nazis, today he fights 21st century terrorists and oppressors of third world countries.

    Why does no one ever say about comic books, why didn’t Superman, Batman, the Flash, etc., die with their original creators? How come they don’t get rid of those dinosaurs? Why doesn’t DC drop those old characters so some new characters could have a chance to be as popular? It’s because people like the characters. And people like many of the characters that have been found in newspaper strips for years.

    A new strip will make it today if it’s good; very few strips today fall in that category, however. Just because a strip is new, doesn’t mean it is better, nor does it mean it can maintain a quality level of consistency over a period of time like the classics have. And talk about a “simpler time”! That’s now for newspaper strips, as the artwork, plots, and dialog in most new strips are all far simpler today than they have ever been! Some do well with a minimalist, but many more are just poorly-drawn and poorly-sritten strips. Many of the new ones today also really belong on the op-ed page, rather than in a general readership comic page/section.

    I am a fan of a number of strips that have appeared just in the past few years, but that doesn’t mean I still din’t want familiar characters as well. There’s still a place for both on a newspaper comic page.

  5. Again, respectfully disagree. A handful of vocal readers are making an editor’s decision. Obviously, they recognized that it was time to move on, but didn’t have the nerve to back up their decision. I know of a lot of good strips that are not in my paper because the real estate is being taken by “dinosaur” strips — of which I do define The Phantom as one.

  6. Again, respectfully disagree. A handful of vocal readers are making an editor’s decision. Obviously, they recognized that it was time to move on, but didn’t have the nerve to back up their decision. I know of a lot of good strips that are not in my paper because the real estate is being taken by “dinosaur” strips — of which I do define The Phantom as one.

  7. Read in the business outlook section today that chairmen of Lexus, Mercedes Benz, BMW and Bentley announced they are voluntarily going out of business. M-B and BMW referred to their long history, Lexus remarked that, although younger, they’d “had their day.” Their stockholders forced the change, thinking it only fair they provide room for new car manufacturers from Korea, China, Mexico and Fiji who are trying to compete on the world market. “Only so many automobiles can be sold each year,” BMW’s chairman said. “Our stockholders heard from activists for these oppressed newcomers, and we’ve responded to their calls.”

    In other news, the chairmen of Boeing and Airbus Industries also announced they were ceasing operations…

    You can still get a great deal on a Daewoo, Mr. Lefite.

  8. Read in the business outlook section today that chairmen of Lexus, Mercedes Benz, BMW and Bentley announced they are voluntarily going out of business. M-B and BMW referred to their long history, Lexus remarked that, although younger, they’d “had their day.” Their stockholders forced the change, thinking it only fair they provide room for new car manufacturers from Korea, China, Mexico and Fiji who are trying to compete on the world market. “Only so many automobiles can be sold each year,” BMW’s chairman said. “Our stockholders heard from activists for these oppressed newcomers, and we’ve responded to their calls.”

    In other news, the chairmen of Boeing and Airbus Industries also announced they were ceasing operations…

    You can still get a great deal on a Daewoo, Mr. Lefite.

  9. You seem to have the viewpoint that newspapers owe it to would-be cartoonists to provide a space for them to try out their ideas. Let’s don’t forget that comic strips were created as an entertainment to draw readers back to the newspaper everyday by writers/artists and their publishers. Comic strips were created both to entertain and for a business purpose. I wouldn’t think it would be good for business to allow constant comic turnover just so wannabes could have their chance. The Web, however, is a perfect medium for that very thing — and it’s potentially a much bigger audience. And some Web comics that are good enough have been finding their way to papers.

  10. Sorry that’s not my viewpoint. And replacing a strip that’s run since the 40s would hardly qualify as “constant turnover. ”

    How do newspapers expect to get a new crop of readers? By putting in Brenda Starr and The Phantom? Editors are paid to decide what goes in their newspapers. They should be looking at the comics page as a way to attract NEW readers … especially those in single-paper markets.

  11. Sorry that’s not my viewpoint. And replacing a strip that’s run since the 40s would hardly qualify as “constant turnover. ”

    How do newspapers expect to get a new crop of readers? By putting in Brenda Starr and The Phantom? Editors are paid to decide what goes in their newspapers. They should be looking at the comics page as a way to attract NEW readers … especially those in single-paper markets.

