The Concord (New Hampshire) Monitor is moving their Sunday comics from the Sunday magazine to the paper’s broadsheet section. The move is accompanied by changes in the Sunday Funnies line-up.
We’ve long published 22 comics in our Sunday magazine. Starting on Sept. 4, we’re cutting that number back to 18, and they’ll be found in the Sunday D section.
The Monitor lists the changes:
What we’re keeping: Zits received the highest rating in our survey, where we asked readers to name their 10 favorites. We’ll also be keeping Pickles, Doonesbury, For Better or Worse, Dilbert, Pearls Before Swine, Peanuts, Bizarro, Baby Blues, Blondie, Foxtrot, Garfield, Rhymes with Orange, Rose is Rose and Family Circus.
What we’re eliminating: The people have spoken and the following didn’t gain much public support. Beetle Bailey, Close to Home, Mother Goose, Hi Lois, Macanudo, Born Loser and Slyfox.
What we’re adding: There will be three new strips added to our lineup. Two came on recommendations from our readers and our syndicate. The other is making its much-awaited return …
Back in 2019, the Monitor was among the many newspapers in the country that canceled the popular strip Non Sequitur when author Wiley Miller snuck a Trump-themed profanity into his strip… One reader recently told me he disagreed with what Miller did in 2019, but said, “Come on, doesn’t he deserve another chance?” He’s right. Miller has paid his dues and it’s time to bring him back in.
When looking at new strips, Crabgrass emerged as one that we ought to add. Written by Tauhid Bondia, the popular online strip has been picked up in recent months by papers from the Los Angeles Times to the Miami Herald. It’s set in the 1980s and it features the adventures of two best friends.
We’ll also be adding Sherman’s Lagoon to our list. It came in second on requests to Calvin and Hobbs, which is not available for purchase. Written by Jim Toomey, Sherman’s Lagoon launched in 1991 and remains popular around the world. It’s set on a fictional island in the South Pacific Ocean and it stars affable shark Sherman and a cast of underwater misfits.
Syndicate Scorecard
King Features Syndicate: -5
(- Beetle Bailey, Mother Goose and Grimm, Hi and Lois, Macanudo, Slylock Fox)
Andrews McMeel Syndication: +1
(- Close to Home, Born Loser; + Non Sequitur, Crabgrass, Sherman’s Lagoon)
Read The Concord Monitor notice here.
Does anyone know if the Sunday Comics were printed on slick, glossy paper,
or was the 24/7 Entertainment magazine printed on regular newsprint?
The paper notes: “There are no changes planned for our daily comics lineup.” Meaning
Beetle Bailey and Close to Home, cut from Sundays will remain on the daily comics page.
Below is the Concord Monitor daily comics page from July 28, 2022.
Above are pages from The Monitor’s Sunday Funnies of July 24, 2022.
all comics © the respective copyright holders
Good, I’m glad that Concord is removing The Born Loser.
I wish The Daily Herald Utah would also remove The Born Loser from the Comics Newspaper.
The Born Loser comic strip features outdated stereotype adult jokes and shames women and overweight people and once made an insensitive adult joke on 7-26-1996 as featured on Gocomics about women being objects. And I didn’t like Rancid the mean CEO boss constantly picking on Brutus at work.
I also didn’t like the family feud themes in The Born Loser where every Born Loser panel has Brutus whining constantly and other people picking on him including Ramona the mother in law picking on Brutus and Brutus making insensitive insult jokes to Glady’s his wife. I cannot wait until the author Chip Sansom finally retires The Born Loser, it’s time for The Born Loser comic strip to end and for new comic strips to overshadow The Born Loser that’s more positive.
I’m also glad they also did remove Beetle Bailey because I didn’t like the outdated fighting gag jokes with Sarge beating Beetle Bailey or the outdated adult jokes on women.
I wouldn’t mind seeing Dennis the Menace comic strip removed from Newspapers because I don’t like how messed up Dennis is, and I didn’t like his parents neglecting him, and I didn’t like Dennis picking on Mr. Wilson his neighbor and making his life miserable and also picking on Margret and also how outdated Dennis the Menace is.
I’m hoping we get more comic strips similar to For Better or For Worse that are positive, more inclusive to diverse people and more lighthearted jokes that are with the times.
I love that Crabgrass is taking the comics world by storm!