Comments on: Lynn Johnston rebuffs retirement rumors

By: el chicharrone

el chicharrone — Fri, 18 Jan 2008 16:26:21 +0000

lynn comparing herself to mark twain in any way is excruciating, just like the rest of her smarmy, obvious, and lame “output” which i am sure would have the master rolling his eyes…

By: John Cathrae

John Cathrae — Thu, 13 Sep 2007 13:59:44 +0000

Lynn Johnston is trying something that offers an alternative to her ceasing production altogether. People will either read it or they won’t. If it isn’t successful, newspapers will stop running her strip. That’s the beginning and the end of it. People attempting to imply esoteric meanings about something this simple obviously have nothing else to do with their lives. I, for one, will enjoy the hybrid format as I have enjoyed this strip since its beginnings. If I am enjoying it, I suspect a number of others will too.

By: Matt Thorn

Matt Thorn — Tue, 14 Aug 2007 15:27:41 +0000

I’m surprised no one brought up the fact that FBOW and countless other comic strips and cartoons can be and are widely read on the Net until Stewart’s August 3 post. I don’t think I’m unusual in reading both news (N.Y. Times, L.A. Times, Washington Post) and comic strips (via mycomicspage.com) online rather than in print. It seems to me quite likely that the whole funnies-page-real-estate debate will be rendered moot within five to ten years. On mycomicspage.com, I can choose from over 150 comic strips and some 60 editorial cartoons, old and new, canonical and obscure, left and right.
As for FBOW’s “hybrid format,” it hasn’t even begun yet, has it? It seems to me we shouldn’t judge it until we’ve actually seen it.

By: Stewart Mason

Stewart Mason — Sat, 04 Aug 2007 04:33:50 +0000

Well, I’ve always had a fan’s interest.

By: Dawn Douglass

Dawn Douglass — Fri, 03 Aug 2007 17:00:14 +0000

Well, hello, Little Brother. I’m surprised to see you here. Just goes to show the blogosphere is a small world. And cartooning even smaller. :)

By: Stewart Mason

Stewart Mason — Fri, 03 Aug 2007 16:29:54 +0000

I do understand the feeling that it’s always legacy strips that are the problem, and believe me, there are plenty of legacy strips that I’d be happy to never see again. But there are certainly plenty of other reasons why great, fresh strips aren’t getting into enough papers. Me, it boggles my mind that Pooch Cafe and Diesel Sweeties, two new strips that I personally think are absolute kack, are in more papers than Cow and Boy, which I think is easily the best new strip since Pearls Before Swine.

As others have said, it’s important to let your comics editors know your opinions of their sections, but there’s more direct action to be taken. Without the net, I would be limited only to the comics that are in the Boston Globe every day, which is a surprisingly poor selection for what’s otherwise a decent paper. (Yes, there’s the Herald too, but I won’t let that rag in my house.) But as a paid subscriber to both comics.com and My Comics Page, I’m voting with my pocketbook directly to the syndicates, letting them know that I like and read newer comics like Brewster Rockit, The New Adventures of Queen Victoria, Little Dog Lost, Cow and Boy, Secret Asian Man and Watch Your Head along with many of the old warhorses. As someone who reads the majority of his comics on the web (I even subscribe to the comics I get every day in the Globe, so they show up in the syndicates’ logs), I’m a tiny part of the market right now, but I am the future.

By: Garey Mckee

Garey Mckee — Fri, 03 Aug 2007 03:05:13 +0000

This hybrid format will only work on a strip like FBoFW because of it’s progression (up unitl recently) in real time, or at least close to real time. I respect Universal Press for thinking outside the box in the choice to use this hybrid format to continue FBoFW. But I’d respect them more if they used the same creative thinking to support more new talent.

By: Eric Burke

Eric Burke — Fri, 03 Aug 2007 02:57:25 +0000

The editors listen to their readers. Donâ€™t complain about it on a forum that wonâ€™t have an affect on whatâ€™s printed. Go to your local editor and tell them what you want to see. Youâ€™d be surprised how well that works.

I do Mike. Ii read the Boston Herald and have emailed the editor to complement her when she brought in Lio(they dropped BC even before Hart passed away) and emailed her again when Brant Parker died, to suggest a few toons(Candorville, Rudy Park, Pickles) that I thought would fit their readership. FBorFW runs in the Boston Globe, so whatever happens with that strip won’t affect my comic lovin’ baby blues…

Re: putting more effort into their craft and less into bashing hybrid/legacy strips…who’s to say that all the peeps here are cartoonists? I assume most are, but even then aren’t we also fans? It’s possible to speak as just a fan, especially if you’re not seeking syndication. I don’t have a dog in this race, but I still care about the outcome…

By: josh

josh — Thu, 02 Aug 2007 21:55:34 +0000

I’ll second that, Anne!

By: Anne

Anne — Thu, 02 Aug 2007 17:56:19 +0000

I would like to add that comics must be important on some level because almost every strip the LA Daily News dropped had to be put back after reader protest. Not only that, the paper ran all the missing strips that ran during the “purge” so that readers could catch up on storylines.