  12. Editors should be looking to attract new readers AND keep current readers satisified. A good comics page/section should have strips you like, strips I like, and strips we both like. They should also have strips I may not like, strips you may not like, and strips neither one of us may like. All to keep the wide range of their readers coming back for more. That being said, there’s always going to be somewhat of an imbalance toward keeping strips already being published, as studies show it does a paper far greater damage to drop a strip with a small but faithful following, than to adopt a strip that may be gaining popularity in other papers outside the market.

    Do newspaper comic strips actually attract readers, or do they merely entertain the readers that are already there? The question really comes down to “Will a potential customer actually purchase a newspaper because it features a certain comic?” I will, because I’m a fan of newspaper comic strips. And if a paper doesn’t carry what I’m looking for, I don’t buy. But what about all of those potential younger readers? How likely is it that they will buy a newspaper because it adds a certain comic strip? Next to none.

  13. Editors should be putting the best product possible out … period. If they deem something to have run its course like they did with the Phantom, they should stick to their guns and pull it.

    I’d guess the “damage” done to them would be a handful of phone calls, letters and e-mails. And yes, they might lose some readers. But I would guess that anyone who reads the Phantom is such a habitual reader of the newspaper that they’d still subscribe or buy.

    I’d love to read those studies. Where can I find them?

    Where are you getting the rest of your data about newspaper purchasing trends? Because to me, and I’ll defer if there’s some hard evidence, it sounds like your stating your personal analysis as fact.

  14. Editors should be putting the best product possible out … period. If they deem something to have run its course like they did with the Phantom, they should stick to their guns and pull it.

    I’d guess the “damage” done to them would be a handful of phone calls, letters and e-mails. And yes, they might lose some readers. But I would guess that anyone who reads the Phantom is such a habitual reader of the newspaper that they’d still subscribe or buy.

    I’d love to read those studies. Where can I find them?

    Where are you getting the rest of your data about newspaper purchasing trends? Because to me, and I’ll defer if there’s some hard evidence, it sounds like your stating your personal analysis as fact.

  15. I think a major point is being overlooked in this discussion. The quality of the strip should have some bearing on how long it should hold onto the extremely finite space on the comics page. Have you actually read “the Phantom” recently? Dick Tracy? Brenda Starr? Dennis the Menace? God-awful stuff. The problem with the “institution” strips is that current ideas and creativity will always pale compared to the original creators vision. I know the above strips and the like conjure up collective slices of Americana and personal childhood memories that many of us hold dear, but even “Gunsmoke” got canceled after a time. Too bad that there’s no equivalent of the Nielsen ratings for the comics page. Good is good and bad is bad. Same rules should apply to all strips, old and new. Having said all that the real bottom line is that with the newfangled internet and all we’re lucky to be living in an era where pretty much anyone can read any strip he/she chooses at any time. For free. Who needs the actual funny pages?

    BTW- DC and Marvel try to introduce new characters and comics all the time. Comic books and comic strips are not a like comparison as DC can publish as many new books as it sees fit in any month and still publish Superman, Batman, Flash, etc. Not so in the newspaper strips where space allotted for strips is fixed.

  16. I think a major point is being overlooked in this discussion. The quality of the strip should have some bearing on how long it should hold onto the extremely finite space on the comics page. Have you actually read “the Phantom” recently? Dick Tracy? Brenda Starr? Dennis the Menace? God-awful stuff. The problem with the “institution” strips is that current ideas and creativity will always pale compared to the original creators vision. I know the above strips and the like conjure up collective slices of Americana and personal childhood memories that many of us hold dear, but even “Gunsmoke” got canceled after a time. Too bad that there’s no equivalent of the Nielsen ratings for the comics page. Good is good and bad is bad. Same rules should apply to all strips, old and new. Having said all that the real bottom line is that with the newfangled internet and all we’re lucky to be living in an era where pretty much anyone can read any strip he/she chooses at any time. For free. Who needs the actual funny pages?

    BTW- DC and Marvel try to introduce new characters and comics all the time. Comic books and comic strips are not a like comparison as DC can publish as many new books as it sees fit in any month and still publish Superman, Batman, Flash, etc. Not so in the newspaper strips where space allotted for strips is fixed.

