Watch Your Head (2/10/08)

It’s been two-and-a-half years since the last new Boondocks strip appeared in print, but the trend-setting comic still casts a large shadow over the industry. From the looks of today’s Watch Your Head, black cartoonists in particular have had a tough time courting readers on a post-Boondocks comics page.

The “Chicago Tribune,” which publishes Watch Your Head, even ran an opinion piece in today’s paper about the issue. It was an interesting read that touched on a few aspects of daily newspaper production that I wasn’t familiar with (apparently, the “Tribune” has a “comics committee.”)

I was inspired to send the following e-mail to the author of the piece:

Glenn Jeffers:

I enjoyed your article on the “Tribune”’s comics committee that appeared in today’s paper. It’s always interesting to read honest insight about how the newspaper selects its comics. And I agree that Watch Your Head is a far cry from The Boondocks in terms of humor, tone, and style. Anyone who dismisses it as a “black comic strip” simply isn’t paying attention.

But I had to chuckle when I read your argument that the “Tribune” is quick to drop strips that have lost their edge. While I appreciated the dumping of Beetle Bailey and Hi and Lois, I was also surprised to see them go. Later in your article, you yourself admit that strips like Blondie and Hagar the Horrible are here to stay.

Personally, I think a modest proposal is well overdue when it comes to the comics page (and not just the “Tribune”’s). Editors should have the courage to purge strips whose original authors are no longer alive to write and draw the daily installments. I don’t particularly care for Cathy, but at least it’s still the product of its original creator. I can’t say the same for zombie strips like Dick Tracy and Blondie.

As for Peanuts, editors across the country have dropped the strip, and I suspect this will continue as more volumes of “The Complete Peanuts” are released. The strip is one of my favorites, but I would hope the “Tribune” isn’t one of the last papers to drop it. Charlie Brown and company are timeless, to be sure, but old strips are also readily available outside the newspaper.

Finally, I’m glad you mentioned Raising Hector in your article, because I’m still irked by its placement in the “Tribune.” The drawing in the strip is crude, the characters are cliches, and the punchlines are painfully obvious. Compare this to the smart, funny, well-drawn Candorville that got the boot when Raising Hector was added to your roster.

The “Tribune” can still correct this mistake by bringing back Candorville at the expense of Raising Hector or, you know, Blondie.

Update: I just caught wind of an interesting NPR interview with Watch Your Head cartoonist Cory Thomas, the organizer of these statement strips. It’s just under three minutes long, and worth a listen to.