Vote for your favorite comic (Poll Closed)

Please, please do not replace Peanuts. This strip is a classic...what every other comic strip strives to be...timeless. I especially enjoy reading the panels from my childhood, (I'm only 49!) and I believe it is as current now as then.
My choice for comic exorcism would be Family Circus, a boring "Look what my adorable grandkids did today!" marathon, and Close to Home, which leaves me gasping for words to describe it's lack of humor or artistic merit. Look at any one panel of Peanuts in comparison to the two afore-mentioned laugh-suppressing "comics", and judge for yourself.
I know it's important to give newer artists a shot, but to replace the standard which is probably the inspiration for more artists than any other is simply incomprehensible.

I'm a fan of both Get Fuzzy & Pearls Before Swine. I've seen the other strips and they don't do anything for me. What I don't understand, though, is why Frazz is not being considered. It's an intelligent and funny strip that comics fans of all ages enjoy.

Another request to please not replace "Peanuts." Peanuts is a classic, and it doesn't matter that it's in reruns. The Press Herald has probably the worst comics page of any newspaper I've ever seen, and Peanuts is one of the few good strips. Please replace any of the absolutely terrible strips instead, like Close to Home, which has to be the worst comic ever, Family Circus, Fred Bassett, For Better or Worse, or Frank and Ernest.

( GET FUZZY) IS THE WORST COMIC I HAVE EVER READ .please try to get a better one that means something. Anxious to see what the next comic will be like.

If you must keep Doonesbury, please move it to the Ed. Page.
Please keep Peanuts, I cannot find it in any other paper.
WE LOVE CHARLIE BROWN AND THE GANG!

Get Fuzzy is terrible - one of the worst - almost as bad as Kathy - if you can't find something better, don't replace Peanuts - if you can find a better strip, do it - replace Kathy as well.

Try as I might, I couldn't understand "Get Fuzzy". Love "For Better or Worse" and Peanuts. Rover and Red and Zits are also favorites.

Try as I might, I couldn't understand "Get Fuzzy". Love "For Better or Worse" and Peanuts. Rover and Red and Zits are also favorites.

Please, please keep peanuts. I'm psyched you're considering Pearls Before Swine (one of my favorite strips), but please don't can Charlie, lose Lucy, or weed out Woodstock! What about getting rid of Family Circus or Denis the Menace? Most of your readers under 50 can't stand them. If you dropped those you could add Pearls as well as 9 Chickweed Maine (an award winning comic drawn by a part-time Mainer).

Get Fuzzy is one of the best comics going but unfortunately, you chose a horrible week to showcase it. The week that was in the paper is no where near representative of the strip on whole.

I would also vote to get rid of Family Circus, Cathy and Mark Trail. All are the same thing over and over. The repitition makes them boring and a space filler. I know of no person that reads any of them.

Get Fuzzy is the way to go. It is funny and has New England flavor as Rob is a Sox fan

I start my day with the comics! If the paper did not have a decent selection of comics, we probably would not subscribe (the internet provides most of the news we seek). Favorites include: For Better or For Worse, Zits, Red and Rover, and Big Nate.

Peanuts is depressing, even though I too grew up with it. Kathy is worse. Both are candidates to be replaced in my mind.

So far (not having read all that many of them yet on the internet), my first choice would be one of: Crankshaft, Pickles, or Stone Soup.

My second choice list is: Baby Blues, or Rhymes with Orange.

Get Fuzzy, Pearls Before Swine, and Ollie and Quentin are worse than anything on the comics page now - please do not add one of them.

please just leave Peanuts alone

Please consider doing more with the comics than just getting rid of Peanuts.

I would keep Peanuts as it's a classic.

You need to drop Cathy, Mark Trail, Family Circus and Denis the Menace. All are bad and repetitive. Cathy continues to be about being overweight. I get it.

Add Get Fuzzy, the best comic going, as well as Baby Blues and Rhymes with Orange. Considering doing more than just adding one strip.

I hope the majority vote goes to PEARLS BEFORE SWINE. Great punch lines and humor. You should NOT replace the classic's Peanuts strip. It has a timeless humor that can still entertain new generations of readers.
If you have to get rid of a strip that's dated then get rid of Mark Trail who's story line is so predictable it seems to be written by a six-year old.
You can also dump the very boring Kathy comic strip.
Bottom line, if you dump Peanuts we dump our subscription to your paper! Please dump Mark Trail and Add PEARLS BEFORE SWINE. Thank you

All the new comics are short on humor and long on dumbness. KEEP PEANUTS! Even as reruns Charlie Brown and the gang are funny.

Cathy and Mark Trail are horrible strips. Nobody reads them. Add Get Fuzzy and Baby Blues to replace them. Move Doonsberry to the editorial page where it belongs, keep Peanuts and add a 3rd new strip.

It has been a long time since there was a real overhaul of the comics page and it deperately needs one. You also have the opportunity to remove Dennis the Menace and Family Circus, 2 panels that have long since run their course, and replace them with something better as well.

If you do nothing else, please let us Get Fuzzy in the morning.

Beth

Peanuts is better than all of the potential replacements. So what if they are reruns, I don't remember them. You can cycle through the 40 years worth of peanuts strips over and over as far as I am concerned.