  17. Quality of the strip? That again is a matter of taste and what you want in a strip. I prefer the Phantom over most of the gag-a-day strips out there, some of which others might consider modern classics.

    Who needs the actual funny pages? The newspapers do, for the readers who are still there. The real question may be, who needs the actual newspapers? Readers aren’t attracted to the actual hard copy itself any more. But for those who are still there, give ’em what they’re there for, instead of replacing classic strips with modern junk in an attempt to draw people who aren’t going to come anyway. It’s the equivalent of the music world trying to attract iPod owners by offering new artists on 8-track tapes.

    BTW, comic book discussion — Superman, Batman, etc. is still what sales, and very, very few of those new comics ever last for a very long time.

  18. About the studies — I’m thinking of a number of industry studies over the past several years going back to Gale and including the infamous American Press Sunday section study in the ’80s, right on up to the more recent ones you’d be privy to through your E&P premium subscription.

  19. No offense intended to anyone whose opinion differs from mine, but anyone who thinks The Phantom has “run it’s course” either lacks imagination or isn’t in tune with what’s going on in the current Phantom stories. Lee Falk created a grand mythos that allows us to create stories in settings that range from pirate raids of the 1600s to espionage tales set during the Revolutionary War to Wild West adventures in the 1800s to terrorist attacks in the 21st century. The Phantom is just as relevant to entertainment now as he ever was before.

    If Hollywood adhered to the idea that stories that weren’t “fresh and new” had no place in the current market we wouldn’t have movies such as Raiders of the Lost Ark, Pirates of the Caribbean, The Patriot, Gladiator, Dances with Wolves, Braveheart, Kingdom of Heaven, The Mummy, The Last Samurai, Unforgiven etc ad infinitum…

    Sure comic strips are a different medium, but we all crave good stories, no matter what format they’re presented in and Paul Ryan, Graham Nolan and the gang are creating great stories with the Ghost Who Walks.

  20. No offense intended to anyone whose opinion differs from mine, but anyone who thinks The Phantom has “run it’s course” either lacks imagination or isn’t in tune with what’s going on in the current Phantom stories. Lee Falk created a grand mythos that allows us to create stories in settings that range from pirate raids of the 1600s to espionage tales set during the Revolutionary War to Wild West adventures in the 1800s to terrorist attacks in the 21st century. The Phantom is just as relevant to entertainment now as he ever was before.

    If Hollywood adhered to the idea that stories that weren’t “fresh and new” had no place in the current market we wouldn’t have movies such as Raiders of the Lost Ark, Pirates of the Caribbean, The Patriot, Gladiator, Dances with Wolves, Braveheart, Kingdom of Heaven, The Mummy, The Last Samurai, Unforgiven etc ad infinitum…

    Sure comic strips are a different medium, but we all crave good stories, no matter what format they’re presented in and Paul Ryan, Graham Nolan and the gang are creating great stories with the Ghost Who Walks.

  21. See Jeff, that’s our fundamental difference of opinion, you think the editors are beholden to their existing readers. I think they owe it to their business to put out the best product available. It is a business Jeff, not a public service to current readers.

    The idea of just “keeping the readers happy” has resulted in a huge dip in circulation. It’s NOT working. Time to try a different strategy. Instead of keeping existing readers happy and content — why turn out a vital product .. one that makes them think or give them some new ideas … because vitality would draw in new readers. Case in point, I loathe Doonesbury. But I read it everyday.

    And by calling all new strips “modern junk,” you show a real lack of insight. I’d compare a myriad of strips that have launched in the 25 years to anything pre-1980.

    And Mike no offense to you, but you’re wrong: Phantom is an anachronism.

    Fresh and new ideas have nothing to do with what year they’re set in. By that logic, any movie set in the future would be better than a movie set in a current setting. And I’ve seen Pluto Nash so you’re theory is bunk.

    I don’t have an E&P subscription. Can you give more solid data?

  22. See Jeff, that’s our fundamental difference of opinion, you think the editors are beholden to their existing readers. I think they owe it to their business to put out the best product available. It is a business Jeff, not a public service to current readers.

