Four new comic strips debut in The Sun

The Gainesville Sun introduces four new comic strips today following feedback from readers during several weeks of tests.

The new comic strips include longstanding nationally-syndicated artists as well as newcomers. The Sun talked to three of the four artists.

“Comics are the print equivalent of comfort food,” said “Frazz” creator Jef Mallett.

Frazz, the main character, is an elementary-school janitor who the children — and teachers — look up to. The idea for “Frazz” came after Mallett published a children’s book and shared it at dozens of schools.

“It was interesting to see how much the janitor was The Man. Even if the janitor was a woman, she was still The Man,” Mallett said with a laugh. “I thought to myself, ‘Now this is a character. How come nobody beat me to this?’ ”

Readers seek familiarity when they open a newspaper to the comics page, he said.

“The times are different but the essence of people hasn’t changed,” said Mallett.

“Frazz is a lot like me, just cooler and smarter,” said the Michigan native. “I try to make my life as interesting as possible and hope people relate to it.”

Keith Knight said he also draws inspiration from his life for the strip “The Knight Life.” His autobiographical comic strip was born out of “The K Chronicles,” his similar weekly strip. Knight, who lives in Los

Angeles, said “The Knight Life” is pretty close to actual events, but not too close. “It wouldn’t be funny otherwise,” he joked.

Only in syndication for about two months, “The Knight Life” is growing steadily in readership, Knight said.

The cartoonists agree that there are certain things that make well-known comic strips such as “Peanuts,” “Blondie” and “Calvin and Hobbes” remain popular for decades.

The best comic strips are timeless, said Knight.

“ ‘Peanuts’ does not talk about politics,” he said. “When you have certain names in (a comic strip), that automatically dates the strip.”

Knight also said some of the most popular comics talk about universal issues that everyone can relate to. “In ‘Calvin and Hobbes’ and ‘Peanuts’ you have little kids,” he said. “And everybody’s been a little kid before.”

Stephan Pastis, creator of “Pearls Before Swine,” said the fact that newspapers are retiring strips that have been around for more than 60 years, makes it that much harder for younger comic strips to gain recognition.

Younger comic strips have a tough task of entertaining today’s “South Park” and “Family Guy” generation, Pastis said.

“Pearls Before Swine” follows the adventures of a know-it-all rat, named Rat, and a simple-minded pig, who goes by the name Pig. Rat started out as a doodle in Pastis’ law school notebooks.

“I don’t know why I started,” Pastis said. “He just showed up in my notebook.”

He said after a while he thought Rat needed a friend, so Pig followed shortly after. Pastis said he thinks the characters need each other and work better together.

“A lot of times people try to create something people will like,” he said. “I just did something that entertained me.”

Pastis, who lives in Santa Rosa, Calif., said he always wanted to be a cartoonist, but the odds of being a successful syndicated cartoonist were against him. He went to University of California at Los Angeles Law School and became a lawyer.

But now that “Pearls Before Swine” is syndicated in more than 500 newspapers worldwide, Pastis said, “I don’t have to be a lawyer anymore.”

Darby Conley paints a wry picture of single life with pets in “Get Fuzzy,” a comic strip that appears in about 650 newspapers worldwide since it became syndicated.

The strip tells the story of Rob Wilco, an advertising executive and owner of a mischievous cat, Bucky, and a sensitive dog, Satchel.

“I’m a great animal watcher,” said Conley in a press release. Conley, who lives in Boston with his cat, said animals are part of his life. “I hang out with stray cats, other people’s dogs, not to mention the rats on the subway.”

The future of newspaper comics is somewhat uncertain, said Pastis. As newspapers in the 21st century get smaller, the comics pages are shrinking, too.

“I think we’re all just scared to death,” Pastis said.

He said he thinks the trend toward delivering news online will continue. “I think we’re all hoping comics will be a part of that,” said Pastis. “Otherwise, I’m in trouble.”

But the one thing that is certain is the cartoonists don’t expect to stop doing what they love anytime soon.

“How many jobs are there that the sole purpose is making people smile?” Mallett said.