PLEASE keep the Peanuts comic strip. When you ran "Pearls before Swines" last week I had never heard of it before. It caught my attention so I checked it out on Comic.com and looked at many of their daily strips which were quite funny. The cartoonist gave up being a lawyer and has since received the national cartoonist of the year award. Pearls before Swine would be my choice but not as a replacement for Peanuts. I agree with the many other comments about canceling Mark Trail and Cathy. Also get rid of that Close to Home comic. It is bothersome to look at something drawn so poorly. The objects are way out of perportion and the caracters are drawn the worst of any comic I've ever seen. I also agree that Doonsbery should be moved to the editorial page as it has been in many other papers across this country. By the way, when is this paper going to get with it and print these daily comic strips in color like other newspapers do?

BABY BLUES and PEARLS BEFORE SWINE are funny. KEEP PEANUTS! get rid of MARK TRAIL! I did not like that first comic, "GET FUZZY", it seemed sort of creepy.

BABY BLUES and PEARLS BEFORE SWINE are funny. KEEP PEANUTS! get rid of MARK TRAIL! I did not like that first comic, "GET FUZZY", it seemed sort of creepy.

From the choices so far "Pearls before swine" is the best I've seen. But it doesn't seen fair to vote on any comic strip until we've seen all the choices first. If this whole thing is all about replacing Peanuts then I am totally against it. If you want to improve the comics page then cancel "Mark Trail", not Peanuts, the Peanuts comic strip has an innocent and classic appeal to it, which is something that seems missing in the newspaper today!

PLEASE DON'T DROP PEANUTS! If anything drop that Fred Basset comic strip that's from England, It's not funny at all but quite boring. The best part of the daily paper to me is the comic section. It brings on a smile before diving into the real world headlines. With your paper, I have to skip over almost half of your comic selections without reading them because I either find them poorly drawn, not funny or almost insulting. I would like to see some fresh strips that are more funny like the humor in Dilbert. Such is Pearls Before Swines. Baby Blues looks pretty good too. I'm so tired of Mark Trail. Cathy and Fred Bassett that I not only avoid them, until I started reading the daily comics on line I used to actually subscribe to two out of state newspapers just to get a better selection of much funnier cartoons than what you run. And when in Florida during the winter the Fort Lauderdale Sun Sentinal runs their daily comics in full color, is twice as big a daily paper and still only costs 25 cents!!! Looks like it's time you get with the times!

GET FUZZY is the strip that needs to be added if I could choose only 1. What you should do is to stop running MARK TRAIL and CATHY as well. By doing so you could add the 3 top vote getters of this contest, make the comics something that is more up to date, and support some different cartoonists at the same time. If you moved DOONSBURY to the op/ed section, you could add a 4th new comic.

Keep Peanuts! Move Doonsbury to the editorial pages. Cancel Mark Trail and Cathy. Add some better written and more humorus comic strips like Pearls before swine and Baby Blues. (Better yet, don't let us vote until AFTER we've seen all the strips to be offered).

How about including "Mallard Fillmore" in your comics? It'll give those of us with a more conservative bent a respite from "Doonesbury" which you've featured for as long as I can remember.

Why replace Peanuts? This classic comic is timeless and always has a good message.
The ones you have published so far, Get Fuzzy, Pearls before Swine and Rhymes with Orange do nothing for me. Baby Blues is cute.

someone cheated on get fuzzy

go baby blues come on it is so funny

you need to put Baby Blues it is the best one out there and if Gets Fuzzy Wins you mine as well eather put in the second best or just keep Peanuts

Please keep Peanuts! I like Pearls before swine and Crankshaft seems interesting so far. If some comics need to get kicked out then cancel Mark Trail, Fred Bassett and Cathy because they are not funny but very boring. Thank you

From the poll it looks like we all want to keep Peanuts, I know I do. Besides, how out of date can a classic be if NY MET is using the caracters for their multi-million dollor ads? To improve the comic page get rid of Close to home, Fred Bassett and Mark Trail. Move Doonsbury to the editorial page or somewhere it won't be confused with the funnies. Ad Crankshaft, Baby Blues and Pearls before Swine. That would make a good improvment.

KEEP PEANUTS!

I think it is pretty clear from both the voting and comments. The paper needs to add "Get Fuzzy" (my personal favorite), and "Pearls Before Swine" (not really my favorite but not bad). You also need to keep "Peanuts" as everyone seems to like it (including my son). The removal of "Kathy", "Mark Trail" and "Fred Basset" (all tired and not funny) would make plenty of room and make the comics a much better page.

The first thing I turn to each morning is the comic page. "Peanuts" is one of the few strips you run that is worth while reading. If you cancel Peanuts it will take away something that I am very fond of and appearantly many other readers as well. The comics you have been trying out are so-so. I did get a kick out of some of the punch lines in "Pearls before Swine" and the almost stick figure type drawings are so simple they are actually cute. For the most part the comics are not anywhere near as funny as they once were. We need some humor first thing in the work day! If you want to get rid of something out of date and out of touch with things then cancel, "Fred Basset" and "Mark Trail", which are way-way out of date, and also very boring.
What ever you do, please select something humorous and please keep "Peanuts".

