Back when the comic pages were funny
Of all the things I love about my job, managing the comics isn't one of them. Good comics are hard to find, readers hate any changes to the comics pages, and the writers continue to push the envelope in areas of politics and taste. All that said, I know that readers love their comics.
So now we get an advisory from one of our syndicates that says this:
"In the 'Sally Forth' strip dated September 26, 2004, the third panel of the Sunday strip contains the following dialogue: 'Chechnyan rebels have just gotten past security and are fast approaching the front desk.'
"That strip was submitted for publication in May and had already been shipped when news broke of the terrorist attack in Russia. It is not a comment on, nor a reaction to, the attack, and is in no way meant to make light of this horrific event.
"As used in the strip, the Chechnyan rebels reference was one of a series of items meant to show that Sally was being asked to handle an ever-growing impossible for her to accomplish series of tasks."
The message goes on to suggest we may want to include an editor's note with the strip. We're not going to pull the strip in or insert an editor's note. Our readers are sophisticated enough to understand the difference between a comic strip like Sally Forth and real life. I am, however, taking odds on whether we get any complaints.