By: Danny Jacobs

I, like many others, religiously read newspaper comics. (Among my favorites: Pearls Before Swine, F Minus, Get Fuzzy and Speed Bump.) So while I never read Judge Parker, I was pleased to learn The Washington Post has returned the strip to its print edition after an uproar among the storyline’s loyal followers.

Judge Parker, initially about a man who is jurist by day, crime fighter by night, is a serial, soap opera-style strip that first appeared in 1952. The strip was cut in the Post’s print version along with several other comics a few weeks ago but was brought back this week after the paper received more than 750 complaints about the decision – a number “far more than any other topic,” ombudsman Andrew Alexander wrote in his Sunday column.

The lesson here is that while newspapers can trim and cut all they want, the comics section is a third rail that must be handled with extreme caution. Notice how The Baltimore Sun has apparently stopped printing its “You” section Mondays and Tuesdays but shifted its entire comics page elsewhere.

Incidentally, if there are local fans of The Phantom interested in starting Judge Parker-like movement to return the strip to The Sun, please let me know. My dad has been hoping for its return for years.