A comic created and drawn by Will Campbell. (Will Campbell/The Columbian)
A few weeks ago, The Columbian’s managing editor for production turned to me after a daily news meeting had just ended and said something like, “Will, we need to pick a new comic to replace ‘Phoebe and Her Unicorn’ because the artist is calling it quits. People are going to complain about it.”
After thinking about it for a few seconds, I responded: “What if I made a comic that announced that the comic strip was changing?”
Merridee Hanson is used to my oddball ideas, but this one was out there. She chuckled and said that it wouldn’t bother her. At some point that day, I brought it up again to her. She asked, “How are your drawing skills?”
“They’ll set the bar low,” I said.
And there was my comic strip scene that would announce the change and also inject a little bit of humor into the situation.
For a few days, I drafted the comic strip, and I finally gave it to Merridee. I had never heard her laugh that hard. She was in the comic strip, too. Its title was the same as this column: “From the Newsroom.”
So it was published in Monday’s ePaper, and I expected to get people calling and emailing me about the change. Nothing.
Then, it was published in Tuesday’s print edition. But there was a problem. My handwriting was condensed past the point of legibility. It was hard to read. Now, I’d likely get even more complaints.
“Tundra” began publishing Tuesday. It deals with nature and wildlife, and many of the characters are animals. It began in 1991 and in 2007 was named best newspaper panel by the National Cartoonists Society.
By Thursday evening, only one reader had written in asking about the change. I asked him what he thought about Tundra. “So far so so,” he wrote. “We already have a caveman era strip.”
Perhaps because I had made a joke about readers complaining, I didn’t receive as many complaints. But feedback is still always welcome.
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