Not to be selfish, but the question understandably arises in this quarter, if a newspaper migrates to the Web, or folds altogether, what happens to its comic strips? Obviously, when a newspaper folds altogether the comics within cease local publication as well, and a sliver of revenue for the cartoonist dries up. If, and I say “if,” enough of this happens, well, you can see the problem.

However, what happens to the comic strips when a newspaper goes Web-only? Not so obviously, perhaps, but in effect the same thing. What cash-starved newspaper is going to pay for syndicated comic strips when those strips already are available for free on the Web? Very few would be my guess.

To be honest, I cannot see doing what I do for the Web exclusively. The income simply is not there. Maybe all this talk du jour about the death of newspapers is premature. I hope so.