Only newspapers have the comics!

IN DEFENSE of the funnies: Albuquerque is lucky to have a newspaper like the Journal. However as entertainment and news media changes, so too must this institution evolve. Television has replaced the daily paper as the primary source of news for most Americans. How can newspapers compete with such a visceral medium? ... In order to change watchers into readers I would suggest a different tactic. Invest in the one aspect of the daily newspaper that is completely unique to newspapers: The comics.

The familiarity of the daily comics, their unchanging views, clothes and humorous take on difficult times have served as a tonic to many Americans weary of both “fake” and factual news.

In the early days of American newspapers, popular comics were used to attract readership from one paper to another. Today newspapers rarely have to compete with one another, instead they compete with a plethora of other technologies and news platforms. While subscriptions have decreased, the readership of comics strips, comic books and graphic novels has maintained their popularity.

Perhaps the way to attract and keep readership has been under our noses this whole time. Invest in the comics! Rather than relegating them to a cramped and boring black and white grid, enlarge the daily comics. Allow the art, the humor and wit of the comics to shine, and I venture that our paper will shine, too. ANDREW KELEHER Albuquerque