Unfettered Letters

But is this cartoon funny?

It’s fitting that Michelle Malkin and comics are the two reasons John Ruhl (7/5, Letters) cites for subscribing to The Star, since they’re both cartoons.

Brent Anderson
Fairway

‘Pearls Before Swine’ is a gem

I read your paper every day for a variety of reasons, and while I greatly value your news coverage, local columnists and syndicated opinions, I must say the “Pearls Before Swine” comic strip is becoming my favorite part of each day’s read.

I found Ward Triplett’s feature story on the strip’s cartoonist, Stephan Pastis, (4/14, FYI, “Life can be a croc”) very entertaining. Pastis’ humor is often the much-needed twist to an otherwise drab and dreary news day, and your quality product is enhanced by the presence of “Pearls.” I hope other readers agree.

Jeannie Brandstetter
Jefferson City

‘Doonesbury’ character

Recently Garry Trudeau introduced a new character into his comic strip “Doonesbury,” Mrs. DeLuca, the mother of seriously wounded Iraq veteran, Toggle.

She is depicted in all of her vulgar glory: pudgy, tattooed, spiked hair and, to really cover all the bases, a cross dangling from a necklace.

In the strip of Feb. 20, when she is asked who Toggle’s father is, Trudeau gives her this response, “One of three jerks. I wasn’t always the class act you see now.”

This depiction of our military personnel and their families as the trashy dregs of American society may comfort and titillate the Northeast salon liberals with their bigoted stereotypes, but it is deeply offensive to the people who are paying an enormous sacrifice in the service of our country. It is also demonstrably inaccurate.

Whatever one’s views are of the Iraq war, this vicious sliming of our troops and their families should disgust every fair minded person.

Bruce Bubacz
Leawood

Nothing to laugh about

With all the nonsense going on in the world, I wonder why Saturday’s (1/19) “Bizarro” comic strip prompts me to write. (A woman is telling another woman in a burqa, who is taking picture of a group of women in burqas, “I can take that for you if you want to be in it”.)

Perhaps it is the very idea that a comic, not an editorial comic, would present something so dehumanizing as being humorous. Burqas are not funny.

Maybe Dan Piraro should try walking around with a hood over his head for a day and see what it feels like. Skip the screen for vision and do us all a favor by taking the day off drawing, too.

Hey, FYI editor: Check out “Mutts” if you want to spend your ink space on something entertaining. “Mutts” can send a decent message now and again, too.

Nancy Stifter
Parkville

Connected?

Did you read the “Dennis the Menace” in the Sunday comics section?

Dennis was talking with his father, who was sitting at the computer. His dad was telling him all the wonderful things you can do with a computer: pay bills, shop, e-mail people all over the world, reconnect with people.

“It’s a wonderful communication tool!” he says, “It brings people together!”

Then Dennis asks, “Then how come you’re sitting here all by yourself?”

Something for us to ponder.

Rita Einspahr
Overland Park

Get rid of ‘Lio’

Please remove the comic strip “Lio” from The Star. Last week, one strip showed a diagram of a person named Kevin marked up like a side of beef ready to be carved. Now (2/13) a child is about to use a huge knife to pop another child’s balloon. No one needs this kind of nasty, inappropriate stuff in a family paper. Surely there’s something better out there just waiting to be discovered!

Nancy McDowell
Overland Park

Art imitates life?

I was appalled when I opened the Preview section of the paper (1/4) to see a strip called “Disquietville.” I was so surprised to see a character in a “comic” strip beating up a child!

Now even I know that this is fiction, but it seems to me that your paper is condoning beating up kids for being who they are. I see this as wrong, as everybody should.

Get a grip and get a clue. Don’t let art imitate life like this.

Amy Rebel
Overland Park

A comic strip idea

Since we are in our annual comics page debate: If The Star has the room, consider featuring the times, antics and her reasoning for such of Jackson County Executive Katheryn Shields. It belongs on the funny pages.

