'Kalamazoo Gazette' Asking Readers to Vote on Comics Page

By: E&P Staff The Kalamazoo (Mich.) Gazette is asking readers to vote on potential changes to its comics page.

Readers can decide whether the paper should keep or drop the Universal Press Syndicate comic strip "Cathy" or one of three other comics. A second poll asks readers which of three new comics should be added to the comics page. The vote was announced on Monday in a column by the paper's public editor, Joyce Pines.

"Newspaper editors tend to be pretty tough individuals," Pine wrote. "When disaster strikes, we're there. Corruption? Bring it on. Make a change to the newspaper's comics page? Whoa, wait a minute, I didn't sign up for that."

"Cathy," drawn by Cathy Guisewite, is currently on vacation through the end of July. The four other strips that could potentially be dropped are "Apartment 3-G," "Blondie," and "Beetle Bailey," all distributed by King Features.

The three replacement strips given for Gazette readers to choose from are King Features' "Baby Blues," United Feature's "Pearls Before Swine," and Universal Press' "Cul de Sac," which the Gazette is currently running in place of "Cathy."

As of Tuesday morning, 52 percent of voters have voted to drop "Cathy." In the replacement comics poll, "Pearls Before Swine" has a slight lead over "Baby Blues," 48 percent to 45 percent, with "Cul de Sac" lagging behind at 6 percent. Voting will continue until midnight on July 27.

Gazette readers have voted on the comic page twice before. In 2006, readers voted that United Features' "Get Fuzzy" should replace Universal's "FoxTrot" after artist Bill Amend cut back his strip to Sundays only. Last year, the Sunday comic "Opus" was replaced by "Pickles" after a reader vote.