That's Not Funny

Few things make me happier than a fresh newspaper, a pot of coffee, and enough time in the morning to consume them.

My love affair with newspapers began early. Dick Tracy and Charlie Brown taught me how to read. Like an addictive gateway drug, the funnies led me to the sports section, which expanded to a compulsive need to read the entire package.

Times change, and print media becomes less relevant with each passing day. When I die, the local paper may very well note that I was the last subscriber to its print edition. Even so, I’m perturbed that The Kansas City Star reduced the size of its Sunday comics section from an already miserly six pages to a single sheet of four pages earlier this month. A vast array of comic strips are available online, but reading them electronically just isn’t as fun.

Based on my experience, it seems like a shortsighted business decision. Perhaps it’s a lost cause to hope that today’s kids will follow my entry into newspapers via the comics page. But now, at least in Kansas City, it’ll become a self-fulfilling prophecy.