I took a call from a reader Monday who expressed dislike for the two new comic strips that have been running in our Sunday edition. Strips called “Pearls Before Swine” and “Candorville” have replaced “Opus,” which has gone out of production after its creator decided the comic had run its course. It turns out that “Candorville” is going to be replaced soon by a strip called “Cow and Boy.”

For our Sunday comics, which run in a four-page, color section, we don't have much of a say in which strips appear. We actually purchase our comics through another company that prints them off-site for newspapers all over the country. It's essentially a consortium of newspapers that, through this group arrangement, are able to save money - something all of us are trying to do these days.

As a result, we have to live with the selection of these comics. We can certainly offer our input into which strips works, what strips don't and which strips perhaps go too far in their pursuit of laughs. But our voice is one of many in the discussion.

The rest of the week, though, is a different story.

We typically publish our lineup of daily comic strips on page C4, with the exceptions of Thursdays, when they have to go in the B-section because we don't have a Lake Life section (the Go entertainment guide runs that day, instead).

Those comics that appear Monday through Saturday are imported to our computer system here in Auburn, placed on the page like all of the other content and published daily on our own press. As a result, we have complete control over those strips.

Comic strips have long been a traditional part of the daily newspaper, and for many readers, they are a destination. Comics provide a range of content, from the silly and cute strips that simply make us chuckle, to the satiric strips that give us a laugh while making us think. We try to offer a range that appeal to a broad spectrum of readers.

I'm curious as to which strips people like in our paper and which ones they would like us to drop.

The final decisions are not easy, because individual tastes can clash quite a bit.

Take “Peanuts,” for example. This classic comic has been in repeat mode for many years, but because it has been such an institution in American society, many papers have kept running it long after the death of creator Charles M. Schulz. I've been approached by salespeople who tell me we're crazy to continue running it; that modern, edgy strips should appear in its place because that's what readers desire.

But I also know that for many readers, reading “Peanuts” daily is a cherished ritual they don't want to lose.

So with no idea what I'm going to get in response, I'm just asking for your thoughts on the comics page. I'll report back soon with what I've learned.

Executive editor Jeremy Boyer's columns appear Tuesdays and he can be reached at 253-5311 ext. 231 or jeremy.boyer@lee.net