'Peters' Pans opens window on cartoonist.

Dayton Daily News readers can't get enough Dayton of Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist Mike Peters. We know that by their letters, their calls, and by the things they say when Mike makes speeches.

Recently, at a Coffee with the Editor meeting, one attendee stood up and said he still gets misty-eyed when he remembers a cartoon Mike drew after a beloved young weather forecaster died of cancer.

The man went on to describe the cartoon in incredible detail, and, as he was talking, people throughout the audience were nodding their heads in agreement. They remembered, too.

The amazing thing is that Gil Whitney died in 1982 -- almost two decades ago. Mike's cartoons really are that memorable. And when he touches a chord, the image seemingly never fades.

It dawned on us one day, that Mike's "outtakes" are often as inspired as his cartoons that we actually publish. And we wondered if there wasn't a way to give those rough drafts the visibility they deserve. If we could do that, we'd be giving our readers a peek into Mike's unusual brain -- and it's a sight everyone should see.

That's how "Peters' Pans" was born. Beginning last spring, Mike started submitting his "rejects," those cartoons that he thinks just aren't quite good enough for his standards. And he has lots of "rejects."

Sometimes he'll draw three or four sketches before he settles on an idea that he's satisfied with. Then on Saturdays, we run three or four of his throwaway sketches. They're published in an unfinished form, which makes the feature all the more interesting. We're giving readers a window into the "cartooning" process.

Mike tells aspiring cartoonists that the way to hone their style is to draw, draw, and then draw some more. He says forcing himself to draw several rough cartoons helps him to focus his thinking and his mighty pen. Now our readers can see for themselves that he really isn't kidding about the noodling, doodling, and agonizing that goes into one cartoon.

Readers love the feature. Mostly, they're amazed. Isn't it enough that the guy has five good ideas in a week?

We had an in-house contest to choose the name for the feature. Mike, who promises never to grow up, giggled at the idea of "Peters' Pans." But there were other great (and some not-so great) submissions. Among the suggestions were:

* Rough Dafts

* Petering Out

* Mike Peters Inks About It

* Mikey Doesn't Like It

The winners -- actually two people made the same suggestion -- got gift certificates and Mike's eternal gratitude.

When it comes to grabbing readers' attention, our editorials can't possibly compete with Mike's cartoons. So rather than even try to prevail in that contest, we decide the surest way to endear ourselves to readers is to give them even more of somebody who is an icon in the community and in his profession.

NCEW member Ellen Belcher is editorial page editor of the Dayton Daily News.