Opus banned for the next two weeks
Twenty-five newspapers (and counting) have decided not to run the next two weeks of Berke Breathed’s Opus because of its content– Lola Granola is experimenting with alternate religions again, having decided that Amish nudism isn’t a viable lifestyle, and she tries… well, look to the right.
Luckily, this is the age of the Internet, so the strips will still be available online at Salon.
Joan Walsh, editor of Salon, comments: "I thought the strip satirized loopy American seekers who customize world religions for their own needs, not Islam. But either way, it’s cowardice to shun the strip. And newspapers wonder why they’re dying?"
Several years ago, a similar situation occured with the Bongo-produced Simpsons Sunday newspaper strip. Ultimately, it did not survive the purge.
Back in 1961, cartoonist Dan DeCarlo created a newspaper strip called Josie. Unsuccessful at selling into that crowded market, it was picked up by Archie Comics , and the feature evolved into Josie and the Pussycats. Dan based the lead character on his wife, Josie as sort of a different look at the Archie environment. He also created Sabrina The Teen-Age Witch and, with Stan Lee, Willie Lumpkin.
Beginning July 9th, ToykoPop’s top-selling manga Princess Ai will be headed to many American Sunday newspapers, courtesy of Universal Newspaper Syndicate.
Perhaps the comics’ first "costumed" hero, Mandrake The Magician, is headed to the big screen once again.
NEWSPAPER COMIC STRIP: Stephan Pastis, Pearls Before Swine
Gina Holden will be starring with Eric Johnson in the SciFi Channel’s new Flash Gordon series, debuting this August. No stranger to heroic fantasy projects, the Canadian actress previously appeared in Fantastic Four, The Butterfly Effect 2 and the upcoming Alien vs. Predator 2.
They’re about to throw the book at Blondie.
Mikhaela Reid 
Three of the good folks behind Mystery Science Theater 3000 – Kevin Murphy, Bill Corbett and Mike Nelson – have done some work in various media as 
First up from The Film Crew: Hollywood After Dark, the 1968 blockbuster starring Rue McClannahan, later of Golden Girls fame. Warning for the prudes and the peculiar: Rue’s got a strip scene. Three more "episodes" are in the can and will be released in upcoming months: Giant of Marathon (1959, starring Steve Reeves), Killers from Space (1954, starring Peter Graves) and The Wild Women of Wongo (1958). 
