See You in the Comic Strips

Followers of the comics page in daily newspapers long ago recognized that the strips are no longer written for children, who derive most of their entertainment electronically; they are written for the children of an earlier time, who still remember with affection Al Capp's "Lil Abner," Chester Gould's "Dick Tracy," Milton Caniff's "Terry and the Pirates" and "Steve Canyon," E.C. Segar's "Thimble Theatre" with Popeye, Olive Oyl and J. Wellington Wimpy (not to mention Alice, the Goon Girl, with Hair on Her Knees), George McManus's "Bringing Up Father" (Maggie and Jiggs), "Smokey Stover," Fred Harman's "Bronc Peeler" (later "Red Ryder"), Vince Hamlin's "Alley Oop," "The Nutt Brothers, Ches and Wall," H.T. Webster's "Timid Soul" (Casper Milquetoast), Zack Mosely's "Smilin' Jack" with the never completely seen but always irresistible Downwind, Will Eisner's "Doll Man," "Our Boarding House" with Major Hoople, Lee Falk's "The Phantom" (the ghost who walks), and all of the Action Comics superheroes--The Flash, Sub-Mariner, the Green Lantern, the Human Torch. Gone are the days when the comics were so important to children that during a New York newspaper strike Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia took to the air on Sunday mornings to read them on the radio.

Today there are only a handful of strips that consistently bring pleasure. Among them: Jim Meddick's "Monty," Gary Trudeau's "Doonesbury" and Richard Thompson's "Cul de Sac." And now, alas, "Cul de Sac" has been dropped from the Vancouver Sun, to be replaced by the entirely lame "Reply All," an apparently computer generated cartoon that makes the artwork in "Dilbert" look like Raphael.

In times past, the cartoons editor of the paper would solicit readers' opinions: which strips should be retired? Which new strips should be added? Didn't happen this time. Instead, in the dark of night, "Cul de Sac" vanished.

Calls to the Sun requesting information were--as news media often say--not returned.