If it was easy, they'd call it hockey.

That's a shout out to my curling friends.

And here's one to my curling friends who also play hockey (Sean, Amy, Heather, Alyssa):

Bring back Bucky!

I love to hear from comics readers. Even when they're ticked off!!

And most of The Gazette readers who have called this week are ticked that "Get Fuzzy" is on the "space available" list and they've only seen it once.

So, I'm actively seeking a spot for it on the comics pages.

What's gotta go, folks?

What can go so that we can all check in with Bucky, Satchel and Rob each morning!?

Today's missing strips

For you fans missing your fix of today's "Get Fuzzy," "F Minus" and "Rose is Rose," here they are.

I've gotten a few calls lamenting we didn't pick up "The Knight Life," and comments - see above - about "Deflocked."

I'm even getting initial feedback - mixed - on "Rip Haywire," which I didn't expect for a week or more.

Keep the comments coming, I'm still watching to see how much space we'll get day to day.

I'll need to take a look at the Sunday comics, too. Not for space - it'll remain the same cramped pages - but for lineup.

Send in your likes/dislikes here or drop me a line at dena.rosenberry@gazette.com.

Gazette reader makes Cartoonist blog

Today's Your Space column by Andrea Brown, which featured a Gazette reader who is tired of all the changes to his newspaper, made the top item on today's Daily Cartoonist blog.

I've had a few comments on the space-available comics, mostly from "Get Fuzzy" fans. Warren Epstein (entertainment) yelled across the newsroom earlier: "Did we kill Bucky!?" Someone had called wondering whether the strip was dropped.

No, it's still with us - when we can fit it in.

I'm open to suggestions, though. Should "Get Fuzzy" make the regular lineup and something else go to the "space available" list?

Let me know!

Mike and Ike

Total sight gag, but I've looked at it and laughed 5 or 6 times today.



Who has chewed (and chewed) a Mike and Ike and wondered, "Mike and Ike?"

Of all the Mikes and all the Ikes (OK, name more than 3)...

Funny zombies

Thanks to Darby Conley for the "Shaun of the Dead" shout out in today's paper. My son and I love that movie! And for the dig at movie reviewers - not critics, reviewers - who go on and on and on about a film's lack of meaning. As if entertainment weren't enough reason to make a movie!

That Phillip riff gets me every time. And Queen playing in the pub when the group whacks the zombies.

First "Cul De Sac"

Maybe it's because I grew up on a cul de sac that I love this strip so much. Maybe it's because no matter where we live or when we grew up, it's all so true. And I LOVE Richard's artwork.

He posted this recently on his blog. The first "Cul De Sac." Each frame makes me laugh. And the kicker is priceless.

The strip is slowly growing on readers of The Gazette. Every week or so I hear from someone who says they've started reading it regularly after playing hit-and-miss for months.

Taking another stab at this

OK, it's not that I have found more time in my day. But I'm getting e-mails and phone calls asking where I am (hmmm, I seem to still be here). And I suppose in this day and age of American newspapers it's natural to wonder whether I'm still here or whether I'm asking "Do you want fries with that?"

It's full speed ahead here at The Gaz and my work includes helping implement some major changes to the look of the paper and what's included in its pages.

My beloved comics have not gone untouched.

If you read the paper, in print or online, you'll notice changes beginning Monday. You can read about the whole shebang in Sunday's paper, but I'll give my blog readers a heads-up to the comics changes.

First, the comics will appear in a tab section - the same size as Go!, our Friday entertainment section.

Second, we're adding Goren Bridge and Hocus Focus to the pages. Those features have been appearing in classifieds for some time - before I got here nearly 5 years ago. (My, how time flies.)

Third, to accommodate those features, we have to drop a few comics. To start with, I'm dropping the Test Center. We've been running "Deflocked" and "The Knight Life" there - probably longer than we should have, too.

Of course, I was tempted to drop comics I would never read if it wasn't part of my job. But I don't have the same taste as Gazette readers, obviously, so that didn't seem right.

So, I went back through your comments, letters and e-mails.

Two comics we've run for a while will appear as space is available from here out: "Rose is Rose" and "F Minus." Neither have ever had a big following, and there are other strips in our selection that cover the same bases - family and sight gags.

Next, I'd already contracted to try "Rip Haywire" for 6 months. It's a new strip that harkens to the old serials. It was supposed to start running Jan. 5, but through a mixup, was left off the pages.

It will take the place, at least for now, of "Get Fuzzy." I'd prefer to drop one of the legacy strips that repeat the same jokes over and over, but apparently many readers would not. And I figure they're getting enough changes, they really don't need me messing with their old standbys on the comics pages.

And, in addition to those readers who constantly complain about "that nasty cat," quite a few regular readers have chimed in to say they have grown weary of the strip in recent months.

I'll be looking to you, the comics readers, to let me know what you think of the new lineup. If you'd rather I bring "Fuzzy" back and drop something else, let me know.

Believe me, it could have been worse. At one point I was fighting to prevent this change meaning the demise of an entire page of comics. I've managed to keep that off the table multiple times in the past 3 years. I hope you'll forgive me for sacrificing a few, even if they were among your regulars.

I'd still like to find a place for "Argyle Sweater," though. How about in place of "Dennis the Menace?"

OK, enough. Let me have it with both barrels!