Aren't the Comics Supposed to Make You Laugh?

I love to read the paper. It's my favorite routine of the day. Read the news of the city, state and world while working my way to the section that includes the puzzles and the comics.

I'm partial to the older comics like Peanuts or Family Circus. I enjoy Zits because there is still a teenage boy in my life. Bizarro makes me laugh out loud almost every day. That's the reaction I want to have when I'm reading the funnies. My local paper moved Dilbert to the business section and Doonesbury to the editorials.

So what is up with Funky Winkerbean? Cancer, rehab, hospice, finding a child given up for adoption... The ill woman in the strip died this morning. This is not appropriate for the comics page -- we can all find this reality in daily life.

I have no idea what's going on in this writer's head. I can only imagine it's personal and tragic. But, it doesn't belong in the comics.