Beyond the kudzu
I spoke to a group of about 100+ folks yesterday as part of Centenary UMC’s senior lunch council. A good group of very interesting people. Loyal readers. Tough. Polite.
One of the questions that came up was about our comics section. The questioner disliked our comics pages. In particular, Lio really burned him up.
It always amazes me how people torture themselves over the comics. Personally, I think we have good comics pages, and it’s worth noting that we have more strips than most papers our size. I don’t like every strip and I don’t read every strip. I only learned in the past week that OTTERBLOG Jr. reads Judge Parker, which I can honestly say I have never read but may have to now. Some strips I read just because I get a chuckle out of how lame they are. But I guess that I’ve never expected to be delighted by every strip there is. And so I wonder why people keep reading a strip that annoys them. It’s like continuing to eat at a restaurant where you don’t like the food. My guess is that virtually every reader can find at least 8-10 strips on the pages that bring a little mirth to their mind. That’s pretty good.
Speaking of comics, we’re heading into the final stretch of our great search for a replacement for Kudzu. We’ll be announcing a winner in the Jan. 18 edition of the Journal.
Your host is Ken Otterbourg, the managing editor at the Winston-Salem Journal. It's a forum to discuss the media, from
at least I can usually understand Lio!!
I notice that was a “senior” lunch council. What is it about LIO that irks older people? What was it that really “burned him up” about LIO? Isn’t there enough of safe, tame humor in your comics pages to satisfy him? Why would he be so angered by a strip that might be geared toward a younger reader? Was it the darker edge? The wordless format? What? And why would it bother him so?
That, my friends, is the power of the Internet. I don’t know what it is about Lio that irks older people. But it does. At least at our paper. Consistently. And from what I hear in conversations with reader, it is a combination of the things you reference, and—this is only a hypothesis—perhaps a wondering of what it means for them personally if they don’t get it or don’t find it funny.
By their very format, pen and ink, comics are a low-tech offering, and many of the most beloved strips essentially look the same as they did 20, 30 years ago. Not just content, but in appearance. And when somebody takes that template and stands it on its head, the results can be confusing to folks.
And just curious, Mark, how did you get wind of this discussion?
I found this discussion through an unrelated blog search.
When I set out to create LIO, my objective was to bring something new and fresh to the comics pages. Something that would attract younger readers...and juding from LIO book sales and support in larger city papers, the younger readers are responding well and LIO has gained a strong fan-base.
What I hadn’t counted on and am surprised by is the vociferous negativity from older readers. To be fair, LIO does have older fans and I have received many letters from older readers who are tired of business-as-usual in the comics pages and welcome a change. But it has been my experience that readers generally don’t write to a newspaper to compliment...they write to complain, and older readers tend to lead the way, sometimes in an almost zealot-like fashion. It is perplexing to me becaue there are many, many other strips that are geared toward older readers...why not something for the young? Shouldn’t a comics page reflect the tastes of the entire readership rather than a few who would complain? And as far as LIO being dark, it is positively tame compared to what bombards us daily in other media. I would just hope that older readers would try to open their minds a bit and realize there is room in the paper for all tastes. And if they took the time to really read LIO, they would see that it is a strip with a heart, with tolerance and love as major themes...albeit in an unconventional way.
Ken,
Judge Parker is one of my favorites and a long-time read. I think you would find it is a small investment of time to follow the story each day. The characters are engaging and ever changing. I am glad the Journal still has it.
At 55, I know I don’t qualify as a younger reader anymore, but I’m not sure I can be absolutely pigeonholed as an older one either. I guess it all depends on who is doing the defining.
That being said, I read Lio every day and generally enjoy it. It can certainly be weird on occasion, but that’s half the fun. To those who hate the strip and take great pains to let everyone know about it I can only echo what Ken suggested ... if you dislike it so much don’t read it.
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