RobertB
10 October 2008, 06:21 PM
We've seen round after round of layoffs at the Dallas Morning News, which were preceded by shoot-self-in-foot moves like censoring Ed Bark (http://www.unclebarky.com/why.html) and other actions unbefitting a major metropolitan newspaper.
Lately, the paper has tarnished itself further by falling victim to the "add comments" mania that is turning newspaper websites into blogs -- and I DON'T mean that in a good way. Comments like "Yes, worthless garbage bag not-worth-the-air-they-breathe human crap." (about an armored car robbery (http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/latestnews/stories/101008dnmetarmoredcar.fcd6598d.html)) make it impossible for me to forward links to my friends, co-workers, or family. But apparently that's what Belo wants, because they're touting the "feature" on their billboards now.
But I figured I could take it, as long as the physical newspaper gave my family something. Even if all I could rely on were the comics.
This week, the DMN pulled the rug out from under me there as well. My son noticed that some of the comics were missing, but he figured it was just temporary. Nope. Dallas' Only Daily has a link on its front page saying "Which comic should return to The Dallas Morning News?" One -- and only one -- of these long-time favorites (and some new ones I love, especially Lio) may come back. The rest are gone. See how many of these you can picture without even going to the DMN site, which has a sample image from each strip.
* BC
* Cathy
* Drabble
* For Better or For Worse
* Hagar
* In the Bleachers
* Lio
* Mark Trail
* Marmaduke
* Over the Hedge
* Red & Rover
* The Other Coast
* The Piranha Club
* The Wizard of Id
I don't know about you, but I can't even imagine calling it a "comics section" if you remove "BC" and "The Wizard of Id". "For Better or For Worse" just rebooted, so you can't say it's "too old". On the new side, I haven't seen a strip as sweet as "Red & Rover" since another boy-and-his dog strip called "Peanuts", and it's perfectly counterbalanced by the darkly humorous "Lio". In fact, out of all those strips, the only clunkers I can identify are "Over the Hedge" and "The Other Coast". Maybe "Mark Trail", but if you get rid of that one, you may as well get rid of the other "story" comic -- I could never tell them apart.
If anything, it looks like the DMN purposely chose the best, longest-running strips on the page to be removed. I don't know what they're thinking.
But they can't say they don't know what *I'm* thinking. They're sending me back over $50, because I just canceled my subscription.
Lately, the paper has tarnished itself further by falling victim to the "add comments" mania that is turning newspaper websites into blogs -- and I DON'T mean that in a good way. Comments like "Yes, worthless garbage bag not-worth-the-air-they-breathe human crap." (about an armored car robbery (http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/latestnews/stories/101008dnmetarmoredcar.fcd6598d.html)) make it impossible for me to forward links to my friends, co-workers, or family. But apparently that's what Belo wants, because they're touting the "feature" on their billboards now.
But I figured I could take it, as long as the physical newspaper gave my family something. Even if all I could rely on were the comics.
This week, the DMN pulled the rug out from under me there as well. My son noticed that some of the comics were missing, but he figured it was just temporary. Nope. Dallas' Only Daily has a link on its front page saying "Which comic should return to The Dallas Morning News?" One -- and only one -- of these long-time favorites (and some new ones I love, especially Lio) may come back. The rest are gone. See how many of these you can picture without even going to the DMN site, which has a sample image from each strip.
* BC
* Cathy
* Drabble
* For Better or For Worse
* Hagar
* In the Bleachers
* Lio
* Mark Trail
* Marmaduke
* Over the Hedge
* Red & Rover
* The Other Coast
* The Piranha Club
* The Wizard of Id
I don't know about you, but I can't even imagine calling it a "comics section" if you remove "BC" and "The Wizard of Id". "For Better or For Worse" just rebooted, so you can't say it's "too old". On the new side, I haven't seen a strip as sweet as "Red & Rover" since another boy-and-his dog strip called "Peanuts", and it's perfectly counterbalanced by the darkly humorous "Lio". In fact, out of all those strips, the only clunkers I can identify are "Over the Hedge" and "The Other Coast". Maybe "Mark Trail", but if you get rid of that one, you may as well get rid of the other "story" comic -- I could never tell them apart.
If anything, it looks like the DMN purposely chose the best, longest-running strips on the page to be removed. I don't know what they're thinking.
But they can't say they don't know what *I'm* thinking. They're sending me back over $50, because I just canceled my subscription.