Comics Are Serious Business

Hi folks -- I'm up to my armpits in alligators right now, so this is just a quick filler; I will try to have some Journals-related content tomorrow.

Local DC blog DCist reports that the Washington Post has shaken up its comics page lineup (at least, in the print edition -- all the comics are still available online); here's the word from the Washington Post:

They're taking out comic strips Mary Worth, Cathy and Broom Hilda, and also taking out panel cartoons The Flying McCoys and The Other Coast.

In their place? Brewster Rockit, Brevity and Agnes.

Now, people tend to be irrationally attached to their comics, even if they haven't been funny since the Carter administration (or in some cases, have never been funny). They're kind of like comfort food that way.

Usually, whenever there's a change like this, there's big hue and outcry, and comics page editors sometimes find themselves backtracking.

This is largely because people who still read the dead-tree editions of newspapers don't usually read comics online (Which is a generalization, I know. And yet.)

Because there's limited space in a print newspaper, but unlimited space online, that's kind of where the future is headed; otherwise, there's bunches and bunches of talented new comic strip artists who would never get the chance to get picked up and syndicated, because they're crowded out by ossified, unfunny, but established comics.

For example, Brevity (which, to be honest, I don't find particularly funny) started out as an online comic -- I think I first heard about them on Fark (they're members), and they made the jump over to syndication and print.

If you care, here are some of my comics reads online (I never read a print newspaper in the morning):

• Dilbert
• Get Fuzzy
• Pearls Before Swine
• Frazz
• Candorville
• Doonesbury
• Loose Parts

And here are a few Web-only comics; many of them are not-quite-daily; most are edgy, tasteless, really geeky, or use profanity, so be warned:

• Toothpaste for Dinner
• Alien Loves Predator
• Sinfest
• Cyanide and Happiness (this one gets its own content warning)

And I just started reading these two:

• xkcd (I have a separate blog entry about this one lined up, about AIM Profiles)
• Indexed (this one just got picked up by the BBC News Web site).

There are a lot of really good Web-only comics out there, if you poke around a little.

If you want to share some of your favorite comic reads (don't worry, Mary Worth and Mark Trail fans, we won't laugh), please leave a comment below and let us know what they are.

Thanks -- Joe

Tags: comics, online comics, washington post, newspapers