It hardly matters where you go. In newspapers across the continent — from the Bangor Daily News to the San Diego Union-Tribune, the Seattle Times to the Miami Herald — there appear on the inside pages ten, twenty, even thirty comic strips. The Wall Street Journal and the New York Times may survive without them, but most papers find comic strips a vital feature — and sometimes a mainstay of reader loyalty.

It’s a curious phenomenon, when you think about it, these little picture stories stacked on top of one another, each a separate universe of narrative and character. Instead of stepping one frame over into the next panel of Charles Schulz’s Peanuts, why can’t Charlie Brown step one frame down into Garry Trudeau’s Doonesbury? How come Garfield never strays into Dilbert? I’ve always thought Prince Valiant is just what’s missing in Cathy, and Apartment 3-G would be much improved by a visit from Dennis the Menace.