The Oregonian: Dropping Comics? Did We Say That?

The Oregonian can cut staff, merge the Monday Metro into Section A, give sections goofy names like "How We Live" (apparently "Living" was too vague), and nobody complains.

Threaten to dump comics, though, and the villagers line up with torches in front of 1320 Southwest Broadway:

The response: more than 9,500 votes in our comics survey, almost 1,000 e-mails and about 400 letters. Your votes and your letters reaffirmed the importance comics have in the newspaper and how much you depend on them for a few moments of levity in these difficult times. Thanks to all who participated, and thanks for the heartfelt and thoughtful responses.

For now, we're not changing a thing.

For my money, the good news is that Portlanders showed taste in voting up Pickles, Cul-de-Sac, Bizarro, and Non Sequitur. We are baffled that fewer people liked Ziggy and Cathy than Close To Home, which, in our books, is far and away the worst-drawn and least funny comic in synidication today. While we aren't surprised that Ziggy and Cathy scored low, we were surprised they scored that low, and we don't understand why so few people like Edison Lee ... it's like Pearls Before Swine with you guys.

Anyhow, it occurred to me that they could have saved themselves some strife. After all, every time they've vouchsafed rethinking the funny pages, they've always had the villagers at the door and near-riot conditions in Portland.

Well, you know what they say about people who don't learn from history. I'd also remind that the second time 'round history repeats itself, it's as farce ... which would be appropriate.

I'll let P.Bhat, Tha Oregonian's editor, have the last word:

And if we ever bring this up again, just feed us to the crocs in "Pearls Before Swine."

Consider it done.

The rest of you: Just be thankful this isn't the Post-Intelligencer.