‘Argyle Sweater’ makes its debut in comics today

Today we begin testing another new comic on our weekday pages.

“The Argyle Sweater,” by Scott Hilburn, is described as a “situational comic featuring dogs, cats, cops, bees, wolves, game shows, bears, telephones, sports, zebras, nursery-rhyme icons and cavemen, topped off with the occasional evil scientist.”

The offbeat panel launched online in December 2006 and has been syndicated for newspapers since April 2008.

It replaces “Off the Mark,” which has been running for the past month in the spot previously occupied by “6 Chix.”

So why is it called “The Argyle Sweater”? On his website, Hilburn explains:

“Because ‘The Argyle Cummerbund’ was taken and ‘The Argyle Girdle’ just sounded plain silly. Actually, there’s no real reason. It just sounded right.”

We’ll begin reader voting on “Argyle Sweater” in two weeks, after you’ve had a chance to become familiar with it.

Meanwhile, you can catch your breath; we’re not voting on any comics this week. Voting on our other new test strip, “Dustin,” begins next week. (No votes on it will be accepted until then.)

And thanks again for your help so far.

– Rick Bonino, features editor