IT IS SO NOT CLEAR TO PUT GET FUZZY IN THE NEWS PAPER ITS A CHEAT
SOME ONE CHEATED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!DO SOMTHING

Easy choice here folks. Fuzzy and Pearls are the run-away picks for people who voted. Granted the mail-in's haven't been counted but they should follow the same percentages here. It's also clear the people want Charlie Brown to stay and Fred, Cathy and Mark to go. I like Baby Blues and Get Fuzzy the best of the choices but the addition of the top 2 vote getters is the way to make it fair. BTW, I don't think anyone cheated. It's just that people like 1 strip better than the others. Also, some haven't run yet. When those hit the paper, I'm sure their numbers will rise considerably.

I am a big fan of Baby Blues. Like Zits, it fits the family world of today. Kids, teens and babies are funny and we could all benefit with more laughs. I have enjoyed Peanuts for my lifetime, but its time to move on to something more with the times. I never read Mark Trail. I only read the "funnies."

I like Peanuts. It is still funny to me every day. Pleae keep it. I don't like mark trial or that fred dog bassett thing. They is not funny. please pick two new ones to change them to. Thanlk you

The majority of your daily comis strips are okay or better than okay. But I am so tired of the doppy story line in Mark Trail they should rename it, "The out of date predictable adventures of Mark Trail". And the constent weight issues with Cathy is enough to make me want to turn the comic page to the obituary page! Last but not least, the poorly drawn Close to Home strip speaks for itself, it's caracters look creepy. I would think for a city newspaper with such a large circulation you guys could come up with many better options for daily cartoon strips than those choices. On the other hand, the PEANUTS strip is currently the most classic yet still entertaining strip going. Many of your other comics arte also good. To improve the comics page you ned to clear out the dead wood and replace them with about four or five new strips. Out of the ones you have been trying sor far we like Baby Blues, Crankshaft and Pearls before swine. What ever you do please keep PEANUTS!
Thank you,
Juan and Becky

how do you show votes for the last two comics if they haven't appeared as yet.
such as pickles .

Also .I would not pick any of your list.They Are Not Funny .

Hunt for some other comics and keep what you have now.

I have read all the comments and tend to agree with most. Cathy and Mark Trail are boring and redundant. Every day is the same thing. I do like Close to Home as it's the closest thing to The Far Side going. I agree about it's drawing style, however. I liked Baby Blues and Get Fuzzy as new toons that should be added. Judging by the voting, there are 2 run-away winners, both of which should be put in the paper even though Pearls Before Swine didn't strike a chord with me. I looked on line at Pickles and Stone Soup but was not impressed.

To make space for a new comic simply deport Fred Bassett back to the UK, move Doonesbury to the editorial pages, send Mark Trail on an adventure he'll never come back from, have someone tell the Close to Home cartoonist to go back to art class and have Cathy lose so much weight due to stress of the current economic situation she won't be seen. Then you can add at least five new comics that are hopefully funnier than those mentioned above. Out of the ones you have been trying out there does not seem to be much improvement so far. (Is the "Far Side" still available? That used to be very funny, and well drawn).

Please keep Peanuts. It's still better than most are. I agree with all the others who said Mark Trail, Cathy, Close to home and Fred Bassett really suck big time. Find some better comics! There must be a better choice of funnies to vote on besides what you've shown so far. ...And speaking of voting, take a close look at the votes for Get Fuzzy, it appears to be clear that something underhanded is going on there. I can't believe that many people would vote for something as bad as that comic is. The Get Fuzzy votes increased by about 100 votes just yesterday! Someone is doing something wrong and something should be done about it.
It would be great if this paper could find some better comics but leave Peanuts alone!

I voted this morning after giving all the comics a try. I read all in the paper and then a couple on line so I could get a feel for it. There were 3 that stood out as good choices and, judging by the comments on this site and the voting, all should be added and some should be removed. Cathy, Fred Basset and Mark Trail are just plain bad. All need to go away and I think Don put it best. Add the top 3 from the poll and everyone is happy. Unfortunately, the really good cartoons are no longer available. Far Side was hysterical but is no longer drawn and FoxTrot only comes out on Sundays. I disagree about Close to Home. Yes, it is poorly drawn but it is a funny strip and we should keep it. Fuzzy, Pickles and Pearls are the best picks from your list. There is room for all of them.

We just moved here from MD where we read the Washington Post - 4 pgs of comics! Don't the people in ME like comics? I think the really old ones like Mark Trail & Blondie should be taken out. You usually can tell how a storyline will end by the 2nd strip. I was happy to see the strips you have given trials to - they're all our favorites from the Post. We're looking forward to our new life here in ME

Pickles is head and shoulders better than the other offerings. I'm pleased that you are considering it. I miss it a lot when we are in Maine. It is a mainstay in the Washington Post. And I'll bet most of your older readers would agree.

Please consider Pickles for the new strip. We read it in Florida and miss it here in Maine. We enjoy the comics in color. You can replace Mark Trail. Dilbert. Cathy, and The Other Coast. Love Red and Rover, For Better or For Worse, Zits and Big Nate. PLEASE, keep Peanuts!

