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from Day by Day |
The Boise Idaho Statesman has for some years run the comic strip Doonesbury at the bottom of the editorial page, alongside - in recognition of and response to conservative complaints - the strip Mallard Fillmore. (A number of other newspapers around the country do the same.)
Which always seemed here to be highly unfair to conservatives. Doonesbury, however you look at the points Garry Trudeau makes, is executed with extraordinary craft, and the non-political panels (as a good many, this week's for instance, are) should as likely draw a laugh from conservatives as from liberals. By contrast, Mallard is a dud. It's like a daily Rush Limbaugh sound bite, no more, no less; the simplistic art work seldom adds anything, and the words are so bluntly political that they're likely to have little effect on anyone except to draw vigorous nods from the hard-core supportive. It's a poor strip, and that it has gotten the support it has from conservatives has seemed here to reflect poorly on conservatives.
The Statesman's editorial page is now trying something different, a strip called Day by Day, by Chris Muir, replacing Mallard. We've taken a look at it. Like Mallard, its perspective is basically conservative, but it is well-drawn, well-thought out, and a lot closer to the professional company Doonesbury keeps.
Editorial Page Editor Kevin Richert reports that comments are running strongly in favor of Mallard.
There's an excellent post on this by blogger Bubblehead, a retired submarine officer who had seen Day by Day before and liked it - the strip has some military background. "The 'net comic strip Day By Day has been a huge favorite among mil-bloggers over the last several years (the writer, Chris Muir, did a strip for Project Valour-IT last November); while there's no doubt that it's a 'conservative' commentary, it's smart -- it doesn't need to hit the reader over the head with the points it's trying to make," he wrote. (Our impression is similar.)