It gets an A in readers' books

It has a large fan group - and a pretty adamant one, too - so "F Minus" will take the place of "Diesel Sweeties" on our pages Aug. 11.

Still looking at other strips, though. Another change or two is/are likely in coming weeks.

Anyone following "The Knight Life" by Keith Knight? Keith was supposed to be at Comic-Con in San Diego, which I missed this year. Too much going on this year.

If his syndicate will let me, I'll sample that strip next.

True to life

Again, I couldn't get a "Candorville" strip to load, but you can see Darrin's work at his web site and, of course, the dailies that will appear in The Gazette through July.

I got a message yesterday from Brian saying "Diesel Sweeties" will no longer be syndicated after mid-August. And I'm still wondering what to do with "For Better or For Worse." So, if you like any of the test comics or have something you'd like to see us try, let me know.

I'm bummed about "Diesel," but I understand creator Rich Stevens' decision. He has been creating print and online versions of the strip, which is a lot of work even if it did bring in bags more money. And apparently it didn't.

I'll keep reading it online and sharing DS merch with friends in the office. Keep it up, Rich! Maybe I'll see you at Comic-Con again.

So Sweet

I ran into Rich Stevens, creator of online and in-print "Diesel Sweeties," at Comic-Con, the international convention of comic artists and fans and TV, movie, game and pop culture geeks in San Diego.

He was funny and self-deprecating, just what you'd expect. Didn't have much time to chat, as we were at the end of a long day - after a long day's drive - and he'd already been standing around talking to people for three days.

Thought of him this morning cuz when I saw the Batman theme. Batman's a fav.

I get a lot of negative comments about the strip from older readers. Not that unexpected. Lots of younger fans, especially pop culture fans. I love the computer drawing - in a different way than I love the drawing in Mutts or Lio or Baldo, for example. And I love Clango and his big heart.

A true curse of death