The Oregonian has announced that it will be dropping 10 comics to cut back on costs. The remaining 23 comics will be printed in color. Of the 23 slots that are now subject to change, Executive Editor Peter Bhatia announced that eight features are safe: Adams’ Apples, Dilbert, Doonesbury, Get Fuzzy, Mother Goose and Grimm, Pearls Before Swine, Stone Soup and Zits. The other fifteen slots will be filled based on the editor’s own experience as well as a reader poll of their favorite (and least favorite) comics.
The features now up for grabs include:
- Adam@Home
- Baby Blues
- Better or Worse
- Bizarro
- Blondie
- Cathy
- Close to Home
- Cul de Sac
- lderberries
- Garfield
- Grand Avenue
- Hagar the Horrible
- Hi and Lois
- Judge Parker
- Luann
- Mutts
- Non Sequitur
- Peanuts
- Pickles
- Rose is Rose
- Sally Forth
- The Family Circus
- The Brilliant Mind of Edison Lee
- Wizard of Id
- Ziggy
Maybe it’s just me, but the strips they’re declaring as “safe” seem to be just a little edgier, and definitely younger than many of those they’ve cut or declared up-for-grabs. Okay, Doonesbury and MG&G are both long-timers, but they’ve always had edgy content, and have always FELT young to me.
It’s possible, remotely, that this represents an attempt by the paper to appeal to a younger audience.
All of those keeper strips have ranked high in The Oregonian’s recent reader preference polls, so they appear to be on the “saved” list. What’s surprising is to see so many of the legacy strips under the gun. I’ll bet it will be a shoot out for the ages! What a smackdown to see Hi and Lois go up against Hagar the Horrible! Let the blood, sweat, and tears flow!
How does it save the paper money to drop 10 cartoons then print in color? I have no basis for this, but wouldn’t the cost of the color ink be more than than the cost of the cartoons for each run?
Another dumb newspaper cutting comics, more than likely because of the space they take up, not the costs. And, then hiding behind the change with the “benefit” of putting them in color. WTF?? Someone should send Mr. Bhatia, the Oregonian editor that if he was such a BIG comics reader, then he should be an advocate for keeping comics, not cutting them. Another dough head Editor, who is holy than thou about what his newspaper is “really” about. Comics, phhhh. Cut ’em, who needs ’em is what he is really saying.
“How does it save the paper money to drop 10 cartoons then print in color? I have no basis for this, but wouldn?t the cost of the color ink be more than than the cost of the cartoons for each run?”
Remember that the use of color extends to adjacent pages. For instance, normally, I wouldn’t get color on a page unless there were also a color ad, because that would cover the cost of the extra plates, etc. But the section front is color, so the back page of that section is also color, whether there’s a color ad to justify it or not.
Larger papers (that is, mid-sized ones — larger than my tiny one) aren’t going to be quite that tight, but they still have to plan out which pages are color and which are not.
My guess is that they’ve expanded color independent of the daily decisions based on ad placement, but had to make some cuts in order to justify the cost. The 10 strips don’t cover it but are part of a set of economic moves that add up to the increased cost of whatever additional color positions they’re adding.
I’m not saying it’s a choice I like. I might not like the other decisions in that series of cuts, either. But you asked, and that’s a likely explanation: It’s not as simple as “cutting 10 strips allows us to add color to these two pages.”
It’s my view that one of the reasons we have been seeing newspapers cut comics is due to two things that have happened over the last several years.
One, syndicates have not been able to increase prices for comics for 30 years, so they started selling More, Cheaper comics to papers.
Two, many papers absorbed or eliminated their rival papers and adopted that paper’s comics to mollify readers.
The result has been too many newspapers running too many comics, further resulting in smaller comics and smaller rates for cartoonists.
What makes it worse is the newspapers and syndicates are not likely to simply go back to the previous and better way of doing things: to run fewer comics, at a larger size and for a higher rate. Things have been set up so that there can only be losers all the way around. Temporary solutions can only be destructive when efforts to properly restore things are not put in place.
Some of the savings comes in the form of less use of paper. The savings per page is quite substantial when multiplied by 300+ days annually.
Please do not cancel Pickles. It’s the only comic we discuss in our senior aerobics class and the only one I read.
Sounds like they are not going to drop any now after almost 10,000 people took part in their survey and complained about cutting comics.
link:
http://blog.oregonlive.com/oregonianeditors/2009/03/were_not_dropping_comics_after.html
please get rid of get fuzzy it is NOT FUNNY and it makes no sense. also i dislike edison lee.idverberries. judge parker and mutts. why would you get rid of classics like blondie and peanuts?
please get rid of get fuzzy NOT FUNNY, and it makes no sense. also get rid of edison lee ,iderberries,judge parker,mutts and cathy. why would you even concider getting rid of the classics like blondie,peanuts or haggar?
I’ve been meaning to write to say that the CUL DE SAC cartoonist, Richard Thompson, is truly a genius at understanding and portraying the delightful lives of children and their hapless parents. This comic is so amazingling funny. PLEASE, PLEASE DON’T DROP IT!!!
Also, at the other spectrum I’d sorely miss PICKLES, & ELDERBERRIES. Also, so fun are: FOR BETTER, OR WORSE, LUANN, AND GRAND AVE.
I like your other picks except for Pearls before Swine. I don’t get this one at all.
Thanks for asking.
Carol, you are responding to a post that is a year and a half old. Also, this is not the Daily Oregonian. I think you need to get your specktacles checked.
LOL!
The comics are the first thing I read in the Oregonian each day. If my favorites disappear, including For Better or Worse, Stone Soup, Luann, Adam’s Apples,Grand Avenue, The Family Circus, Hi and Lois, Blondie, and Pickles, I won’t need The Oregonian anymore. Please think again, black and white is fine!
Please save my favorites: Family Circles, Stone Soup, Luann, For Better or Worse, Dilbert, Peanuts. thank you.
I LOVE Family Circle. PLEASE don’t drop it. Thank you!!
Yes, dammit! We’re going to drop it! And you can’t stop us!
A Plugger thinks an iPad is some kind of … Oh, sorry. Wrong thread.
You have some of the worst comics ever printed now anyway .. I used to brag to friends and relatives in other states and Canada about how the Oregonian was one of the best newspapers I ever read. Obviously that was a few years ago.All of the paper has deteriorated badly.
Benson of the Arizona Republic is one of the best social cartoonists ever. The ones being used now are terrible.Are you trying to drive away readers ?
I cut out and mail comics to friends and family. Comics make a point with out hurting. Cartoonist’s are smarter than most people give them credit for ! A variety makes all of us have fav’s Why should one person tell us what to like!? More is better and black and white is ok too.
Zits, Stone Soup and Pickles are my favorites. I would just hate to lose them. They speak to the all ages and really bring the average person’s everyday life into perspective.