Rules to live by when changing your comics lineup

There is nothing funny about changing the funny pages. If you've ever had the audacity to add a new comic strip and drop an old one, you know what we're talking about.

But there are ways to minimize the pain. In a workshop at AASFE's 2002 convention in Las Vegas, several editors offered some ways to maximize the potential and minimize the trauma of comic-page changes. Among the panelists was Geoff Brown, associate managing editor/features of the Chicago Tribune. A veteran of comic upheavals, he has worked up a checklist of tips for those who venture into this territory - what he calls "rules to live by if you're going to change your comics lineup." Be brave, and read on.

Part one: A checklist

1. Don't go it alone.
Create a committee to cover your behind, I mean, to discuss comics purchases, cancellations and other changes.
Be consistent in your decisions, but don't let consistency keep you from making a decision you know is right.
Listen to readers' complaints with an open mind.
Be respectful of the comic strip creators.
Protect your committee from outside influences.

2. Prepare your colleagues and readers.
Educate your switchboard and readers about the changes.
Alert your editor. Yes, THE editor of your newspaper.
Be prepared for the onslaught of reader reaction ... or a lack thereof.

3. Be brave.
Take every opportunity to test new strips.
Get readers accustomed to change.
Be wary of polls.

Part two: Some rules of the road

Be consistent. Then, when you're called an idiot or a clown, you'll be a principled idiot or clown. But, seriously, the public will understand your criteria if you're consistent. On second thought, no, they won't. But at least you'll be able to debate callers with your head held high! Write down your philosophy of editing the comics pages. This will help develop consistency. You are a success if readers complain, "You're mean and stupid for dropping my favorite comic for that piece of trash you put in there." You have failed if they say, "I can't understand your philosophy of change. You're all over the place." On the other hand, don't let consistency keep you from making a decision you know is right, otherwise you'll miss the next Far Side or Boondocks.

Don't tune out original thoughts among the complaints. When we dropped Fred Bassett, 99 percent of the whining was a how-dare-you? refrain. But several readers' pain was the result of losing gentle humor in favor of mean-spirited gags. Good point. We will seek a balance of sweet and sour in new strips.

Never denigrate the work of comic strip creators. People try to make me insult the strips we have dropped, as a way of understanding why we felt it was time for those strips to depart. I refuse to play that game. Even the least appealing strip to everyone in this room is the result of hard work and talent that very few people have. The correct response is that we feel the new strip has a wider appeal. When cornered, consult the preceding paragraph.

Don't let salespeople talk to your comics committee. Some of my favorite salespeople think I'm a skinflint with zero comics judgment. They are very perceptive. But my committee members are very busy, and I don't think their time is well spent talking to salespeople. I have one exception on the committee, my immediate predecessor, whose presence is preferred, and she enjoys staying connected to the comics whirl. I distribute every strip to all committee members or we check out the comics online. Committee members weigh in and we argue until we reach a consensus. The vote is rarely close, never unanimous.

2. Tell your colleagues and your readers what you're doing.
Explain your changes to your newspaper's editorial switchboard, circulation switchboard and your supervisors. Then announce the changes in print. I have discovered that the folks on the switchboard are your worst enemies if they are blindsided. If prepared, they are your best friends. Example: When we introduced our redesign for the 50-inch web, Aaron McGruder was ill, so there were no Boondocks strips to run. I admit our labeling on the substitute strip may have been too subtle. Readers just knew the mean old Chicago Tribune was censoring him. Making matters worse, our managing editor was on a black radio talk show that day, and callers demanded to know why Boondocks was not in the paper. What could he say? By the time he was able to raise anyone here who knew, the damage was done. Now I alert everybody who cares when Boondocks - or any other strip - will be out for a while, and we run notices in Tempo, our daily features section, before the changes hit.

Make sure The Editor of your newspaper stands behind your desire to change. When the calls come in, the editor gets the heat, so she or he should be fully invested in your decision. Find a way to get eyeball to eyeball with your editor, so that she or he understands your philosophy of change.

Establish your threshold of pain. Do your bosses cringe at 5 calls or 50? One hundred e-mails or 500? Don't guess. Get your supervisors involved in that decision, then jealously guard the numbers. NEVER share this proprietary info with the syndicates or the public.

3. Change is scary - and good.
Experiment. One syndicate lets a few of its creators take vacations, and others are beginning to sneak them in. My response is to run competitors' strips in their place, properly labeled as vacation substitutes. It gives us a chance to sample new offerings and gauge the popularity of the vacationers. We rarely get a peep of complaint about the vacationers, unless a creator starts a write-in/call-in campaign. Such campaigns are obvious - and futile. (Note: Geoff updated this policy in late November. He only uses subs in cases when a creator is on vacation three weeks or more.)

Accustom your readers to change by dropping and adding strips at least once a year. Once we got Tribune employees accustomed to noise from readers, the next hardest part was introducing the concept of frequent change to readers, some of whom have been around all 155-plus years of the Tribune's existence. I think it's working. Fewer call or write - and circulation is unchanged.

A poll is one of your weapons, not your arsenal. Unless your newspaper circulates coast to coast, national polls are just meters of what other editors have been running. It speaks to how well salespeople scare comics editors and how scared comics editors are. If you think your city or town is a true microcosm of every city in America, then by all means color by number. I can't do that. Even a city as close to Chicago as Milwaukee or Indianapolis attracts a different mix of readers. Similarly, I can't base my attitudes on the conventional wisdom in New York or L.A., because, well, Chicago is unique.

As for your own poll, just remember that it is not a representative sample. The replies are a self-selected sample - the equivalent of a one-source story. People who have time to answer surveys are passionate but rarely represent your entire readership.

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