Not so funny!

I read the comics while I rode BART back from the city today and didn't notice our mistake until I got this e-mail:

Hello Cheri, I was really disappointed when I opened my Tracy Press to the comics page this morning. The comics in today's paper are not today's comics. I don't know if they are tomorrow's or maybe even Saturday's, but they were not today's. This is OK with some comics, as they are not serials. But for comics such as my favorite serials, Baldo and For Better or For Worse, it is not so good. It is like skipping a chapter in a book. ... What comic strips will you put in the paper on the day that these comic strips are from? Will you repeat them again?

Yes, the humans have erred . Apparently, we got our days mixed up and printed Friday's comics today (Thursday). So that means we'll print today's comics tomorrow (Friday).

Confusing and embarrassing. Our apologies to Zits, Baldo, Dilbert and the whole comics gang.

Meanwhile, I love hearing from comic-strip aficionados, some of the most passionate newspaper readers out there.

This reminds me that when "Fox Trot" ended syndication recently, we had to choose a replacement quickly. We're trying out "Mutts," because it supposedly appeals to a similar, young demographic. Plus, we didn't have any other animal comic strips.

All comics comments accepted here!

Comic relief?

One of our most-loved and most-loathed comic strips will take a six-month sabbatical beginning this month.

Aaron McGruder announced in a letter this week to the 350 newspapers that carry his edgy strip that he needs to take a break from "The Boondocks."

"Every well needs occasional refreshing, and I hope that this fall you will agree that the time away from the demands of deadlines has served the strip, your readers and me," McGruder wrote.

That leaves us with a hole on our Laugh page. What to do?

Universal Press, the syndicate that distributes Boondocks, urges newspapers to run reruns of the antics of Huey and Riley and their eccentric grandfather.

I think this is a good excuse to try something new.

Here are a couple of offbeat comics that I think would make good replacements:
"Non Sequitur"
"Pearls Before Swine"

Let me know what you think!

Posted by cmatthews at March 12, 2006 10:03 AM

I read the available samples of both of these replacement comics, and I don't care for either of them. "Pearls Before Swine" even had one strip which included the hilarious punchline, "Who gives a $#%*?".
Non-Sequitur's left-leaning take on political issues may belong on your "Voice page", but it doesn't fit with the comics.
All funny comic strips have already been written. My solution? Bring back "Classic Peanuts"! Who is with me here?

Posted by: Jim Freeman at March 13, 2006 01:29 PM

Good riddence to McGruder He is a waste of Ink.

Posted by: David Kerst at March 29, 2006 12:09 PM

How about making a start by publishing the Monday comic strips in the Tuesday paper? We all miss a day of the serial strips.

From Cheri: We're publishing two of the "Doonesbury" strips Tuesdays on the Voice page. What other serial comics do you miss on Mondays?

Posted by: Steven Braman at March 29, 2006 07:55 PM