�Cathy� came to Flint in 1982 and remains a comics page staple.

Controversy in comics? They’ll do it every time

‘We need a variety � if all strips are the same, we�re not serving our readers.�

� Paul Keep, editor

By Helen S. Bas
Journal Staff Writer

It�s not funny. It�s no laughing matter. It�s serious business. . All the good one-liners about comic strips are right � comics are an important part of the newspaper.

In case anyone needed a reminder, a �B.C.� strip for Easter Sunday this year was taken very seriously by Jews � here and nationwide � who condemned what they interpreted as its depiction of Judaism being replaced by Christianity.

Cartoonist Johnny Hart disavowed that interpretation, but that didn�t stop the Jewish Defense League from asking newspapers to pull the comic, or deter a local rabbi from writing a letter to the editor in which he said the strip �could breed disrespect� for views other than the cartoonist�s.

Like almost anything in the paper, some people read the comics; some don�t. One reader loves a strip; another hates it. Why do fictional characters inspire so much passion?

�They�re a sign of the times,� said Randy Zimmerman of Burton, a commercial artist and editor of Flint-based Arrow Comics. �I think, for example, that �Baldo� (a strip about a Hispanic family) gives a mid-America perspective.�

In The Journal, Zimmerman said, �I usually just scan the comics pages, but I almost always read �Frank and Ernest.� �

Journal Editor Paul Keep knows comics are important.

�It�s a very weighty issue for a lot of readers. Whenever we make a change, I hear about it.�

Keep said he often doesn�t find out if anyone likes a comic until it is canceled, but he hears right away about ones they don�t like.

His own favorites: �Born Loser,� �Baldo,� �Hagar the Horrible,� �Close to Home� and �Peanuts.� He reluctantly admitted he reads �Crankshaft.�

�I don�t know why, but people don�t want to admit they read it,� he said.

Lucy Shelton Caswell, professor and curator of the Cartoon Research Library at Ohio State University, said readers make friends with the characters.

�They are someone you get to know and understand,� Caswell said. �People look forward to �meeting� them every day; you become part of that little universe when you choose to read a comic strip.�

A look at early records of The Journal reveals a varied �comical� history.

Comic-like illustrations and messages appeared as early as the late 1800s. Editorial cartoons appeared in the early 1900s. Since the mid-1910s, Journal readers have been enjoying comic strips.

Among the earliest was �Bringing Up Father� by George McManus. An immigrant worker, Jiggs, and his wife, Maggie, have come into a lot of money. Maggie has her eyes on high society, but Jiggs is content to continue playing cards and pool.

�Bringing Up Father� disappeared from The Journal by the early 1920s. By that time, eight or so strips appeared in daily editions. On Nov. 12, 1922, The Journal printed comics in its first Sunday edition.

As they are today, Sunday strips were larger and often had more panels than daily strips.

A sample through the 1970s revealed some longstanding comics and some that changed quickly. �Our Boarding House� by Gene Ahern may be the longest-running strip in The Journal�s history. Begun here in 1922 and discontinued in 1976, it was a series of vignettes about life as a boarder.

The earliest strip that continues to this day is �They�ll Do It Every Time,� created by Jimmy Hatlo and written today by Al Scaduto. It started in The Journal in 1939.

Through the 1940s and �50s, Journal readers were treated to �Alley Oop,� �Joe Palooka,� �Red Ryder� and �Bugs Bunny.� By the mid-�50s, strips that survive today were beginning to appear: �Beetle Bailey� and the beloved �Peanuts� are notables.

A milestone came on Nov. 2, 1980, when the Sunday comics were first printed in color.

Throughout the �80s, �90s and into the 21st century, strips have been added and dropped in part due to reader feedback. Readers have been vocal.

One recent addition, �The Boondocks,� revolves around several black characters. It has engendered scathing comments to editor Keep. Most of the comments are from readers who perceive the strip as racist.

�Strips like �The Boondocks� and �Doonesbury� are in a different category � sarcastic but funny,� he said. �We need a variety � if all strips are the same, we�re not serving our readers.

�We need to acknowledge that ... what�s funny to some African-American people may not be to some white people.�

The Journal has received a significant number of letters about �The Boondocks,� most of them negative. Keep said he reads �The Boondocks� on a daily basis �so I know if I�m in trouble.�

Race is not the only social issue in the comics. Politics, sexism, child abuse, gender � nothing is left untouched.

In April 1993, �For Better or for Worse� contained a four-week sequence that dealt with Michael Patterson�s gay friend, Lawrence, coming out. Although many papers pulled the strip or moved it to the opinion page for the duration of the plot, The Journal ran it in its usual place.

When a new comic debuts in The Journal, Keep encourages readers to let him know what they think. He discusses new strips in his Sunday column.

Changes continue: New this month is �Frazz,� a school janitor who plays a big part in children�s informal education. The nationally syndicated strip�s creator, Jef Mallett, was an illustrator at The Journal in the 1980s and now works for The Journal�s Lansing Bureau.

Mallett has a different take on why comics are so important.

�I think it�s the �instantaneousness� � is that a word? � of it. Everything is all there � visual, text, characters, story. It�s all at once, and quickly. It�s nice, that you can get pleasure from something that takes so little time (to enjoy).�

Feature writer Helen S. Bas started at The Journal in 1999. She can be reached at (810) 766-6244 or hbas@flintjournal.com.