The comics page, part CXII
With everything else happening in the world, you should know that the comics page readers are the most consistent writers to the editor about their concerns with the paper. (Although as the election heats up, that will change as a later post will attest.)
Here's part of a letter to the editor that came in this week:
A few years ago the News & Record let it be known the entire comics page was under review and a poll would be taken to measure support for each strip. I called the number listed and talked to the person handling the poll. I asked her why the N & R had never carried Prince Valiant, which for 50 years had been the best drawn strip in the country. I paraphrase her reply, but accurately. "That’s the trouble with Prince Valiant; it's an old strip for old people. We want new strips for young people."
So much for objectivity. Public opinion was obviously second to mission here.
Anyway, it's time for an observation or two. It seems to me that Jump Start, Cathy, and Over the Hedge are not really funnier than Andy Capp or Snuffy Smith and that printing an over-sized front page to the Sunday comics so that the reader has to rip out a furniture or auto ad before even so much as a glance at the funnies is a sneaky, double-crossing breach of faith with that reader. No wonder you continue to lose readers.
And if Dick Tracy or Steve Canyon is too violent, the question of why toddler society continues to be exposed to the mayhem of Yosemite Sam, The Roadrunner, and worst of the worst, Elmer Fudd, who continually tries to kill Bugs Bunny with a shotgun, begs asking.
Admittedly, the antics of The Katzenjammer Kids, Maggie and Jiggs, and that loveable old fraud Major Hoople amused us in another time but the life lessons are still worthy models, the art work peerless. In their own way the comics are just as much a part of our patrimony as the fine art, music, literature, and architecture which ties us to our roots in a fast-forward society.
Finally, in the pell-mell rush to hip new relevance it appears the N & R nevertheless gave thought to political correctness in the comics -- or is that just a funny feeling I get?
A couple thoughts: I don't know why he brought Steve Canyon and Dick Tracy into it. I don't know if we used to run them, but we haven't for at least 20 years. And some of the others he mentions aren't offered any longer.
Political correctness? Because we don't run those comics of yesteryear and replaced them with Cathy and Jump Start?
His memory of the explanation he got from the person he spoke with six years ago is probably pretty close, although it omits the perspective that, at the time, all of our comics appealed to the 60+ demographic and we were trying to include some that might appeal to people closer to, say, 35. We don't expect everyone to like every comic strip we offer. Our hope is that everyone will find several among the offerings that they may enjoy.
Comments (7)
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John,
I read the comic strip 'Boondocks' everyday on-line and can't help but wonder if Aaron McGruder's take on race wouldn't help race relations here in the Triad.
I compare 'Boondocks' to the 1970's tv show 'All in the Family' which helped open our eyes to the absurdity of racism.
If you're not familiar with the cartoon, try it for a week and see if you don't find its message compelling as well as funny.
Thanks,
Bill
Posted on July 19, 2007 9:01 AM
I like the suggestion that because there are advertisements in the way of the cartoons the newspaper is betraying the reader.
You sneaky, low-down, for-profit business...
Posted on July 19, 2007 10:58 AM
Bill, Boondocks was a great strip. The key word being 'was'. Aaron McGruder stopped making new panels in 2005. What you're seeing online are re-runs, I do believe.
As much as I like Boondocks, I'd rather the paper run a current cartoon than a re-run. I feel the same way about 'Classic Peanuts.' It's a great strip, but lets give the space to someone making something fresh.
Posted on July 19, 2007 11:22 AM
John:
Yep, the old Greensboro Daily News did run the Dick Tracy comic strip for many years. I remember it well.
Then, one day (I think that it was in the late 1960s or early 1970s), the GDN managing staff decided that Dick was just too violent in his pursuit of justice against criminals. So, the comic strip was canned and Dick was shipped off to the rest home for old comic strip characters.
The cancellation of the Dick Tracy comic strip by the GDN set off an unbelievable uproar by many of the readers. For weeks, the editorial page was filled daily with angry letters from people criticizing the decision, many of them threatening to cancel their subscriptions to the paper.
I couldn't believe the number of people who were so upset and so vocal about the cancellation of a comic strip. But, the GDN refused to budge regarding the decision. After a couple of months, the heat died down. But, there was a lingering disdain for the newspaper by Tracy supporters that lasted for years.
I still remember reading letters in the "Public Pulse" (the old name for letters to the editor) years after the cancellation where writers who were critical of an editorial would end their letters with something like, "What can you expect from a newspaper that cancelled the Dick Tracy comic strip?"
I really don't think that the newspaper anticipated the strong negative reaction from its readers. I mean, who would have thought that a comic strip detective would have inspired such intense loyalty?
On another comic strip topic, does anyone know what happened to Pogo??
Posted on July 19, 2007 8:00 PM
Thanks, Wendell. That's a story about the Daily News I hadn't heard. It also explains why the letter writer would hold the Dick Tracy cancellation against us 30-40 years later.
What do you mean about Pogo? The strip isn't syndicated any longer.
Posted on July 20, 2007 11:31 AM
John:
"Pogo" was an endearing comic strip that appeared in newspapers (including the GDN) all over the country until the mid-1970s when the strip ceased to exist. Walt Kelly was the creator and writer of the strip.
Kelly was a political liberal who would occasionally pepper the comic strip with his ideological slant. Even though I am a conservative, I couldn't help myself. Pogo and his cohorts were fascinating creatures.
At the time, Pogo's quotes would work their way into popular usage. The most famous Pogo quote was, "We have met the enemy and he is us."
Jonathan Yardley wrote an interesting column for the Washington Post on May 23, 2005 regarding Kelly and his Pogo comic strip. (Yardley's name should be familiar to you since he was once a writer for the Greensboro Daily News).
You can read Yardley's column at:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/05/22/AR2005052201208.html
Another interesting article about Walt Kelly and Pogo can be found here:
http://www.halhigdon.com/kelly/
Posted on July 20, 2007 7:11 PM
John:
"Pogo" was an endearing comic strip that appeared in newspapers (including the GDN) all over the country until the mid-1970s when the strip ceased to exist. Walt Kelly was the creator and writer of the strip.
Kelly was a political liberal who would occasionally pepper the comic strip with his ideological slant. Even though I am a conservative, I couldn't help myself. Pogo and his cohorts were fascinating creatures.
At the time, Pogo's quotes would work their way into popular usage. The most famous Pogo quote was, "We have met the enemy and he is us."
Jonathan Yardley wrote an interesting column for the Washington Post on May 23, 2005 regarding Kelly and his Pogo comic strip. (Yardley's name should be familiar to you since he was once a writer for the Greensboro Daily News.)
You can read Yardley's column at:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/05/22/AR2005052201208.html
Another interesting article about Walt Kelly and Pogo can be found here:
http://www.halhigdon.com/kelly/
Posted on July 20, 2007 7:12 PM