    The idea of just “keeping the readers happy” has resulted in a huge dip in circulation. It’s NOT working. Time to try a different strategy. Instead of keeping existing readers happy and content — why turn out a vital product .. one that makes them think or give them some new ideas … because vitality would draw in new readers. Case in point, I loathe Doonesbury. But I read it everyday.

    And by calling all new strips “modern junk,” you show a real lack of insight. I’d compare a myriad of strips that have launched in the 25 years to anything pre-1980.

    And Mike no offense to you, but you’re wrong: Phantom is an anachronism.

    Fresh and new ideas have nothing to do with what year they’re set in. By that logic, any movie set in the future would be better than a movie set in a current setting. And I’ve seen Pluto Nash so you’re theory is bunk.

    I don’t have an E&P subscription. Can you give more solid data?

  23. “And Mike no offense to you, but youâ??re wrong: Phantom is an anachronism.” Posted by Lefitte.

    With all due respect, that statement clearly defines your understanding of The Phantom as inaccurate and flawed. However, debating that point will drive us down an avenue too far from the topic.

    It is an editor’s duty to provide content that sells newspapers. If a large segment of consumers buying said newspaper protest the removal of any portion of it, then the editor is beholden to his employer to rectify the situation.

    Replacing the omitted segment with some shiny, new strip that the protesting consumers most likely have never heard of and care nothing about is bad business.

    If McDonaldâ??s decided to replace the Filet O Fish with an Atkins Friendly Turkey Burger and a large segment of their clientele protests, you can bet your bottom dollar that Mickey Dâ??s would put that greasy fish burger right back on the menu, regardless of the timeliness of itâ??s presentation.

    The Phantom is just as much of a staple of the funny pages as Peanuts, Garfield, Hagar and Doonesbury. Removing the strip would serve no purpose other than to further erode the already dwindling readership of newspaper comic strips.

  24. “And Mike no offense to you, but youâ??re wrong: Phantom is an anachronism.” Posted by Lefitte.

    With all due respect, that statement clearly defines your understanding of The Phantom as inaccurate and flawed. However, debating that point will drive us down an avenue too far from the topic.

    It is an editor’s duty to provide content that sells newspapers. If a large segment of consumers buying said newspaper protest the removal of any portion of it, then the editor is beholden to his employer to rectify the situation.

    Replacing the omitted segment with some shiny, new strip that the protesting consumers most likely have never heard of and care nothing about is bad business.

    If McDonaldâ??s decided to replace the Filet O Fish with an Atkins Friendly Turkey Burger and a large segment of their clientele protests, you can bet your bottom dollar that Mickey Dâ??s would put that greasy fish burger right back on the menu, regardless of the timeliness of itâ??s presentation.

    The Phantom is just as much of a staple of the funny pages as Peanuts, Garfield, Hagar and Doonesbury. Removing the strip would serve no purpose other than to further erode the already dwindling readership of newspaper comic strips.

  25. I’ll grant your point, I do not like the phantom and do not understand how anyone under 70 could.

    Newspapers ARE selling less and less. When a business starts to fail you have to look at why. I don;t think dinosaur comics are THE only problem driving down readership, but they’re certainly a contributing factor.

    We’ve different perpectives on this. I think your dead wrong on all your logic and comic taste and I’m sure you feel the same. I’m going to leave it at that.

  26. I’ll grant your point, I do not like the phantom and do not understand how anyone under 70 could.

    Newspapers ARE selling less and less. When a business starts to fail you have to look at why. I don;t think dinosaur comics are THE only problem driving down readership, but they’re certainly a contributing factor.

    We’ve different perpectives on this. I think your dead wrong on all your logic and comic taste and I’m sure you feel the same. I’m going to leave it at that.

  27. Anybody thinking the Phantom is less relevant in today’s world are simply plain wrong. That’s not a matter of taste, but a fact. Are there less evil in the world since than there was in 1936, when the Phantom strip started? Nah. As people have pointed out, the purple guy is today struggling with modern day terrorists, drug dealers, tyrannic dictators, and, in an upcoming comic book story; child-soldiers.

