Culled and sacked

It falls to The Buzz to introduce a new comic strip starting today in The Herald. “Cul de Sac” replaces the strip “9 Chickweed Lane.”

Like many classic strips, “Cul de Sac” follows the exploits of children, in this case the Otterloop kids, Alice and Petey, with their parents as bit players, a role all parents serve in the lives of their children.

“Cul de Sac,” which is French for “bottom of the bag” but American for “unable to parallel park,” is written and drawn by the Washington Post’s Richard Thompson, who recently was named Cartoonist of the Year by his peers and has earned praise from “Calvin and Hobbes” creator Bill Watterson.

A team of three Herald employees, each whose ink-stained fingers as children marked them as comics fans, chose “Cul de Sac” to join our comics page, although The Buzz has agreed to take the brunt of whatever criticism results.

For those fans of “Chickweed Lane,” both of you, I sympathize. But something had to go, and there’s only so many times you can look at a comic about a cat stretching itself on top of a piano.

Oh, and one more thing: “Rip Haywire,” don’t get comfortable. You could be next.

–Jon Bauer, Herald staff