Changes are coming to The Post-Crescent's comics lineup. Here's what to know
APPLETON – Starting Oct. 2, readers will be able to enjoy Peanuts with every edition of the Appleton Post-Crescent – not just on Sunday.
Charlie Brown and the gang, Marmaduke, Hagar the Horrible and several other famous faces from the funnies will soon shift to daily publication in The Post-Crescent as part of a revitalization of comics pages across the USA TODAY Network.
As a millennial who lurks on the internet, sending endless streams of memes to my friends, I have a deep love for the simplicity of jokes contained in a single, or small trio, of frames. Set the premise, establish a pattern, break the pattern for comedic effect. Or, better yet, scrawl a one-liner that doesn’t quite make sense at first, backed up by little details scattered around the scene.
One could argue meme culture on the internet today is directly driven by all the sassy and clever people who grew up stealing the funnies from their parents’ newspapers.
I, however, grew up really, really rural. Six miles north of Wisconsin Dells for most of my childhood, then we ended up on piece of land 45 minutes further west, just outside Valton. We didn’t have a big, local newspaper — I found my passion for journalism in college — but my grandmother, who lived in Chicago, did.
She loved the stock market page and the comics equally — especially Far Side and Calvin & Hobbes — and she would snip the best bits from both and mail them to us. Our fridge was covered in these clippings, and I’d often make mom explain them to me. It inspired me to create my own comic characters and try to crack the code on humor.
These days, I’m often checking the eNewspaper to look for B.C., Garfield (my comic character is also a cat) and Hagar the Horrible. Luckily, those will all remain in our pages during this refresh. Sadly, though, I will have to find my Bizarro fix somewhere else. I hear Argyle Sweater is good.
Why the shift, and what to know
The section refresh was born out of a survey of our readers.
These changes will not impact The Post-Crescent’s subscription rate, and the comics which see print will continue to appear in the eNewspaper, as well. Additionally, our digital readers can also check out postcrescent.com/comics for even more comics.
Here’s what to know about which strips are staying, which ones we’re adding, and which ones will have to say “goodbye.”
The good news: Blondie, Dennis and Garfield will continue their stalwart service
Appleton readers will still be able to enjoy Beetle Bailey, Blondie, Dennis the Menace, Zits, Baby Blues, For Better or For Worse, Garfield, Crabgrass, Pearls Before Swine and Ziggy in every edition of The Post-Crescent.
Additionally, Fox Trot and Rose is Rose will maintain their homes in the Sunday paper.
The better news: Several Sunday-only titles are coming to daily pages
Joining those comics in print every day of the week are Hagar the Horrible, The Family Circus, Peanuts, Pickles, JumpStart, Marmaduke, Non Sequitur, Baldo, The Born Loser, Crankshaft, Frank & Ernest and Luann.
Some of these titles, like Marmaduke and The Family Circus, were previously available on Sunday, only, but are now expanding to the other editions as part of this change. Others, such as Non Sequitur and Frank & Ernest, are new to our pages.
All told, the Sunday edition will go up to 29 strips, from 28, and the other editions will go up to 22, from 20.
The complicated part: So long, Get Fuzzy, and I’ll see you on Sunday, B.C.
A few comics will move to Sunday-only, and some others will be lost as part of this rearrangement.
To make room for the new content, B.C., Close to Home, Mother Goose & Grimm, and Wizard of Id will move to Sunday-only. They’ll join Rose is Rose, which is maintaining its Sunday-only status, and Argyle Sweater, which is new to the lineup.
Additionally, we will no longer carry Between Friends, Bizarro, Doonesbury, Dustin, Get Fuzzy, Grande Ave, Hi and Lois, Overboard, Pardon my Planet, Pooch Café, Prince Valiant, Sally Forth or The Lockhorns in print.
Can't get enough comics?
In the Sept. 24 edition (this edition, if you've found my words in print), we're taking a look 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.
Then, over the next two weeks, we'll profile some comics artists to whet your appetite and give a little behind-the-ink look at some of these legends.
In print on Oct. 1, we'll profile Jeff Keane, author of The Family Circus, and on Oct. 8, readers will get familiar with Jim Borgman of Zits, Brian Crane of Pickles, and Dean Young of Blondie.
A story about Josh Fruhlinger, the Comics Curmudgeon, is also planned for Oct 1. He's the blogger behind joshreads.com, who makes fun of the funnies.
Taima Kern is editor of the Appleton Post-Crescent, and business editors for the Post-Crescent and the Green Bay Press Gazette. Reach her at tkern@gannett.com or 920-907-7819. Follow her on X (Twitter) @TaimaKern.
This article originally appeared on Appleton Post-Crescent: Appleton Post-Crescent adjusts lineup of daily, Sunday comics section
