Update: Just recieved word that TMW will remain a fixture in the newly redesigned New Haven Advocate! Many thanks to everyone who wrote in — sometimes these things can make a difference! And of course thanks to the powers-that-be at the Advocate. I understand that I have no inherent right to run in their paper (or anyone’s), and am profoundly grateful that I will continue to have a space there.
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In response to queries, TMW hasn’t been cut from the Advocate papers, exactly. This is the note I got from the editor of the chain:
TMW hasn’t been cut altogether from the papers. We’ve been facing major space constraints and have had to trim a lot of different content week to week – some weeks TMW has been trimmed that way. Some weeks we’ve found room for it at the back of the book – last minute. We’re still planning on having TMW among the pool of cartoons/comics we’ve got in the papers. With the redesign we’re looking for where best to put them, etc. And hoping we’ll have room for everything we’re planning for.
So that’s sort of good news, I guess, but I do hope to remain a more important part of these papers than an occasional contributor. I’ve lived in this area for a total of ten years, give or take (lived here in the mid nineties, moved to NYC, then ended up moving back), and the New Haven Advocate has been a huge part of my life, through which I have made numerous close friends, and more importantly, met my wife. The chain was bought a few years back by the troubled Tribune Company and there have been a lot of cutbacks since then, but honestly, cartoons are both popular and cheap. If you live in the area and would like to see the strip run every week rather than on an occasional space-permitting basis, please be sure to let them know. Politely, of course!
(Note: I’m deliberately not posting contact info so the papers don’t get spammed. If you’re one of their readers, you’ll be able to find it.)