Please do NOT stop Peanuts! It's good, clean comics.
Pickles is very good and is clean and pleasant to read.

I have enjoyed Pickles in my Florida newspaper for years. It is true to life and humerous.

Get Fuzzy ROCKS! For those of you that don't/didn't like it, please go online and read a few weeks worth - the week that the Press Herald ran was not a great representation of the strip. After a while, you really do get to love Satchel (the dog), Bucky (the cat) and their trials and tribulations w/their owner (Rob). I own a few of the Get Fuzzy books and they are just plain funny. Not to mention, they guy who writes the strip is a New Englander - Rob is often seen wearing a Sox cap in the strip! Give Fuzzy a chance, people!

I'm with all of you who are voting for Cathy, Dennis the Menace and Family Circle to get the axe. And, how about getting rid of that tired Prince Valiant in the Sunday paper, too; I decided a few months back to try to start reading that strip to see if I could see it's value - can't find it, after reading if for several weeks, I just had to stop, it's simply terrible....

Please add ANOTHER PAGE of comics. The comics are the only thing worth reading in this Liberal rag! Or add another crossword puzzle...

Ok, one more request to keep Peanuts, the standard by which all comics are judged. Timeless strips and so many from so long ago as to be fresh all over again.
Better choices for deletion are Cathy (repetitive) Mark Trail (dated) Fred Basset (boring) or Other Coast (not funny) Big Nate is pretty lame too.
Come to think of it, why not get rid of all those, keep Peanuts, bring back Doonesbury and add 2 or 3 new ones?

GET FUZZY IS BY FAR THE BEST!!!!!

Get rid of Kathy, Beetle Baily, Red and Rover, Fred Basset, Close to Home and The Family Circus, as none of them are EVER funny. Also, consider ditching Garfield, the comic may have been funnny once, but that cat has been making the same jokes for about 20 years. Same with Blondie. I love Prince Valiant, and I think the paper should carry some more story strips like that.

Leaving Peanuts is fine. The next time around, please consider replacing a current comic with MUTTS. It is a wonderful comic and has a sweet nature and a fine underlying message that promotes adopting from animal shelters. Thanks.

It's amusing to read comments about comics that some love, whilst others find the same boring. I, for one, found Get Fuzzy to have no humor at all - I suspect it appeals more to the younger folks (thereby showing my age). I do concur with the theme that Mark Trail has little merit, unless you like a repetitive soap opera theme that always ends with Mark hitting someone. Low on my personal list, too, are Red and Rover and Cathy. I fully agree that the comics are the best part of the paper, and would support expanding the number! Gosh, if you have to have re-runs, bring back The Far Side or Calvin and Hobbes ... now those were good comics.

I agree with many of the previous comments: keep Peanuts, toss some of the tired and old (Cathy, Fred Basset, Blondie, etc.). My picks for a new strip are Pearls Before Swine, Pickles, & Stone Soup. That said, I've been reading the comics since I was a kid (50+ years) and I believe there should be something for everyone. I just skip over the ones I don't care for now but loved when I was younger. Peanuts is one of the few strips that has something for young and old - it's timeless.

Why not have the same kind of voter poll on ALL the comics in the Press Herald at some point. We all have our favorites and if there are some with little or no support, they might be dumped. Family Circus would be the first to go, if I were in charge.

It's now painfully obvious that Pickles (a favorite from my New Jeresy days) and Get Fuzzy (a favorite now and the one I voted for) should be added, along with Pearls Before Swine (not a favorite at all but 3rd in voting). There is more than enough room for all 3 if the bad strips of Cathy and Fred Bassett are removed. I also agree that all comics should be voted on to determine what should stay and what should go. With the option to add a couple of new strips would be very welcome.

I have read the comics for well over 50 years. Many of the strips I enjoyed as a boy and young man have gone on to comics Valhalla. It is time for Peanuts to yield to another strip, along with Dagwood, Mark Trail, and Family Circus. Watching reruns may enhance someone's comfort zone, but does everyone enjoy a steady diet of them?

May favorite is Stone Soup, but I wish that those in charge would also act on the suggestion of another commentator and include Mutts in the comics page

Please DO NOT replace "Peanuts". The genius of Charles Shultz is so apparent in the timelessness of this gem of a comic.

None of the above. PLEASE do not replace Peanuts! The strip is still relevant, and ALL generations still enjoy it.

Pearls before swine is the only one that made me laugh. And since you are making changes, why not put Doonesbury on the Editorial page, where it belongs? After all, Tank McNamara is on the sports page! AND, you could even go so far as to balance it with Mallard Fillmore!

I am so glad the Boston Globe will always be there with comics much more to my taste, including Rhymes with Orange! I just love one from a Sunday strip depicting an office full of people at computers with a cat sprawled on every keyboard, desk or top of monitor with tail blocking the view and people sitting with kind of blank, bewildered expressions. The caption says, "The first and last take your cat to work day." I think that's clever. So is F Minus. But that other stuff you ran? Humor based on getting old just isn't that funny, in the same way that many people find Cathy's weight obsession boring or offfensive. Too much dialogue isn't funny usually, either, especially when it's strange. There was one strip early on you ran that I think was Australian or English? I couldn't even understand it. Mutt and Jeff were easy! So's Fred Bassett -- by the way, he's supposed to make you smile not LOL. Comics should be easy to read (it's the first part of the paper kids learn to read, remember???).

