Change is coming to our comics pages
As a child when I’d open the refrigerator door to grab the OJ, my eyes often landed on a “For Better or For Worse” comic my mother had taped to the front. “Garfield” will forever remind me of my grandparents house.
A well-drawn and scripted comic captures what it means to be human. It gets us.
My colleague Suzy Leonard, our food and dining reporter, put it this way: for her, reading “For Better or For Worse” is like “sitting down every morning and having coffee with a friend to catch up on her wacky life.”
Comics make us nod along, “Yes, exactly.” They trigger laughter, prompt smiles.
They’re the funnies, after all. The happy pages. Comics are where you go for some light.
For some of us, they are the first place we go. For others, they are the pleasant stop at the end of your reading.
Honor Flight: Honor Flight: America, this is who we are
We each have our favorites. Favorites we’ve grown with over the years. Maybe as we've aged, some of our favorites have changed.
Now change is coming to our comics pages. Those pages are getting a refresh, beginning Monday, Oct. 2. You’ll see some new comic strips, with quite a few of the existing comics remaining.
Favorites like “Family Circus”, “Garfield,” “For Better or For Worse,” “Hagar” and “Peanuts” aren’t going anywhere. You’ll still find them in our daily and Sunday pages. On Sundays, you can still seek out “Crabgrass,” “Pickles,” “Zits,” and “Ziggy” to name a few.
We’re adding some older favorites that we haven’t been able to feature in a while. These are comics some of you might remember from your childhood. Now every day, you’ll find: “Blondie,” “Beetle Bailey,” “Dennis the Menace,” “Crankshaft,” and “Luann.” On Sundays, look for “FoxTrot,” “Marmaduke” and “Baldo” to become regulars. Please note that these adjustments will not affect your subscription rates.
We will be saying goodbye to some comics in print like “Doonesbury,” “B.C.,” “The Wizard of Id,” and “Dustin,” written by our former editorial page cartoonist Jeff Parker. “Dustin,” though, is still available online, as are many others such as “Shoe,” “The Amazing Spiderman,” and “Tiger,” at floridatoday.com/comics.
The changes, coming to all USA TODAY Network newspapers, of which we are one, reflect survey results and input from loyal readers. There is a savings involved, which will help our company invest further in local journalism. The comics pages also will have a cleaner look.
As we prepare for this change, we’re taking a look in today’s edition at the evolution of the unique art form that is newspaper comic strips, how they've grown and changed, and how they've impacted every part of society, from the kitchen table, to the classroom, to the political sphere.
I know you’re going to have strong feelings about this. But I hope when you look at some of our new offerings, you'll find some new, or old, favorites that delight you.
Contact Executive Editor Mara Bellaby at mbellaby@floridatoday.com.
This article originally appeared on Florida Today: Refresh coming to FLORIDA TODAY comics pages
