One of my favorite things about Thursdays has always been the Express, one of the three free weeklies we get in the Bay Area. But recently they “restructructured” and removed Cecil Adams (The Straight Dope), Gina Arnold (a music writer who has been with them for a decade) and Lynda Barry, my favorite cartoonist, whose stuff I’ve been in love with since the mid-80s (it used to be called Ernie Pook’s Comeek). The Express is now next to worthless, and Thursday lunches aren’t what they used to be.
Half a year ago Barry was offering to draw a panel “just for you!” for $25, so Amy and I took her up on it and she sent a panel of Marlys tip-toeing upstairs, and even sent a personal note. We gotta frame that one of these days. Fortunately Salon posts Barry’s strip online each week, so all is not lost.