By: E&P Staff This past Saturday's "Dilbert" strip was pulled because it made a reference to serial killing.
Scott Adams did the comic last month -- long before the mass murder at Virginia Tech.
"Obviously this is exceptionally bad timing," the United Media cartoonist wrote on his blog. "The average reader doesn't know how far in advance the comics are submitted, and it would look cruel, possibly intentional, given recent events. ... I apologize for any bad feelings the comic might cause for anyone who sees it."
The 2,000-plus "Dilbert" clients were asked to run a repeat strip, though some newspapers that prepare their comics in advance didn't get enough notice to switch.
Adams' original Saturday strip shows Dilbert saying "I designed a product that the users enjoy so much, they starve to death while using it" -- to which the woman walking next to him responds: "So, you're like a serial killer?" In the last panel, Dilbert tells Dogbert that the woman isn't his type. "Alive?," queries the canine.
In other "Dilbert" blog news, Adams commented yesterday about the "Garfield" comic and the purpose of art. He wrote that "Garfield" creator Jim Davis "set out years ago to create a massively popular comic strip. That was the goal of his art. He has succeeded for decades. When art achieves its goal, it has to be considered great.
"Sure, 'Garfield' doesn?t make you dance or cry or fall in love. It doesn't even amuse most adult males. So what? You can't judge art against objectives it never held. If you judge it against the standard it seeks to achieve, it's every bit the equal of the Mona Lisa."
"Garfield" appears in about 2,600 newspapers via Universal Press Syndicate.
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