Montreal Paper Pulls Several Older Strips in Comics Revamp

By: E&P Staff The Gazette of Montreal has made major changes in its comics lineup, including dropping prominent older strips such as "Beetle Bailey" and "Garfield."

"New artists with fresh ideas and strong talent are trying to break into the business," The Gazette wrote in a Tuesday article. "We want to make space for them."

The paper added seven comics, including "Between Friends," "Dog Eat Doug," "Lio," "Non Sequitur," "Pearls Before Swine," "Pooch Cafe," and "Rhymes With Orange."

Also dropped were "Adam," "Herman," and "Sally Forth." Two of The Gazette's 22 comic slots had already been open since the paper pulled "Peanuts" in 2005 and "The Boondocks" went on hiatus earlier this year.

And The Gazette dropped the Sunday installments of "Hagar the Horrible," "Real Life Adventures," and "The Wizard of Id" -- while keeping the daily versions of those three comics.

The Gazette changes were mentioned today on Tom Spurgeon's ComicsReporter.com blog.