The title of the strip? "Driving Miss Daisy."

Jerry McDonald
Overland Park

Comic opinions

Two cents on comics

Like the recent letter writer, I am also sad to hear that “FoxTrot” will no longer be a daily comic strip. I also agree that it would be a great time to bring back “Funky Winkerbean.” There are some strips that I have no appreciation for at all, but they are probably the favorites of some. “Zippy the Pinhead” is my favorite. It has some of the best social commentary that exists in the print media, so it is definitely a keeper.

John Nold
Warrensburg, Mo.

While this is not earthshaking, I would like to add my comments concerning the fact that “FoxTrot” will not be a weekly comic anymore. It has been an enjoyable comic for such a long time, without all the anger one sees in “Dilbert” and even “Get Fuzzy,” the latter one having some humorous parts. Also, “BoNanas” and “Candorville” don’t get my vote. “Curtis” is tops, and never get rid of “Zippy.” It is just too zany and fun!

Linda Lockwood
Kansas City

‘Zippy’ visits KC again

I see that “Zippy the Pinhead” recently made another visit to Kansas City, as he does once in a while. He has been here to see the Nelson’s Moores and Oldenburgs, the Crying Giant, the Hummel Garden, Winstead’s and many other local landmarks, probably 20 times already this century. Maybe it’s time for The Star to repay the favor by returning “Zippy” to the Sunday comics section. I miss the Sunday strips, and your fancy new presses should do a great job with the colors that cartoonist Bill Griffith chooses.

George Moyer
Lawrence

Comics comments

While I am sad to read in FYI that “FoxTrot” will no longer be a regular weekday comic strip, it would seem like a great time to bring back “Funky Winkerbean.” And as long as you’re rearranging things, lose the annoyingly pointless “Zippy the Pinhead” and bring back “Over the Hedge,” too.

Kevin Gard
Blue Springs

Get rid of ‘B.C.’

I have long felt that Johnny Hart’s age-old strip “B.C.” had become irrelevant and offensive, but Thursday was the final straw, and I can no longer leave my feelings unvoiced.

There is no other way to take the Dec. 7 strip than that Hart believes we should still be holding a grudge against Japan for something that happened 65 years ago, even though the nation and society of Japan today bears almost no resemblance to the atmosphere that led to the bombing of Pearl Harbor. One might even take him to mean that some further retribution is in order.

I’m all for free speech, but can the comics on the funny pages at least bear some resemblance to modern thought? Or at least not be premised in insanity and/or evil? Today’s message was born of pure, unreasoning hatred, and I find it most distressing that The Star continues to give a voice to the madman who penned it.

Ryan Rice
Kansas City

‘Borat’ commentary

I’m not sure which is more ridiculous: writing a column about a film you admit you have not seen or dismissing a comic satire because you think it “contradicts reality” (11/21, Mary Sanchez column, “Cruelty in ‘Borat’ makes us grateful for truth”).

Kerry Black
Kansas City

Comedian’s rant on tape

The Michael Richards incident strangely made me smile (11/21, “Stargazing,” FYI, and “In brief,” A-4).

His words did not make me happy, but the shock and outrage expressed across the nation did.

As someone who makes a hobby of digitizing published works from the early 20th century, I am constantly coming in contact with the kind of racism we saw expressed by Richards in the literature and music of the early 1900s. I never cease to be amazed at how commonplace and accepted racism and the use of the “N-word” were amongst our recent forefathers. And the fact that the tables have turned to this extent is, to me, a sign of extreme progress.

Leigh Ann Little
Independence

Affliction affects voice

I would like to thank The Star for printing “Cartoonist battles a disabling affliction” (10/29, A-13) that discusses “Dilbert” cartoonist Scott Adams’ struggle with the neurological condition spasmodic dysphonia.

