BDN seeks readers’ help picking comics

Editor’s note:

As you may have read in the Bangor Daily News, Johnny Hart, creator of the “B.C.” comic strip, died of a stroke April 7 at the age of 76. He and his strip, which eventually appeared in 1,300 newspapers, would have celebrated 50 years together in 2008. That’s right, it’s hard to believe, but the strip was launched in 1958.

B.C. will continue, Hart’s family providing the interiors for the panels of his familiar cavemen and dinosaurs. But with the creator’s hand no longer on the pen, this is an appropriate time to begin a search for another comic with potential to appeal across generations. In that, we would like your help.

First, a point about the daily comics. Space on the daily black-and-white page is dear, so we’ve already filled B.C.’s slot with a popular strip that had been running in the BDN color comics on weekends only: Non Sequitur. Produced by Wiley Miller, a California native who now resides in Maine, Non Sequitur is a staple in more than 700 newspapers and consistently lives up to its billing as innovative, provocative, wry and insightful.

For the weekend color comics, we’ll try something different. There are many excellent strips available, and although space is still limited in the color section, there’s room to sample and experience a variety of comics that already have proved popular across the country. The plan: Beginning this weekend, we’ll showcase two new comics, each for three months, and see what you, the readers think. If the response is an overwhelming “thumbs up,” the strip stays. If not, there are many more out there waiting to be sampled.

For starters, we’ll offer “Dog eat Doug,” a strip from Creators Syndicate that features Sophie, a chocolate lab puppy who was the center of the family’s attention until the birth and arrival of little Doug, “Dougie” to his mother. What could have been a trite, saccharine strip instead has developed into one that is consistently amusing and ironic, and lightly sarcastic. Shades of Snoopy, or Calvin and Hobbes? You decide on this comic crisply drawn by Brian Anderson.

Then, there’s “Pickles,” promoted by its distributor, The Washington Post Writers Group, as a strip “about growing old and keeping your sense of humor about it.” We learned about Pickles from BDN snowbird readers who returned from wintering in the South still chuckling over Pickles themes and gag lines. They urged us to give Pickles a try. We looked at the samples, and we’re still smiling. Earl and Opal, still in love after 50 years of marriage, are the central characters in this well-drawn strip by Brian Crane.

They’re in today’s color comics section – “Dog eat Doug” and “Pickles.” Get to know them, and let us know what you think. Contact us at 990-8175, or comics@bangordailynews.net, or send a letter to Comics, Bangor Daily News, P.O. Box 1329, Bangor, 04402-1329.