Carolinas’ Gannett Sunday Comics Survey

Pam Sander, the Southeast Regional Editor of Gannett newspapers has announced a mid January 2021 change in the Sunday comics sections of her papers in The Carolinas:

Even in an age of digital-first media, the print comics have an important place in our lives. We know how sacred they are to you. That’s why we’re asking for your help as we usher them into a new era of our industry that includes consolidated press runs and efficiencies in print production.

Which I take to mean all Sunday sections will be printed on the same press and they will not have to change anything to get the comics sections for all the newspapers off the rollers.

Further:

An updated Sunday comics section will launch in mid-January in Gannett newspapers throughout the Carolinas. Ten classics will be included — B.C., Beetle Bailey, Blondie, Born Loser, Close to Home, Dilbert, Family Circus, For Better or Worse, Garfield and Hagar the Horrible.

One thing sticks out for those that are grandfathered in – they are mostly legacy/zombie strips.

You will pick the balance of the section:

You get to decide which additional comics will complete the lineup. Over the next two weeks, a ballot with 18 contenders will appear in the daily newspaper and online. Pick your 10 favorites from among those 18.

I >guess< they took an accounting of all the comic strips that appear in the various Gannett Sunday newspapers in North and South Carolina and then decided which were definitely going to remain and which would be left to the readers’ preferences.

Those offered up for readers’ choice are: Argyle Sweater, Baby Blues, Baldo, Dennis the Menace, Dustin, Foxtrot, Frank and Ernest, Hi and Lois, JumpStart, Mother Goose and Grimm, Pearls Before Swine, Phoebe and Her Unicorn, Pickles, Pooch Cafe, Sally Forth, Speed Bump, Wallace the Brave, and Zits.

The survey is at The Wilmington Star News site or at The Fayetteville Observer site.

The current (November 8)  Wilmington Star News Sunday Funnies:

And the current (November 8) Fayetteville Observer Sunday lineup:

Sunday comics appearing in the above sections but not grandfathered in or offered in the readers’ survey are Pluggers, Barney Google and Snuffy Smith, The Lockhorns, Wizard of Id, and, amazingly, Peanuts. The survey does not have a “write-in” option.