Please kill off Peanuts and give a living cartoonist a chance. I enjoyed them when I was a kid, too, but it's time to let it go. There are plenty of anthologies out there for those who want to read Peanuts. Pearls Before Swine is by far the funniest strip around! While you're at it: 1.) Please dump Fred Bassett for something relevant (or at least funny). 2.) Close to Home is awful--take a look at Speed Bump, by Dave Coverly, probably the funniest and best drawn panel strip ever! 3.) How about replacing the horrible Family Circus and Dennis the Menace? Ketcham's dead,too, guys! There are so many better and more current strips out there to have to read these tired, formulaic relics. And don't get me started on Blondie, although I know that'll never be dropped until the final senior citizen passes away! PS: Does ANYBODY read Mark Trail?

Keep Peanuts! Lose Cathy. BTW, if this polling is to be at all meaningful, shouldn't "Keep Peanuts" be one of the choices???

MUTS! MUTTS! MUTTS!

I'm glad to hear read that you will keep Peanuts. Good plan. I voted fro Get Fuzzy but I wish you had showcased Mutts. It is a funny comic with attitude. I would echo the calls to be rid of Cathy. I'm ready to lose Beetle Bailey and Fred Bassett. Close to Home reminds me of The Far Side and provides some quirky humor that I enjoy. I have enjoyed Dennis the Menace and the Family Circus for 50 years but agree that they are not sharp anymore. I would enjoy reading Rose is Rose and Luann. I currently receive Mutts, R is R, and Luann by email but would like to have them in the paper. Please put Doonsebury on the editorial page.

Although I like "Stone Soup" the best, frankly, none of the trial comics was very good. Certainly, none of them warrant replacing "Peanuts." Yes, it's 40 years old. However, they are still poignant and funny; there are enough strips to cover a lifetime. It's always new and fresh to someone. And for those of us reading again, it still comes across as witty and fun and, given the span of time, often new once more. Don't replace it.

I just read all of the comments, and I love the idea of adding all three of the top vote getters (Pearls Before Swine - my favorite - , Get Fuzzy, and Pickles) and dumping Mark Trail, Cathy, and Red and Rover. And while you are at it, you could put in Cornered instead of Family Circle.

It's nice to see here that most people hate Mark Trail and Family Circus. I thought it was just me, not getting it. I voted for Get Fuzzy. My brother gave me a Get Fuzzy book for my birthday a couple of years ago, and I laughed so hard while I was reading it, I had tears streaming down my face. :)

Keep Peanuts......Replace Cathy, Fred Basset and Mark trail with ANYTHING!

What is commical "funny" about such strips as Doonsbury, Opus or Non Sequitur?? NOTHING!! Whenever I think they may be worth reading, I find them quite offensive, opinionated, and politically slanted. PLEASE list comic strips that are comic!!! Really hate to see Peanuts go...I vote to keep that strip. For me, Pickles is a huge win over Get Fuzzy and a great replacement of Doonsbury!!!!!!!!!!

Since both Get Fuzzy and Pickles are getting so many votes, why not just run both? No matter which one you pick, you are going to disappoint about hundreds of people. As many people have pointed, there are some really bad comics that could easily be replaced. Close to Home is the worst comic I've ever seen. It tries to be like the Far Side, but without the humor. Does anyone read Cathy? Really, every time I look at it, she's complaining about being fat and trying to buy a bathing suit. It's been that way for 10 years, the same one joke comic. Mark Trail? Fred Bassett? If you put any of these up for a vote against Get Fuzzy or Pickles, they would lose, big time.

For anyone not familar with Get Fuzzy, you'll find some Red Sox themed strips at the link below. They are much more representative of the strip than the week that the Press Herald ran the strip.

http://www.michelleandtony.com/content/redsox.htm

While I have never been a fan of Get Fuzzy and look forward to reading Pickles, I agree that both should be added to the comics line-up. There is obviously a lot of interest in both. It seems that many people would like to see them replace Mark Trail and Kathy. Those would be my selections for replacement also.

If you actually think that many individuals each cast a vote for "Get Fuzzy" and for "Pickles" you are sadly mistaken and must not know much at all about the type of computer voting your paper choose for this.
It is so easy to cheat by tripple clicking any other sorts of methods that it's not funny. Last week after seeing how unrealistic the voting spred was, I tryed it myself and in one attempt I was able to cast four votes for one of the strips that did not receive hardly any. (That's why I choose one that would have never won anyway). The point is, someone from early on in the voting has been doing something underhanded to run the votesd up for "Get Fuzzy", Then recebtly the same sceme has been going on for "Pickles".
Open your eyes. This has not been done fairly and the voters should have more of a say in correcting this. Where are all your investigative reporters when your readers need them? Oh, that's right, your paper is doing so damn poorly due to the internet that they've been layed off.
Now that we have seen all the poor excuse for comic strips you have been offering I think you should hold the voting again for a two day period. Install safeguards to only allow one vote at a time and I guarentee we will all see how different the results will be.

