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Pros & Cons by Kieran Meehan 2005-2023 – update

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As Comics Kingdom informs us, “Pros and Cons is no longer offered as the author has ended the comic strip.”

Pros & Cons by Kieran Meehan began as A Lawyer, A Doctor & A Cop on September 5, 2005.

The back story that drives the strip’s humor is the friendship between the three characters that grew out of their connection to Sophie Wagner, the sister of Detective Stan Defoe who is also the proprietor of the diner which they all regularly frequent. In addition to Sophie Wagner, A Lawyer, A Doctor & A Cop features Samuel Rhodes, a defense lawyer and married father who has grown somewhat skeptical and disenchanted with his chosen profession; Lyndon Peel, a single, sophisticated and opinionated psychiatrist; and Detective Stan Defoe, a dedicated, streetwise cop and protective older brother of Sophie.

above: the debut strip of A Lawyer, A Doctor & A Cop via The Wisconsin State Journal

The comic strip ran under its original title until July 6, 2008. On Monday July 7, 2008 it was retitled Pros & Cons.

In mid-2023 Kieran, without warning, stopped creating the strip.

Pros & Cons

(original title: A Lawyer, A Doctor & A Cop)

by Kieran Meehan

September 5, 2005 – July 31, 2023 (a Monday)

distributed by King Features Syndicate

* Comics Kingdom published/posted a last Pros & Cons on Monday July 31, 2023. While not impossible I find it implausible that King Features Syndicate sent subscribing newspapers one comic strip to print for that week. Efforts to get in touch with KFS editors about the last Pros & Cons to be sent to newspapers has been frustrating. So now I am waiting on The Great Falls Tribune for the last three weeks of July to show up on newspapers.com. The Tribune ran Pros & Cons on their daily comics page supposedly to the end; unfortunately they did not run the Sunday strip so that last one will remain in question. Any help in discovering the last Pros & Con (both daily and Sunday) printed in a newspaper will be appreciated.

above: the last Pros & Cons posted to Comics Kingdom © King Features Syndicate

UPDATE

The Great Falls Tribune via newspapers.com shows it did indeed run Pros & Cons through Monday July 31, 2023. The paper was apparently caught unawares as the following day the comics page had a blank spot in the space.

Update 2:

The August 2, 2023 edition of The Great Falls Tribune carries Between Friends replacing Pros & Cons.

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Comments 12

  1. That makes me sad. What a great strip, especially if you are a lawyer (I am) who deals with judges, clients, prosecutors, police and psychiatrists/psychologists. Maybe in the fullness of time KM will do a Gary Larson and start o website with reruns and occasional new material. I am grateful for the information, though.

  2. Sad to see – really enjoyed the strip ! Wishing Kieran Meehan well.

  3. Do you -require- it to be a newspaper?
    ‘Cause the obvious is clicking ‘Previous’ online…

    RandomTroll
    (fake name, fake email)

    1. Yes. I am looking for Pros & Cons last appearance in a printed newspaper, not a website.

  4. Now Pros and Cons is the 5th. newspaper strip to end in 2023 joining R.F.D., Mt. Pleasant, Half Full, and even Dilbert.

    Who remembers Mr. Meehan’s “Meehan Streak” from 1999 to 2005 with several different situations until 2004 with the strip switching to focus on the cavepeople with rumors to change the name of the strip to “Tribal” that never occured?

    I hope the next strips to end before 2023 ends could be Pickles and/or Gasoline Alley and/or The Family Circus.

    1. I wonder how many people would come on here and publicly wish for you to lose your job?

    2. Happily, your hopes will definitely not be coming true.

  5. There’s something to be said in favor of “Leave ’em wanting more.”

    Who was it who said that half of Art is knowing when to stop?

  6. Sorry to hear of the death of Pros and Cons. It was a strip I greatly enjoyed.

    With the continued decrease in newspaper circulation, and the increase in newspaper chains mandating what comics are run in their papers, I am sure we will eventually hear of the death of many other enjoyable comics.

  7. It was such an odd final strip to end on as well, what with the reference to “thought crime.”

  8. It’s a shame, I always enjoyed the strip and looked forward to reading it. It was a nice morning read. Still, it’s nice to confirm that it’s gone and not just a glitch.

    I especially liked the artwork; everyone looked like a ventriloquist’s doll.

  9. I think creator exit interviews should be mandatory when long-running strips end. I too liked Pros and Cons and don’t like being left to wonder why it’s gone. In other words … me, me me! Sorry you’re not on the comics page anymore Mr. Meehan.

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