Return of the penguin
By MIKE WILSON
Published April 30, 2006
On March 26 we introduced four new comics: Dog Eat Doug, Watch Your Head, F Minus and Peach Fuzz. We also eliminated Opus and Cathy on a trial basis and asked you to tell us what you thought.
You sent 1,302 e-mails to comics@sptimes.com posted hundreds of comments on itsyourtimes.com and mailed a whole bunch of response forms. They're all over my office.
Example: "Your comics person must be someone you keep locked up in a darkened room wearing big floppy clown shoes and a large red rubber nose."
After reading your letters and making some judgments of my own, I've decided to bring back Opus, move Cathy to the Web, introduce something new, take away a couple of old things and possibly join a brotherhood of self-flagellating monks because that sounds like an easier life.This whole experience has me talking to myself. Here's a transcript.
Why are you bringing back Opus?Because hundreds of disappointed (by which I mean furious) Opus fans asked us to. In March, I expressed my feeling that the strip doesn't meet the standards of Berkeley Breathed's great early strip, Bloom County. "You may be right," readers said (by which they meant "You idiot!"), "but it's still the best thing in the Sunday comics pages." It was stunning, really, to see how many people felt that way. Reader Paul Smith wrote, "The only comic I care about is Opus," a sentiment echoed in dozens of e-mails.The striking thing about Opus fans is their single-mindedness. Many of them had no opinion about the four new strips, except to note that they aren't Opus. People are building their entire Sundays around this strip.The penguin is back! Worship the penguin!
Why do we have to wait until May 21 to get Opus back?Boring production reasons. Basically, it takes some time to get things set up.
Will Opus still appear on the back page?No. It will run on an inside page, in a standard size. We need room for other things, too. The comics pages are a sandbox. Play nice.
Tell us about Lio, the new strip you're introducing.
It feels weird to use words to describe what's known in cartooning as a pantomime strip. Lio, which debuts May 15, follows the doings of a twisted little hollow-eyed kid who goes by that odd name. The syndicate compares the strip to the work of Charles Addams; I think there's a little Calvin and Hobbes in it too.
Example: Lio raises his hands in triumph after winning The Game of Life, the board game. His opponent: the Grim Reaper.
Creator Mark Tatulli lives in New Jersey and already draws a daily strip called Heart of the City. In an interview with his syndicate, he said Lio is meant to be "art that immediately stirs an emotion, simply by pen technique, even before you know what the strip is about."
We'll tell you more about Tatulli before the strip debuts.
Why are you putting Cathy on the Web but not in the newspaper?
Cathy had a good run in our comics pages, but the strip has gotten stale in recent years. It's time for something new. That said, we don't want to frustrate readers who still like the strip. Putting it on www.tampabay.com beginning May 15 will give people their Cathy fix and help us build our online comics page.
Some people don't want to go online to read comics.
I know. But if they do, they'll find some nice surprises.
What else are you going to put on tampabay.com?
Pickles, Watch Your Head and Opus will appear online as well as in the newspaper. We're also considering strips that have never run in the paper. That's where the surprises come in. Watch Floridian and tampabay.com for news.Why are you taking away Marvin?
To give readers something fresher and funnier. Many of you said you were delighted with Dog Eat Doug, which is in the same genre. What makes Dog Eat Doug better than Marvin? Better dog, better baby.Why are you eliminating The Phantom?
Again, it's time. The Phantom was created in the 1930s by Lee Falk, who died in 1999. King Features has kept the strip going with other artists, but The Phantom's best days are behind it.
You could say the same thing about Peanuts, Garfield, Marmaduke, Dennis the Menace and Hi & Lois. Might as well dump them, too.
Great idea! After that, we can hunt down the Easter Bunny and use him to make stew. No, I think we're making enough changes for now.
Why are you keeping F Minus?First, I'd like to congratulate those who don't like the strip and said it is aptly titled. That little wordplay was funny and clever every one of the several dozen times I heard it.
I'm keeping F Minus because I like it and most of the readers who responded said they do too.
Why are you leaving in Peach Fuzz and Watch Your Head even though relatively few people wrote in to say they like them?
Two reasons. One, we're guessing both strips will help us attract new readers. Two, if number one doesn't happen, we'll change strips. A place on the comics page is not a lifetime appointment, like a federal judgeship. (Peach Fuzz is a six-month story, so that ferret will be gone in September no matter what.) Maybe then we'll bring back Moon Mullins.
Are you out of your mind?
This cannot be ruled out completely.
LIO This strip debuts May 15.
HERE'S WHAT'S HAPPENING IN THE COMICS
* Opus will return to the Sunday comics pages on May 21.
* A brilliant new daily and Sunday strip, Lio, told almost entirely in pictures, will debut in the comics pages on May 15.
* Also beginning May 15, Cathy will appear every day on our Web site, www.tampabay.com. The strip will not be in the newspaper.
* All four of the new comics in the paper - Watch Your Head, Dog Eat Doug, F Minus and Peach Fuzz - are staying there.
* To accommodate these changes, The Phantom and Marvin will no longer appear in our pages.
WANT TO GIVE FEEDBACK? Send an e-mail to comics@sptimes.com or post your thoughts in our online discussion forum at www.itsyourtimes.com.