Wow. I have never seen so much animosity for a comic strip. It seems like the simple thing to do is get rid of the ones that people hate and add the ones people like. Get Fuzzy and Pickles are the 2 top vote getters. ADD THEM. Cathy and Mark Trail should be removed. Doonsbury should be on the editorial page as it's an editorial. The same that Tank Macnamara is in the sports section. That leaves an open spot for what ever else you want to put in. The comics need an upgrade. It's been the same ones for 30 years. Blondie, Beetle Baily, Peanuts, Family Circus and Denis the Menace are all in the paper since I was a kid 37 years ago. Let's add some new ones. If you think the voting is unfair, let's just go with the comments. It's clear that the people want something new. Get Fuzzy and Pickles seem to have the most comments. Add them and call it a day.

This is absurd: you have decided to keep Peanuts because, acording to you, an overwhelming number of people responding to your poll wanted you to keep it. But the question posed in the poll was not, "Should we keep Peanuts?", but rather, "What should we replace Peanuts with"? I would wager that most writers, like myself, considered it a foregone conclusion that Peanuts was gone, and didn't even bother to comment on the fact that it was, in fact, high time for you to replace it. Don't get me wrong: there was a time when I genuinely enjoyed reading Peanuts. But I'm all grown up now (in fact, I'm 48), and find the fact that you obsessively re-run a strip drawn years ago by a man who is now dead ridiculous, and a bit pathetic. Still, I'm sure it's cheap to run, and at a time when you folks are obviously cutting your expenses (and the size of the paper) to the bone, I'm sure that's a major consideration. So, by all means, let's bring back "L'il Abner", "Pogo" (now THERE was a strip), and see if "Nancy" or "Henry" are still being drawn somewhere by the great-grandchildren of their originators. Actually, never mind: I think "Pickles" IS being drawn by the same person who did "Nancy". And it's nearly as funny as Nancy, too....

Pickles is soooo funny, we really enjoyed it when we were in FL. As far as Mark Trail, Family Circus and Dennis the Menace they are the greatest as far as we are concerned. Heck of a lot better than some of them in my opinion. So to those that say nobody reads these three here in this house there are 2 responsible adult people that read them and enjoy them. Please add pickles no matter which page it has to be on. The people that don't like Family Circus and Dennis the Menace never had and enjoyed a family with kids in it. Thank you....here's to Pickles

Get Fuzzy does the two things a good humorous strip should do: the writing is funny and the drawing is funny. Cathy fails on both counts -- it's been the same jokes for years, and after all these years Guisewite still doesn't know how to draw. (Neither can the Close to Home guy.) Brian Basset shouldn't get two comic strips in the same paper, so let's lose Red and Rover. Beetle Bailey has been around longer than Peanuts and ceased being funny long ago, if it ever was. I skip right over Mark Trail. For Better or For Worse is becoming way too sentimental, and have three siblings in the same family ever been that perfect? True, Peanuts is a classic, but it's time to give other cartoonists a chance. Reading Peanuts today is rather like refusing to watch the Red Sox today in favor of watching tapes of games from the 1967 season. Zits follows the funny writing-funny drawing model, so I like it. Verdict: I agree with those who say that Peanuts should go and both Get Fuzzy and Pickles should be added, although personally I'd pick Pearls Before Swine instead of Pickles. Yes, it violates the funny-drawing formula, but the writing makes up for it.

Keep Peanuts!! Snoopy is never out of date! My vote is for Pearls before Swine. Some of the other choices were terrible. I agree with someone--put Doonsbury on the editorial page.

From the selections you offered we liked "Pearls before Swine" the best.
If it is of any worth to you, My 6 year-old grand neice was scared when she saw the caracters in "Get Fuzzy", she said they "creeped her out".

The many comments sent in have made me think, and after all along wanting to keep "Peanuts" only because I've followed it since the sixties I now agree with many other readers that, "The sixties are over man!", and it's time to move on to give some other cartoonists a chance to show us their wares. I personally do not like to see political themes in the daily strips, again because of the young children who read the comics for entertainment, not for controversey.

If personal opinions really count for anything in this discussion, I'd have to say that Fred Bassett is the worst strip I've ever seen and Kathy & Mark Trail come in as a tie foe a close second.

Is there anything left in your reduced budget to allow for a second page of comic strips? (Hey, do they still draw the Katzinjammer Kids?)
Seriously though, you really should consider adding Pearls Before Swine to your daily and weekend comics. The the cartooist/writer has the closest humor to the Far Side strips I've seen yet.
Besides, I've already ordered a Pearls Before Swine T-shirt and can't return it!

Having lived in various parts of the country and reading various newspapers, the Press Herald has some of the lamest comics out there. There must not be must of a budget for cartoons. Please put some humor in the "FUNNIE PAPERS"!

Worst comic out in the paper has to be Non Sequitor, can you even call that a comic, the guy is from Maine and not funny.

Why is Isabella so worried about someone cheating, it didn't say vote once did it?

I'm amazed how angry people get over comics, but in reality, when the paper isn't delivered, I'm mad about the loss of comics & sudoku for the day, not the loss of the news! I really didn't like Get Fuzzy at all, so I was surprised it was the top vote getter. Oh well. I suggest you add another page of comics, too. You might be surprised to see your revenue increase!

