Editing the Editor Editing the cartoons

The Internet is supposed to be a family friendly place. Cough. But yet on the Cleveland.com's weblog for the newspaper editor of the Plain Dealer, some shocking things are said. I'm sure he'd appreciate my editorial insights to his original note where I play the role of Editor, in square brackets.

COMIC RELIEF

Used to be that the funny papers were just that - funny. Well, not exactly.

"Dick Tracy" and "Orphan Annie" weren't exactly knee-slappers, [really? I get the giggles just thinking of flat-topped gangsters and orphans with inhuman eyes - sorry didn't mean to intrude so early - Editor] and every now and again some social commentary crept into the strips. But on the whole, the comic pages of American newspapers were whimsical, lighthearted, diversionary [yes, the only thing that cheers me up when hearing of my countrymen being killed is some whimsy...and no thinking of any kind, buster. Right on! - Editor]

Then along came Gary Trudeau and his "Doonesbury," Greg Howard and his "Sally Forth", Scott Adams and his "Dilbert" [If you dis Dilbert, I can't be responsible for the fatwa that will claim your life due to the fury of all those office workers. We all have to fear them - Editor]. Even Johnny Hart and "B.C." joined the social satirists on the comics pages.[what, no mention of Beetle Bailey? Family circus and it's insidious, neo-pagan cult of the Not-Me spirit? - Editor]

While satire was a thread that ran through those more modern cartoons, it was humor that kept them in the funnies - with one exception, Trudeau.[Trudeau is not funny? I guess based on your thinking that B.C. is funny should stop me from questioning your sense of humour. - Editor]

Many editors saw his work more as political commentary than comic page cartooning. And many displayed his work on the op-ed page, a placement Trudeau opposed.

I was always with Trudeau on that debate. I saw him as part of an evolution under way in an American institution. Because he took on hot issues, he tended to generate controversy from time to time.

It was nettlesome (of all the things an editor has to worry about, it would be nice if the comics were hassle free) but not intolerable.

But after all these years, I'm beginning to lose my patience with Trudeau.[and your patience is certainly what is important in the media - Editor] It seems we've got to consider pulling the strip or editing it five or six times a year.

And because Trudeau is such a prima donna [Just call him gay already - Jane Pauley? C'mon - Editor], editing him is prohibited by contract. Two weeks ago, the concluding panel in that day's strip ended with this punch line: "Son of a bitch [redacted for family friendliness - Editor]."

Such profanity is hardly a horror in this day and age, but this IS a general circulation [though not so much circulation lately eh? Sorry, don't mean to gloat. I'm sure you'll make a comeback in readers. More B.C.! - Editor], family newspaper, and the comics still are heavily visited by kids.

So we said "no" to "son of a bitch [redacted for family friendliness - Editor]." The syndicate, speaking for Trudeau, said "run it as is or kill it." [they said the same thing about Jesus. - Editor] We decided to face the threat head on and exercised our prerogative to edit. Thus far, legal lightning has not struck.[On that note, why not have the Trudeau strips rewritten for Cleveland? You can have BD promote Gateway, and the flats. The way out of the Quiet Crisis (tm), may be cartoon endorsements! - Editor]

The latest controversy comes this Sunday and gives rise to this commentary. One of the "Doonesbury" characters appears carrying a tray with a man's severed head upon it.

The strip was drafted before Nick Berg's horrific beheading and was in no way a reference to that awful event. But Trudeau's syndicate didn't alert papers of the unfortunate coincidence until the comics were already printed.

Our only recourse is an editor's note.[If I had been consulted, I would have said you could have drawn an arrow to the head, with the caption 'Gary Trudeau. We wish.' There, more funny on the funny pages for a change - Editor] For now. We have another option for the future. That would be to say farewell to Mr. Trudeau and his cast of characters.

I'd hate to do that, but I also hate to inflict sometimes wretched taste on unsuspecting readers.[Feagler? - Editor] We inflict enough pain just by covering the ugly realities of today's world [B.C? - Editor].

The funnies ought to be the one refuge from those realities.[Other refuges include city parks, Disneyland, and illiteracy. - Editor] If Trudeau insists on competing with the front page, he may find himself missing from The PD's comics page.[This sentence could be replaced with Gary - shut up and look pretty. - Editor]