Kershner, ‘Pearls’ among lineup changes

Regular readers will notice a couple of changes to the Today section starting this week.

Absent from today’s cover is Jamie Tobias Neely’s column. Neely is moving to the editorial board, and her columns will continue every other Sunday on the Opinion page.

Jim Kershner’s column will move from Saturday to Sunday beginning next week.

Also, starting tomorrow, we will run the comic strip “Pearls Before Swine” Monday through Saturday, replacing “Fox Trot.” Cartoonist Bill Amend, who has drawn “Fox Trot” for 18 years, is scaling back production to pursue other interests, but the strip will continue to run on Sundays.

We were given very short notice that “Fox Trot” would no longer be available. Because our comics page is laid out well in advance by an outside company, we only had a few days to come up with a replacement.

For two days, a notice on the front page directed readers to submit suggestions on spokesmanreview.com. Other readers made nominations via phone and e-mail. “Pearls” was by far the most requested strip.

Later this year, we hope to send out a formal survey to readers to assess which comic strips they read and which ones they don’t, and we’ll make further changes to the lineup as warranted. Suggested strips that didn’t make the cut this time will be included in the survey for consideration.

Like the other comic strips we run, “Pearls” won’t be for everyone. If you like “Get Fuzzy” and “Dilbert,” you’ll love it. If you’re a “Family Circus” or “Blondie” fan, you’re probably going to hate it. Our goal is to make sure there’s something for everyone on the comics page.

You can read more about “Pearls Before Swine” and cartoonist Stephan Pastis in a story today by Dan Webster.

Thoughtful and constructive comments are always welcome. I can be reached at kenp@spokesman.com or (509) 459-5480.