Showcase format to start with 'Pickles'

The new year will bring some new comics to The News & Observer. But don't worry, we're not dropping any current strips until we see how well the new ones go over.

For the next year or so, we'll be having a rotating "guest comic" each month in the top-of-the-page daily spot now held by "Fox Trot." That strip will no longer be offered daily after Dec. 30. (The cartoonist's decision -- not ours.) The Sunday "Fox Trot" will continue.

Each guest comic will run for four weeks, to give readers a good sample of the storylines and how consistent the humor is. Readers can go to our new online comics forum to share their thoughts. (www.newsobserver.com, key word lifestyles)

If enough readers have a positive response, we'll consider adding the guest comic to our lineup for good. If reaction isn't so nice, we'll know that the guest comic likely wouldn't be a good fit.

We'll launch the guest comic program Jan. 1 with four weeks of "Pickles" -- a strip several of you have asked us to consider. Drawn by cartoonist Brian Crane, "Pickles" is about grandparents Earl and Opal Pickles and their family, friends and pets. Earl and Opal drive each other crazy at times, but they have a love that has endured more than 50 years.

Our second guest comic, starting Jan. 29, will take us in a completely different direction. It's "Lio," a well-drawn, somewhat dark strip about an odd little boy. What's really unusual is that there's no dialogue, only images. (Cartoonist Mark Tatulli calls it a "pantomime strip.") It won't appeal to everyone, but in papers running "Lio," it has many avid fans.

That's something to keep in mind about comics -- humor is a very subjective business. We're never going to have a lineup in which every comic appeals to every person. That's impossible. But we do want to make sure that each reader will find some things to love in our comics.

And now, our forum offers a new way for you to discuss comics with us and others to your hearts' content. You also can suggest future guest comics. Go to our Web site and join the conversation -- and get ready to ring in the new year with "Pickles."