Comics pages making room for guests.

Byline: Mark Johnson Features editor, The Register-Guard

What better time than the new year to introduce a change to The Register-Guard's comics pages?

Today, we launch a ``guest comic'' feature along with an online reader forum.

We've designated a position on our comics pages for a guest strip, a place where we can test new comics on a rotating basis.

You'll find our first guest comic - "Mother Goose & Grimm" - atop the right-hand column of our first page of daily comics (Page B3 today). A new comic will be rotated into that position every two months for at least six months, and perhaps longer depending on how well our readers enjoy the feature. The two-month test periods will give our readers a good sample of the storylines and humor each strip has to offer.

In addition, readers can go to our new online forum to share their thoughts about the guest comics and our comics lineup in general. Find the forum at www.registerguard.com/comics.

If enough readers submit a positive response to a guest comic, we'll consider making the strip a permanent resident on our pages.

How did we make room for the guest comic? Fans of "Foxtrot" won't be happy, but please don't blame us. The creator of "Foxtrot" has decided to cut back and produce his strip only for Sunday publication. The Register-Guard will continue to publish "Foxtrot" on Sundays. But a spot is now free on the daily black-and-white comics pages.

We'll test "Mother Goose & Grimm" through March 3. Created by award-winning cartoonist Mike Peters, the strip features the adventures of Grimmy, a rebel who does what polite society frowns upon with a trademark toothy smile. Grimmy's long-suffering caretaker is Mother Goose.

Our second guest comic will be "Lio," an offbeat and somewhat dark strip that features an odd little boy (think "Addams Family" with a little ``Calvin & Hobbes'' thrown in). It will debut March 5.

Our online forum will offer a way for you to discuss comics with us and other readers. You can also suggest future guest comics. But, ideally, we'd like readers to wait until they've seen a few weeks of each guest comic before passing judgment. We'll publish a reminder about where readers can access our online forum during the final week of each testing period.

Readers without Internet access may send their opinions via U.S. mail. Send comments to Features editor Mark Johnson, The Register-Guard, P.O. Box 10188, Eugene OR, 97440-2188.

We hope you enjoy the new guest comics and join our conversation in the Web forum.