The Fayetteville Observer was a big winner in our recent Sunday comics project.
We were tasked with creating a new chapter uniting 11 Gannett newspapers in the Carolinas to support print production efficiency.
Result of nearly 90,000 votes cast on 13,000 ballots, this newspaper adds six new comics, while losing only one, Peanuts, which for years has ceased to produce new comics.
Due to their overwhelming popularity, these top 10 comics have been acquired for all newspapers: BC, Beetle Bailey, Blondie, Born Loser, Close to Home, Dilbert, Family Circus, For Better or Worse, Hagar the Horrible and Garfield.
For those who like to keep score, the vote put Pickles and Zits atop the leaderboard, by a landslide, with over 10,000 votes each. Hi & Lois, Dennis the Menace, Pearls Before Swine, Baby Blues, Mother Goose and Grimm, Foxtrot, Frank and Ernest, Speed Bump, Jumpstart, Baldo, Sally Forth and Argyle Sweater round out the Top 24, in voting order.
If you’d like to share your thoughts on this, you can email me at psander@gannett.com or Carolinas Regional Production Editor Diane Fuhrer at DFuhrer@gannett.com.