    The character is still reported to be read by around 50 million people throughout the globe every day. He has appeared in a film-serial, a big budget motion picture starring Billy Zane, had two animated television series, plus a whole lot of strange, unauthorized Phantom films and some pure plagiarism. A new movie called “The Ghost Who Walks” is in the works.
    Phantom comic books, with all new stories, are still published with great success in the USA, Sweden, Norway, Finland, Australia, Brazil, India, and many other countries. Saying the character has had his day is wrong; it is like he is experiencing yet another Golden Age (and believe me, he’s had many of them).

    A big toast to the Man Who Cannot Die! (that nickname really fits a character who keeps going strong 70 years after his creation)

  28. Anybody thinking the Phantom is less relevant in today’s world are simply plain wrong. That’s not a matter of taste, but a fact. Are there less evil in the world since than there was in 1936, when the Phantom strip started? Nah. As people have pointed out, the purple guy is today struggling with modern day terrorists, drug dealers, tyrannic dictators, and, in an upcoming comic book story; child-soldiers.

    The character is still reported to be read by around 50 million people throughout the globe every day. He has appeared in a film-serial, a big budget motion picture starring Billy Zane, had two animated television series, plus a whole lot of strange, unauthorized Phantom films and some pure plagiarism. A new movie called “The Ghost Who Walks” is in the works.
    Phantom comic books, with all new stories, are still published with great success in the USA, Sweden, Norway, Finland, Australia, Brazil, India, and many other countries. Saying the character has had his day is wrong; it is like he is experiencing yet another Golden Age (and believe me, he’s had many of them).

    A big toast to the Man Who Cannot Die! (that nickname really fits a character who keeps going strong 70 years after his creation)

  29. Grandpa Walker! I told you about responded on chatrooms without your medication. It’s verboten.

    Come back to this world, I’ve got your Jack Benny betamax tapes that you can watch and eat your McRib sandwich, drive your AMC Pacer and tell everyone how you’re the greatest generation.

  30. Grandpa Walker! I told you about responded on chatrooms without your medication. It’s verboten.

    Come back to this world, I’ve got your Jack Benny betamax tapes that you can watch and eat your McRib sandwich, drive your AMC Pacer and tell everyone how you’re the greatest generation.

  31. The Phantom is published in over 40 newspapers in Australia making it the 2nd most published ( Ginger Meggs is in most papers ) .
    A Phantom comic , with newspaper reprints commenced in 1948 and is still published twice a month , current issue is # 1456 they also feature stories written for comics in Sweden and other countries .
    Zits has been the most popular new comic in Australia .

  32. The Phantom is published in over 40 newspapers in Australia making it the 2nd most published ( Ginger Meggs is in most papers ) .
    A Phantom comic , with newspaper reprints commenced in 1948 and is still published twice a month , current issue is # 1456 they also feature stories written for comics in Sweden and other countries .
    Zits has been the most popular new comic in Australia .

  33. Lefitte, you are so right, a newspaper is a business! But the readers aren’t recipients of a public service, they are customers, the end users. Newspapers must listen to both of their customers to succeed, readers and advertisers. To publish and distribute a public service newspaper may be a fantasy for many journalists wanting to champion free speech, but it won’t pay the bills for the owner(s) of a commercial newspaper. Attempting to produce a mythical “best product available” without considering the readers is publishing in a vacuum.

    I wasn’t thinking you’d have your own E&P subscription, I was thinking you’d be able to take advantage of the one carried by the paper (or newspaper-related business) for which you work.

  34. Another good discussion that ends with what can be seen as a snide attempt at a personal put-down, Mr. Lefitte? I suppose that’s to be expected, as those influenced by America’s current political discourse (at both extremes) resort to attempts at name-calling or insults rather than saying “you have your opinion, I have mine, thanks for the discussion.”

  35. Another good discussion that ends with what can be seen as a snide attempt at a personal put-down, Mr. Lefitte? I suppose that’s to be expected, as those influenced by America’s current political discourse (at both extremes) resort to attempts at name-calling or insults rather than saying “you have your opinion, I have mine, thanks for the discussion.”

  36. i apologize. It was a weak attempt at best. I’ve tried to get out of this ocnversation but I keep getting sucked back in. FIN.

  37. i apologize. It was a weak attempt at best. I’ve tried to get out of this ocnversation but I keep getting sucked back in. FIN.

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