The condition is exceptionally rare, and it has not received much public attention. I was diagnosed with the condition about two years ago, and I understand the challenges of coping with the disease. It can render a person’s voice useless by creating spasms of the vocal cord muscles. Botox injections do provide some temporary relief by moderately paralyzing the vocal cord muscles and reducing the spasms.

Physician Lee Reussner and his excellent staff at the University of Kansas Medical Center, Department of Otolaryngology — Head and Neck Surgery, specialize in treating this rare condition and have helped me to retain my quality of life.

Another excellent source of information is the National Spasmodic Dysphonia Association (www.dysphonia.org).

Jim Kunce
Weston

‘Zippy’ visits KC in strip

“Zippy” is scheduled to return to Kansas City on Tuesday when he visits the Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art and chats with the “Architect’s Handkerchief,” a sculpture by Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen.

Zippy’s creator, cartoonist Bill Griffith, claims Oldenburg as his favorite sculptor.

This will be Zippy’s second visit to the Kemper and his 18th visit to Kansas City and the west-central Missouri area, including Grandview, Lee’s Summit, Warrensburg and Sedalia.

Zippy’s visits are inspired by photographs taken in the area and then submitted for consideration by myself and my daughter, Loris Eltzholtz of Lee’s Summit. Our first published submission in The Star was the Union Pacific locomotive No. 3985 during a visit to Union Station, and that strip ran on April 5, 2004.

Bill Eltzholtz
Lee’s Summit

‘Candorville’ misses

The recent “Candorville” comic strips comparing terrorists with the American revolutionaries are despicable and should not have been run by The Star.

The American revolutionaries declared open war on the British Empire, fought an open war and, when they had prevailed, laid down their arms and went back to being citizens. They did not attempt to force their religious views on their conquered foe.

Most significantly, they were soldiers fighting soldiers. They did not send suicide bombers to blow up innocent women and children. They did not indiscriminately fire missiles into civilian areas killing innocents. They did not take up positions in civilian areas using innocent men, women and children as human shields.

By any rational standard, the current terrorists are evil people. This cannot reasonably be said as to the American revolutionaries.

Saying that they are equivalent at best indicates an inability to draw valid moral judgments or at worst uses an invalid moral comparison for cheap humor or to forward a political agenda.

The Star should be ashamed to have played any part in this.

Reggie C. Giffin
Kansas City

Missouri diner?

I recently read the “Zippy the Pinhead” comic strip by Bill Griffith entitled “Caesar Salad,” where Zippy enters a restaurant called the Deepwater Diner. I wonder if Mr. Griffith is making reference to my hometown of Deepwater, Mo., in this strip.

There was a diner in my home town that looked somewhat like the diner in Griffith’s cartoon, except it was made out of an old Kansas City streetcar. It was called the Silver Diner, as it was painted silver.

The Silver Diner was the focal point for all social activity in Deepwater when I was in grade and high school. One year our basketball team had a losing season, and we played Ray Charles’ “Born to Lose” at lot on the jukebox.

The diner served up the best burgers and fries this side of the Red Onion in Garden City, Mo.

The Silver Diner is long gone but not forgotten.

Richard W. Dahms
St. Joseph, Mo.

Star comics pages

Has The Kansas City Star run out of paint?

Sometimes it’s in color, sometimes it ain’t!

Esther Brown
Independence

‘I tell jokes … ’

Sometimes I forget the definition of irony, but then people like T. Grey of Overland Park write letters (7/16). Then it all comes rushing back.

How can you possibly read an interview with a joke teller and expect it to be serious?

Don’t you get it, Mr. Gray? It’s a joke. I tell jokes. That’s my job. My friends in Olathe weren’t offended. They thought it was hysterical.

Mr. Gray, I may be only 27, but I know this: People who don’t get jokes, or only laugh at jokes that aren’t about them, are generally unhip and unintelligent.

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news.

Chris Porter
Los Angeles

Editor’s note: Porter is a contestant on “Last Comic Standing,” which airs on NBC. He was featured in a profile on July 11 in FYI.

