Behind the Headlines

To all Herald-Leader comics readers:

We understand your passion. And we heard you. Brewster Rockit: Space Guy! will not fly in the Bluegrass.

We have cut short a planned two-month run of the space-adventure spoof comic strip because of an overwhelmingly negative reader response. Hundreds of you called or wrote to let us know how much you disliked the strip. Many of those readers also made it plain that Daddy’s Home was among their favorite strips.

No more than six of you weighed in with praise for Brewster.

So the decision was obvious: Send Brewster to the far reaches of the galaxy.

Starting Monday, we are going to test-run one more strip: Mallard Fillmore. Over the years, we have heard readers’ complaints that our comics pages have several strips, most notably Doonesbury, that lean left, but none that lean right. So, for a month, we’ll see how the conservative duck fares with you.

In other comics news, we also heard from many irate fans of the single-panel comic Non Sequitur. Last year, in ­response to a drawn-out campaign to return Dennis the Menace to the comics pages from the classified section, we put Dennis back on the comics section and sent Non-Sequitur to the classifieds.

The problem is, Non Sequitur is ­wordier and more detailed than many comics, and at a size that fits on the ­classified pages, it becomes hard to read. So we’re working on a way to get Non ­Sequitur back on the comics pages as well.

Now for some background, and an answer to the question of why we “keep tinkering with the comics.”
We are well aware of the value of the comics pages, and we know that ­whenever we make a change, we’re going to hear from people. That’s a good thing.

The trouble is, everyone’s idea of a great comic is different. So we try to give all readers a few comics that they’ll like.

It’s the strips that too few people care about that we try to replace. That’s what prompted the latest experiment.

When we debuted Daddy’s Home last August to replace For Better or For Worse (whose story line was ending), we didn’t hear anything, good or bad, and we began to wonder: Is anyone reading this strip?

Now we know.

To offer feedback about the comics pages, please call (859) 231-1368 or send an e-mail to comics@herald-leader.com.

A big change is coming to our comics pages next week.

For Better or For Worse, one of the most popular comic strips in the country, will no longer occupy a spot in the Herald-Leader.

Here’s why:

On Sunday, For Better or For Worse’s story line will end, and creator Lynn Johnston will start at the beginning of the strip, which began in 1979. She will redraw some of the original strips about the Patterson family and rewrite some of the punch lines. She’s calling these comics “new-runs.”

Johnston said that about half of the first year’s worth of strips will be newly drawn and written.

At the Herald-Leader, we have decided to let the Pattersons’ story end, and not publish the “new-runs.”

We know that this won’t sit well with some readers, but we have decided to go with a new comic strip.

In place of For Better or For Worse, we will run Daddy’s Home, a strip by Anthony Rubino Jr. and Gary Markstein, about a stay-at-home dad. We ran Daddy’s Home for several weeks earlier this year, while Doonesbury was on a hiatus, and it generated a positive reader response. The comic will begin Sept. 1.

It’s been a bumpy year for For Better or For Worse. In August 2007, Johnston announced that she would not draw a new strip every day. Instead, she and Universal Press Syndicate reran some of the earliest strips for a few days or a few weeks between new strips.

Earlier this month, Johnston and Universal ­announced the end of the story line and her plan to start “new runs.”

The strip itself has been dominated in the past year by daughter Elizabeth’s wedding, which wrapped up this week, and Grandpa’s diminishing health.

We’d like to hear what you think about our comics. E-mail comics@herald-leader.com or call (859) 231-1368.

I think it’s fair to say that the recent change on our daily comics pages has created more reader response than anything else the paper has written or reported in the past six months. We’ve received emails, snail mails, phone calls and we’ve even had a couple of readers who stopped by the newsroom to speak to someone in person. Many readers enjoyed some of the comics we’ve been running for years. Many readers are, shall I say, less than thrilled about some of the newer comics we’re running.

One reader, in a recent letter that was accompanied by an earless chocolate Easter bunny, said this:

“To whom it may concern:

Last year your newspaper modified the comics. Among the changes decided upon was the removal of “Sally Forth.” I fervently hope this decision was influenced by excessive ink fumes and NOT indicative of an absolute dearth of appreciation from intelligent humor among your editorial board.
I had contemplated protests, boycotts, and letters of the editor in response to your decision. In truth, lingering dissatisfaction with your choices provided about 10 percent of my decision not to subscribe to the Herald-Leader (poverty provided the other ninety percent). However, not even depriving your paper of my business was enough to assuage my injured feelings. I wanted to make a statement.
In case you have forgotten, one of the running gags in Sally Forth was the mother’s obsession with chocolate Easter rabbits. Each year she purchased a large chocolate bunny for her daughter, and each year she was unable to resist the temptation to bite off the ears before putting it in her daughter’s basket. Easter is close upon us now. I could not resist the obvious and appropriate response.
Therefore, in honor of a good comic, in honor of a good joke, and in honor of everyone you have deprived of a lot of laughs this past year, I send you the enclosed gift: A single chocolate rabbit …. A la Sally Forth.

Yours unsubscribed,
Robert Pratt”

Thanks for writing, Mr Pratt. It’s the best letter about the comics change that we’ve received.

Sally Scherer