How about animated cartoons? Cutting-edge cartoons have script, storyboard.

When younger readers are inclined to get their political fix from John Stewart of The Daily Show or from blogs and Google, the future readership of editorial pages is threatened. Fortunately, newspapers are aware of this predicament and devote increasing resources to online versions of their news product.

But unfortunately, and all too frequently, these sites consist merely of repackaged material from the print side. If the newspaper employs an editorial cartoonist--declining trend--it's likely that the daily cartoon appears on the website among the opinion pieces. That's great. But what's the difference to the young reader whether he views the cartoon in newsprint or on the screen?

The attraction of the Web, in large part, lies in its graphics. Motion, sound, color, and interactivity set it apart from its print sibling.

It's time for animated editorial cartoons.

In fact, animated political toons have been part of the Web ever since bandwidth would allow. Early efforts consisted mostly of adding a bell or a whistle to an existing, static drawing. The problem here is that the original cartoon was conceived as a single image and not designed as a dynamic piece: the difference between a snapshot and a film clip.

A new approach was required: script and storyboard: a tiny movie.

One of the successful pioneers in animated editorial cartooning is Bill Mitchell, whose work appears on CNN's website, cnn.com/ALLPOLITICS. When a large chunk of disk space and plug-ins were more of an issue than they are today, Mitchell solved these problems with GIF animations that require neither.

Working alone, he's maintained an output of three cartoons per week since 1995. His work is not far removed from standard editorial cartooning. His drop-shadow characters seem to leap from the screen, as in a recent piece with two jockeys astride a snail with the face of John Kerry.

In a word balloon, the first one says, "Remember, he's a good closer" The second rider replies, "I smell drawn butter and garlic"

Mitchell occasionally employs Java-scripted rollovers to give the viewer interactive choices in the outcome of the storyline.

Another former newspaper cartoonist, Mark Fiore, MarkFiore.com, works exclusively in Flash. He is among the first on the Web to bring something approaching classic cell animation with lip-synched dialog, music, and sound effects, to editorial cartoons. Production time is longer for Fiore, who also works solo. He puts out one to two clips per week for his regular clients, most of whom are online newspapers and magazines.

Just after the Olympics, Fiore satirized the GOP convention with "The Republican Games," which included "freestyle victim exploitation," "synchronized moderation;' and the "100-meter platform dive" in which gays are shoved from the podium.

More elaborate political animations are making the Internet rounds. JibJab Media's hot product of the summer months, "This Land," was a take-off on Woody Guthrie's folk song with George Bush and John Kerry swapping choruses and with cameos from Howard Dean and Arnold Schwarzenegger (jibjab.com). But to look at the credits on this and other long-form pieces is to drive home the fact that topicality is usually trumped by complexity.

Don Asmussen of the San Francisco Chronicle (see BAD REPORTER three times a week at SFGate.com/opinion) has fashioned intricate and innovative pieces that still retain newsworthiness. As creator and director, Asmussen has worked with a small crew from Mondo Media to crank out one animation per week. Each episode of his "Like News" series runs upwards of three minutes and recalls the edgy approach of 1960s

Underground Comix. He says, "I like to goof on pop culture, movies and music videos, then run them into politics:' His "al-Qaeda Recruiting Video" has a distinct PG-13 flavor (dontoons.com).

Asmussen's material appeals to the exact audience that newspapers are losing.

So what is an online newspaper to do, especially in these less-than-profitable times for Internet ventures?

Wait it out. Eventually, the revenue streams will return and online papers will be able to hire artists such as these or their own talent to create branded material. The good times will come again and the younger readers will follow.

As it happens, Bill Mitchell knows exactly when that moment will arrive: "The day I throw in the towel, it all turns around."

Watch his space.

Mike Keefe, the editorial cartoonist for The Denver Post, has created animated work for television and the Internet since the early 1990s. His work is distributed by Cagle Cartoons. E-mail [e-mail]