Last week The Santa Fe New Mexican asked its readers to rate the comics in the paper.
In a mini-poll, readers emailed with their three favorite comic strips published in The New Mexican — and three they’d use as kindling during our next snowstorm. More than 150 emails were received.
This week they reveal the results.
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Editor Phill Casaus in his column about the results:
You showered me with emails — close to 150 of them as of Friday — about the newspaper’s comics page offerings, popping the cork on a magnum of pent-up emotion. Most of you were terrific, often insightful, solidifying my hard-earned belief that comics remain the plutonium of our product — tread softly, handle gently.
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Some of Phill’s observations:
- In a lot of ways, the comics poll isn’t a lot different from Santa Fe itself. Many of our readers are panning three of our newest offerings — F minus, Macanudo and a Sunday strip called Big Nate. New things often don’t play well in an old land. But it’s interesting that four of our most well-established strips (Garfield, Blondie, Wizard of Id, B.C.) got little love. Even worse, little attention.
- The runaway favorites are obvious: Without Reservations is as popular as sunshine. Pickles, Pearls Before Swine, Zits, Baby Blues and Luann also get a big thumbs up from most respondents.
- I wasn’t surprised by the mixed reviews for La Cucaracha and Non Sequitur. They have long had fans and detractors, so I wouldn’t expect much different.
- Was I troubled by anything I saw? Sure. I wish F Minus and Sherman’s Lagoon were getting a better response, but they’ve been in the newspaper for less than a month. I’m going to give them some time. Same for Macanudo, which may be gaining a foothold with some readers. Some of you told me you love it.
- Frankly, those strips didn’t concern me as much as the tepid to flat-line reactions to Get Fuzzy or more surprisingly, Blondie, which has been in newspapers since before I was born. When you don’t move the needle either way, or seem to draw a yawn followed by a “meh,” maybe there’s a change to be made.
The poll results are in a sidebar along side the editor’s column.
Below is a recent sample of The Santa Fe New Mexican Sunday comics pages.
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![](https://www.dailycartoonist.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/The_Santa_Fe_New_Mexican_Sun__Feb_19__2023__1___1679850309_55283.png)
![](https://www.dailycartoonist.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/The_Santa_Fe_New_Mexican_Sun__Feb_19__2023__2___1679850343_86296.png)
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Blondie is invisible like air. You don’t miss it until it’s gone.
Is Without Reservations a local Santa Fe New Mexican comic strip?
According to an online interview with the cartoonist, Without Reservations has been a daily panel in the New Mexican since 2007.