Comics comments

Thanks to one of your readers who recently informed us of the Web site where we can read “Funky Winkerbean.” It was always one of my favorites.

Thanks also to The Star for dumbing down the comics with the addition of “Get Fuzzy,” “Bizarro,” “Brevity,” “Candorville” and “Prickly City” while keeping “Zippy.” How could you make such bad choices? Did you get them cheap?

The good news is that I don’t read these, and it now gives me time to look up “Funky” on the Internet.

Paul N. Shy
Kansas City

Homegrown comedian

Me-ow! T. Gray's letter (7/16) regarding Chris Porter on "Last Comic Standing" was, at the very least, catty and, more accurately, mean-spirited.

Does Gray not get that Chris and other comedians are entertainers? That often includes making observations and comments about what are commonly held perceptions regarding people and places. These things generally make people sit back and laugh, something Gray might want to consider doing.

As far as the snarky comments regarding Chris' academic suspension, at least he figured out that college wasn't for him before he spent his parents' savings partying on the "six-year plan," as many of today's students do.

Yes, I know Chris and his family, and they are a terrific bunch of people who have been supportive of their son's unconventional career path. This has allowed him to pursue his career and dreams in a city (oops, I mean "land of fruits and nuts") where entertainers are valued, supported and financially compensated for their talent and determination.

Lighten up, T.! There are enough sad, tragic stories in the news every day for people like you who apparently don't care to try to look at the lighter side of life once in a while.

Carolyn Molloy
Kansas City

‘Funky’ and front page

I, too, still miss “Funky Winkerbean.” Like Leland Eastburn (7/11, Letters), I also log on daily to the Seattle Post-Intelligencer (seattlepi.com) to read the strip.

I have found that the Internet is a good resource for finding information that can’t easily be found elsewhere.

I have tried reading the new comics The Star added, and I do not like them. So I now skip large segments of the comics and read only my favorites.

I also agree with the numerous readers who have complained about the front page. Many times a major news story is put somewhere on the inside pages while an attention-grabbing picture and fluff story are on the front page. Because of the format changes, I find that am reading less and less of the “new” Star.

J.K. Webb
Kansas City

Not very funny

I guess “Last Comic Standing” participant Chris Porter believes he has the funny man gig all figured out at the young age of 27.

But he must sound a lot funnier on the West Coast than he does here in the Midwest if the FYI article in The Star (7/11) is any indication.

He puts our state in the same league as Mississippi and Alabama, and thinks “red-necks and people from Olathe” are not “hip, intelligent and cool.”

As for intelligence, very, very few of the red-neck and Olathe population suffer from the fate that has befallen Chris — academic suspension from Johnson County Community College and the University of Kansas.

And, actually, most of us here in “flyover country” don’t want to be in the same league as the hip and cool “land of fruits and nuts.”

Nevertheless, we believe Chris has the right to be himself and think whatever he likes. Besides, he has a good reason for his hip and cool demeanor — having been hit in the head with a golf ball.

But some words of advice: Young man, go west. And if you ever need to go back east, fly over.

T. Gray
Overland Park

Still misses 'Funky'

I think it is a crying shame that The Star decided to drop the comic strip "Funky Winkerbean." The readers of the comic section are missing out on some excellent dialogue in the strip at the present time. I have to go online to follow one of my favorite comics.

Perhaps "Funky" is too mature for The Star, or perhaps it is not funny enough for them. However, the subscribers of The Star have been served an injustice by the dropping of this strip.

One of the online sites where "Funky Winkerbean" can be found is seattlepi.com. At least the people of Seattle are fortunate to continue to enjoy "Funky."

If The Star wants to lose me as a subscriber, all they have to do is do away with the comic strip "For Better or For Worse."

