A Washington state man paid The Olympian $190 to drop Doonesbury for a day so he could run his own comic strip to pop the question. The title of the strip was “Happy Birthday Sandra Kay” and in the last panel he wrote, “As a cartoonist, this seems like the most natural place to ask … Sandra, will you marry me?”
“I came up with the idea because I wanted to do something unique and creative,” says Saunders. “Then I say there’s a point to it. And by the last frame I propose.”
Not expecting the question to be popped in print, Sandra was just happy to see the comic in the paper.
“I thought that he’d gotten his own comic strip in the paper so I was really excited but when I saw my name I was “no this can’t be happening what is this?”
She said yes.
Here is a news report of the proposal:
Did he hire Ted Rall to draw it?
Geez, it only takes a couple of hundred bucks to get a paper to drop a major strip for a day? That’s a very sad commentary on how the strips are perceived by the paper’s editors. What would it take to get them to drop a lesser strip–say, Marmaduke–for a day? A bag of Funyuns?
Why couldn’t they give the man his own space for $190? Wouldn’t have had to drop the strip.
While Tom’s comment was hilarious, it was in The Olympian, which has a circulation of about 33K. It’s not exactly The New York Times.
Wasn’t Guy Endore-Kaiser the first to do this?
I proposed to my wife in a cartoon in the early 1990s. Screw Guy Endore-Whatshisname.
…I sense a new trend starting…pay the newspapers to print your strips.
Right… so what’s the word from Mr. Trudeau on this?
It would have been a sweet little joke, if they had moved Doonesbury elsewhere in the paper for the day instead of dropping it completely. Stay classy, Olympian.
That’s a sweet story. I’m not sure of what other strips run in the paper, but couldn’t they have dropped something a little bit less high profile? Maybe they got permission or something, I don’t know. Nice story though.
“Maybe they got permission”
From themselves?
Personally, I think a public wedding proposal as if you were living in a rom/com is tacky, but I guess if people were really upset about not seeing Doonesbury for a day (the horror!) they could have found it on the series of tubes.
This gives me an idea…a few years from now I?m going to pay the local paper to drop Doonesbury and run my comic strip called ?Why Simon is Gone.? It?ll be a good way to tell my daughter the cat died.
Anything to avoid that awkward conversation.
You could try that, Scott, or use the classic singing telegram.
Our local county flyer, which I think runs three times a week, wanted $100 for a 2″X2″ ad (which I was going to place for my father-in-law’s business). Now I need to look up what their circ is, because I should’ve just bought the Doonesbury spot.
Actually, they don’t run Doonesbury. They have a whopping two comic strips.
Those closeups are a good reminder of how crappy newspaper printing looks.
This girl doesn’t know when she’s being stalked.
My syndicate actively solicits garage sale ads to run in place of The Flying McCoys.
I’m pretty sure this guy is now technically engaged to Jane Pauley.
John Kovalic proposed to his wife in his comic and it ended up in the National Enquirer.
http://www.dorktower.com/about-john-kovalic/national-enquirer/
Why do I have Keith Morrison’s voice in my head detailing the odd comic related engagement of this woman who later mysteriously vanished until remnants of her body were later discovered in a hot dog casing?
Donald Trump is going to use this method to announce his candidacy for president. He’ll be replacing “Mr. Boffo” for the day.
The Doonesbury strip apparently wasn’t dropped… it’s a little fuzzy, but if you look at the top of the strip it says “Paid Advertisement (find the Doonesbury strip on page ##).”
Thanks, Gary. That removes my only objection.
Now I just have to decide which is the story: The proposal in comic form, or the mass of knotted knickers it inspired.
Good luck to the happy couple and may they continue to have knotted knickers together.