Today’s oldie has run on the Web before, but it’s another favorite of mine from 1986.

Today’s newspaper comic is a bit “inside.” I don’t know if the sentiment expressed by Arlo is as firmly held as it once was, but when I was starting out, it really was axiomatic. Newspaper editors did not like talking-animal strips. At least that’s what comic-strip syndicators believed with a fervor. I know: it would be difficult to name a great comic strip that didn’t involve at least one anthropomorphic animal, but that was supposed to be part of the problem. According to the conventional wisdom, newspaper editors did not want to launch a talking-animal strip, because then they couldn’t get rid of it. Those pesky readers liked them too much! I know a lot of this, because I shopped around a talking-animal strip myself when I was starting out. More about that tomorrow.