Interesting comments. I to saw early on how unrealistic the voting spread was for get fuzzy. That showed me it was obvious someone was voting multible times for that comic strip and now someone is doing the same with pickles to try and out vote get fuzzy. I only cast one vote but had I known it was okay to vote as many times as we wanted I would have made sure I cast enough votes for Crankshaft to win.
Since many of your readers seem to be aware of the unfair and unequal voting I feel you should eliminate those two comics that they are still being voting for and use the third runner up. That would at least show whoever is doing it that they can't get away with it. Look at the voting, there were more votes cast in the past day for those two then there were in the past month.
I agree with the others, Either get another page of funnies so your paper will have a real "FUNNY" page section and not one column of the boring stuff you presently offer. It's too bab this whole thing has been such a wate of time and certainly more of a joke than anything else you publish.
I guess I'll look into those comics on the web others were talking about and the heck with your paper!

I know it's too late to change your mind back to getting rid of Peanuts, but that's my vote, and along with that one, get rid of all the 20- 30- and 40-year-old strips: Blondie, Beetle Baily, Mark Trail, Family Circus, Fred Bassett, Dennis, Garfield (well, little kids like it)... and PLEASE knock off Cathy too. I'll read anything you put in their place, heck I even read Mark Trail and Cathy (and Prince Valiant)! But let's get some fresh blood in the paper. Bring in more young readers so there'll continue to BE a paper in future years.
Personally, not crazy about Opus or Non Sequitur (even though it's supposed to be in Maine) either, but they're ok.
Freshen the whole comics page up, not piecemeal. But don't ever drop Nate or Zits or Close to Home, or Foxtrot (terrible drawing, good content).
That's my two cents.

Vote for Crankshaft? What are you smoking? That has to be one of the worst choices that they had.

You have to be joking! Simple solution,

1)Drop Peanuts, Fred Basset, Mark Trail, For Better or For Worse, Kathy
2)Move Doonesbury and Non Sequitor to editorial section
3)Insert Pearls before Swine, Get Fuzzy, Baby Blues, Pickles.

I am 7 and voted for Get Fuzzy. I have many of his books and love both Satchel and Bucky. They are funny. I even have the calandar. Rob likes the Red Sox which is also cool. The only other comics I read are Garfield, Zits, Close to Home, Big Nate and Dilbert. I love Fox Trot even if it is on 1 day a week. The other ones are not funny. Sometimes Red and Rover. Pickles is just another old person cartoon, like Blondie and Beetle Bailey. Cathy is bad. Mark Trail is boring. I was sad when Get Fuzzy did not win last time. Now they are in the lead and I hope they win.

Are any of the older comics even relevant today? Beetle Bailey was from WWII for crying out loud! I think everyone read Peanuts enough times to know the punchline just by looking at the first panel. Fred Basset has an English type humor that we don't get and is also old. It is 2008 can we bring the comics section to this year instead of 1969?

Vote for Get Fuzzy! I have read Get Fuzzy forever! that was not an average Get Fuzzy week, just look back a couple months and you'll see that Get Fuzzy is most likely the funniest comic anyone has ever seen! And I strongly suggest you take out Blondie, Mark Trail, Beetle Bailey, Fred Basset, (my gosh I can't stand that comic!) Cathy, The Family Circus, and Dennis the Menace. And replace them with Pearls Before Swine....... (sorry, I can't think of any more comics to mention.)That's the opinion of a 13 year old, and a lot of my family, so please take these suggestions to mind.

Peanuts is a classic! why replace it at all? It's like replacing your grandparents! would you ever do that? Although, i wouldn't mind having Get Fuzzy or Pearls Before Swine in the paper to. But please replace Cathy, Dilbert, Fred Basset(who's so insane they'd like the stupid cartoon?), Adam @ Home, Close to home, Blondie, Beetle Bailey, Red and Rover, Doonesbury, Red and Rover, Dennis the Menace, and Family Circus replaced, though. But Zits, Mark Trail, Garfield, PEANUTS, Big Nate, Get Fuzzy, and Pearls before Swine Rock! Vote Fuzzy, not Pickles! DON'T REPLACE PEANUTS!

Peanuts is a classic! why replace it at all? It's like replacing your grandparents! would you ever do that? Although, i wouldn't mind having Get Fuzzy or Pearls Before Swine in the paper to. But please replace Cathy, Dilbert, Fred Basset(who's so insane they'd like the stupid cartoon?), Adam @ Home, Close to home, Blondie, Beetle Bailey, Red and Rover, Doonesbury, Red and Rover, Dennis the Menace, and Family Circus replaced, though. But Zits, Mark Trail, Garfield, PEANUTS, Big Nate, Get Fuzzy, and Pearls before Swine Rock! Vote Fuzzy, not Pickles! DON'T REPLACE PEANUTS!

Why would u replace PEANUTS!? It would be like selling your grandparents! would u do that?! although, I do only like like 5 comics in the newspaper so pick a good one like Get Fuzzy (hint hint). BUT KEEP PEANUTS! But if you must replace it...

VOTE FUZZ!

