‘Off the Mark’ joins new comics lineup

“Off the Mark” joins our weekday comics lineup starting this week.

The quirky comic by Mark Parisi – which was named Best Newspaper Panel by the National Cartoonists Society in 2008 – is one of four comics we’ve tested over the past four months in the space previously occupied by “6 Chix.”

It wasn’t the clear winner; when all the votes were counted, it was virtually a dead heat between “Off the Mark” and “Bizarro.”

We’ve decided to go with “Off the Mark,” for three main reasons:

• It received more total votes than “Bizarro,” 1,500 to 1,100 (though that’s probably in part because it was the first panel we tested).

• It’s a brand-new comic for us. “Bizarro” – like both “Pickles,” which we previously added to the daily lineup, and “Sherman’s Lagoon,” which returned to the Sunday comics this week – has run in the paper before.

• And “Bizarro” is available to read online, for free, through our website. Just go to www.spokesman.com, move your cursor up to “Comics & Puzzles” in the upper right-hand corner, then click on “Spokane.net Comics” at the bottom of the list.

There, at “Cartoon Corner,” you’ll find not only “Bizarro” but lots of other comics that aren’t currently running in the newspaper, both newer ones and some old favorites like “B.C.” and “The Wizard of Id.”

This ends our latest comics survey and test. We appreciate all of the input we received, and hope at least some of our changes agree with you.

Questions? Comments? Drop us an email at comics@spokesman.com, or leave a message on our comics hotline, (509) 459-3814.

– Rick Bonino, Features Editor