Leland Eastburn
Kansas City

Local comic artists

I really enjoyed the Superman comics drawn by local artists (6/29, Preview).I think it’s great The Star is giving these amazing young artists a venue and opportunity to “show their stuff.” My favorite strip was done by Rob Schamberger. But then, he’s my son, and of course I’m just a tad biased! I think his insight into modern life helps give us hope that the younger generations are concerned about things other than comics. Thanks for giving them all the opportunity.

Dee Clark
Mission

Comics page

Let me get this right: We keep “Zippy the Pinhead” and “Pearls Before Swine” but lose “Funky Winkerbean”? Who made that decision, Allard Baird? Bring back Funky!

John Wood
Lee’s Summit

Comic changes

Good grief, with all the horrendous things going on in the world, couldn’t you please give us some new comics (they are called that for a reason, aren’t they?) that at least bring smiles to our faces? Surely there are better strips out there than the new ones you have given us. Anyone for “Pickles”?

Nancy Suske
Lee’s Summit

Comics no fun

Is there any chance that what’s left of the funny pages will be allowed to become a place where weary readers can escape from the problems and controversies that fill the rest of the paper? Judging from a recent edition, I’d have to say probably not.

The Sunday comics of March 19 contained a “Doonesbury” strip that basically called President Bush a criminal (well, I guess that is pretty typical for “Doonesbury”). “Non Sequitur” portrayed Bush as a chimpanzee. And “Opus” featured a drawing of the president wearing thong underwear.

I don’t begrudge these cartoonists their right to spew hatred. I just wish they’d do it on the editorial page.

Philip Reavis
Osawatomie, Kan.

‘Boondocks’ hiatus

I am having “Boondocks” withdrawal already, and it isn’t even March 26 (the date the cartoonist is set to begin a six-month hiatus) When the strip started appearing in The Star several years ago, I wasn’t sure I liked it. Sometimes it made me uncomfortable Sometimes it made me downright mad.

I like to think of myself as a pretty accepting person, a good person without any residual prejudices kicking around inside me. “Boondocks” challenged my view of myself, which was not a “feel-good” experience.

Now that I’ve grown to appreciate Huey and his friends and family, “Boondocks” is always the first strip I read each morning.

Although I love “Boondocks,” it still makes me uncomfortable occasionally, which is how I know Aaron McGruder is doing his job and doing it well.

Please, please, please seriously consider indulging the “Boondocks” fans among your readers with six months of reruns rather than leaving us high and dry. Please don’t make a long six months seem even longer.

Emmie Kennicott
Olathe

Calvin as cop-out

Bill Watterson’s “Calvin and Hobbes” is arguably the finest comic strip ever created. It is certainly my all-time favorite. Calvin always brightened my day, and the temporary resurrection of the classic strip in The Star was a boon to me ... at first.

I remember how disappointed I was when Watterson killed the strip due to his dissatisfaction with the shrinking comics formats, as well as his to desire to retire at the top of his game. I remember my admiration for his refusal to license the images of “Calvin and Hobbes” for commercial marketing purposes, though he stood to earn millions from the characters he chose not to exploit.

It seems to me now, though, that Watterson has finally sold out.

By his own admission, Watterson offered limited re-runs of his strip only to promote and drum up interest in his soon to be released “Calvin and Hobbes” collection book. A shrewd move, yes. Any competent salesman knows that a taste whets the appetite. Still, it saddens me to witness a defiant, unique, and genuine artist embracing tactics he once disdained.

Michael R. Montgomery
Kansas City

Great comic

My husband and I agree wholeheartedly with Scott Phillips (9/18, Letters) about “Pearls Before Swine.” It is one of the few comic strips that make us laugh out loud — sometimes all day, remembering it. We, too, love those “crockydiles.”

The artist, Stephan Pastis, publishes his e-mail address on the strip (theratandpig@aol.com). We sent him an e-mail, and he was nice enough to reply. If you enjoy “Pearls,” send him an e-mail. I’m sure he’d like to hear his work is appreciated.

Katie Evans
Lenexa