I may be able to offer a suggestion.you see, no offense, but I've seen more humor in a scary movie, which tend not to be very funny.the Press Herald has the worst comic page ever. i only like like 5 comics and foxtrot on Sundays! so keep Mark Trail, PEANUTS, Big Nate, Garfield, and Zits, and drop the rest replace them with Pearls Before Swine, Get Fuzzy, Calvin and Hobbes,and much more! Just don't replace Peanuts!But if you must...VOTE FUZZ!!!

O.K., I've commented 4 times now, so sue me. Wait... why am I commenting now?!

April 2008: I read the article about your plan for replacing PEANUTS.

May thru June 2008: I read the daily comic strips you were offering us in lieu of PEANUTS.

May thru June 2008: I read the many comments posted and watched as the votes slowly rolled in.

mid-June 2008: Many readers are upset that the voting was unfairly corrupted by one or more individuals who are still voting mulitible times for Get Fuzzy and Pickles.

late-June 2008: Many readers such as myself feel as if they have been cheated and I for one feel this whole thing has become a total waste of everyone's time.

Last but not least: After waiting to read all the selections offered I finally cast one vote for Pearls Before Swine, which I can see was also a total waste of time and.

Good luck in your struggling paper's attempts to keep your subscriptions up and your dwindling advertising revenue.

Other than that, have a nice day!

http://www.comics.com/wash/pickles/index.html

I just read Pickles and that is not even funny. Are you seriously considering publishing this ? Come on!

If you are going to publish this you may as well put in ANDY CAPP, KATZENJAMMER KIDS, POGO, and every other old out dated cartoon you can think of. Can we do something once for the kids and not for the geezers of Maine?

Get Fuzzy is the best! I think the bellies help to make it funny. Or, the cranky feline "Yankers" fan. Glad to see you're keeping Peanuts for the time being!

Pickles makes me laugh.... Isn't that what the COMIC strip is all about?

If you are an old person Pickles would make one laugh, not funny if one is under 75.

I have heard rumors that you have decided to keep Peanuts? If it's true that's exciting! Although I would understand why you might take it out after 8 years of re runs, I too feel it is a classic and think it's just fine staying in the paper. I think Doonesbury would be better positioned on the editoral page, and that would leave room for another new comic. I mostly enjoy non-sequitor although I miss the daily Foxtrot comic. I enjoy most of your comics but I will agree that Cathy would not really be missed due to the redundancy of that comic. I still love Family Circus, Denis the Menace, Fred Basset, Beetle Bailey and all the others so many seem to be tired of. I'm in my 20's but don't find too much fault with the comics page. It's true others out there offer more variety and therefore makes many more people happy with the selection. I found most of the comics you offered funny, but the least funny, honestly, is Get Fuzzy. It would be great if you were able to offer Get Fuzzy and Pickles. It would add fresh comics to the paper and keep more people happy for a couple of reasons. One, the comics are updated with two new comics, and two clearly popular comics (even if one person or a couple were voting as often as possible). I look forward to seeing what happens and I hope that none of the comics will be replaced without giving some future notice.

I will no longer bother to look at your daily comics section because I hate the new selections and it would only remind me of the corrupt voting.

Will attract a whole lot more readers once they find out Get Fuzzy won.

I do not care for Cathy, Mark Trail, Fred Basset or non-sequiter. Those are appearantly the four most unpopular comic strips. Maybe you should consider removing them to make room for the cartoons repeatedly mentioned in the comments. It seems the comic fans have spoken clearly.

Why even continue the poll? If you (the paper) have decided to keep Peanuts based on a few comments, why not listen to the rest of the comments that have been posted and stop the charade of a poll? It seems, with a very few exceptions, Cathy, Mark Trail and Fred Basset should be canned. They are old, tired and repetitve. It also seems that Doonsbury should be moved to the editorial pages where it belongs. This would open 4 slots for new things. Get Fuzzy and Pickles are now in a statistical dead heat to be added. It would be a shame if one beats out the other by only a few votes and that many people are disappointed. Add both, along with the next 2 strips that garnered votes and add the 4. At the very least add Get Fuzzy and Pickles and remove 2 of the Cathy/Fred/Mark group. I voted for Get Fuzzy and see that they have a 200 vote lead. That should be enough to tell you that both of the remaining choices should be added. Just my two cents.

STOP THE PRESSES!
If this newspaper has any intention of acting on what many of the comments have pointed out then they have no choice but to either do a major makeover of their comics page or fully explain in writing to their readers why they can't or won't. My guess is it's a budget thing and they can't afford to contract with the better drawn syndicated comic strips. (They must get a REAL bargin with publishing that horribly drawn "Close to Home" strip!)
On the other hand, if they did away with the half dozen or so strips that most readers don't like, don't bother to read, or down right hate, one would think they could afford some newer, funnier and more popular comic strips.
DIRECTIVE TO THE COMIC STRIP DEPARTMENT:
Send Mark Trail, Cathy, Fred basset hound, Close to home and Non-Sequitor packing and welcome aboard some fresh talent and better punch lines.

(I wonder if this newpaper even bothers to take any of this seriously)

Like many others, I look forward to starting my day with some good comics. I only nine of the comics strips in this paper, then I go on line to read many-many more that are much better, funnier and most are in COLOR!