I could mention one or two *other* strips that still boggle my tiny mind when I consider they are there and Candorville is not … but I won’t.

Mark Russell

And the purpose of my post wasn’t a plea to save my own strip, which is out of Darrin’s hands as much as his cancellation was out of mine. I just wanted to weigh in on something I felt needed saying. As a struggling cartoonist trying to do something different, it’s disheartening to see a truly groundbreaking strip like Candorville denied an audience.

Oscar’s idea is cartainly the best - add more pages. But seeing as how the newspaper industry is shrinking and the comics pages always take the first hit, that’s not likely to happen anytime soon, unfortunately.

I live in Seattle, and we lost Candorville for a month or two to another new comic strip. Readers told the Times what we thought, they realized we wanted to see more of it, so they brought it back. When they brought it back, they didn’t get rid of that new strip, they got rid of something old.

If Chicago brings back Candorville, odds are they’d dump an old strip, or one they were thinking of getting rid of anyway, not a new strip they just decided to give a chance to.

And Tiff, I like Sherman too, it’s got a lot of bite (sorry). They need to bring back Candorville and in fact add another page of comics. That’s what I’d like to see.

As the creator of “Ink Pen,” one of the strips that got one of those coveted slots, I agree wholeheartedly with what you all are saying (well, almost all - I’m talkin’ to YOU “Rich”!). When I heard I’d got in the Trib I was psyched, thinking I’d merely picked up the vacancy left by Fox Trot. But when I heard they cancelled you as well, I was astonished.

I’ve always found your strip smart, funny and modern, and illustrative of what the comics page can be. It feels terrible that my gain would be your loss, even though that’s a reality of the syndication biz (and even though I prefer to think I got Prickly City’s slot - less guilt).

So good luck to you on your campaign for reinstatement. Hopefully if you do get back in, it won’t mean my cancellation as well. I’d love to see a comics page with more and more newer strips drawn by newer talent. Here’s hoping there’s a place for both of us.

Phil Dunlap

Well, nothing [I]leagle[I/] anyway…

Also I now have a “Comic Crisis” of my own to deal with : The paper my family currently subscripes to was just recently purchased by a Canadian company, & has been cancelled!

None of the other local papers are worth bird-cage bedding, (although 1 does run Candorville, but nothing else worth a crap) so I am frantically bookmarking all my favorite Comics online, so I won’t go through serious Comic Withdrawl!

Which brings me to a question I have been wanting to ask you, Darrin:

Is there a way to support (money-wise) the commis- like Candorville- that I view online? I buy all the books I can, but just don’t want to skunk you guys out of what you’re due!

Again, this totally SUCKS. (Yes, burnt toast.)

-ZW

P.S. Just wanted to say to Tiffany that I [I]like[I/] Sherman’s Lagoon! Talking-Shark or not, there’s a place for ALL kinds of Comics! But I gotta agree that old Haggar most definately IS Horrible!

Dear Ms. Schaffner,

Who decided to drop “Candorville” and what on earth can they have been thinking?

Replace one of the Tribune’s most intelligent, quietly humorous, and well-drawn strips with … “Raising Hector” and “Ink Pen”? Even “Prickly City” (which in my opinion is neither well-drawn nor funny) is better than either of these. And to think that “Candorville” is gone to make room for them …

Please, do your readers a favor, reconsider this incomprehensible decision, and restore Candorville.

I was outraged when they cancelled you and Prickly City.

We get how many more stupid years of Brenda Starr and Cathy, but they dump the smart strips like hot rocks.