From The Comics Journal 121, April 1988

NEWSPAPER VIOLATES DOONESBURY CONTRACT

The Central New Jersey Home News newspaper was recently forced to run Garry Trudeau's Doonesbury comic strip at a larger size due to a Comics Jounal reader's watchful eye. Trudeau has insisted, with the backing of his syndicate Universal Press, that Doonesbury be printed in newspapers at 44 picas (approximately 7 1/4 inches across), as opposed to the industry minimum size of 38 picas (6 1/4 inches). Journal #117 printed a speech by Trudeau on the subject which caught the eye of Bob Pinaha, a letterer for DC Comics and Comico. Pinaha noticed that his local paper the Home News, had changed Doonesbury's format from 44 picas to the same 38 pica size that the rest of the comics run at. The change had come to make room for new comic strips the Home News was carrying. In late December Pinaha wrote to Trudeau about the contract violation in care of Universal Press Syndicate. Shortly thereafter the syndicate took action and Doonesbury returned to its larger size in the Home News. Pinaha received a letter, dated February 12, 1988, from Richard A. Hughes, editor of the Home News, which read in its entirety:

Dear Bob:
Tattletale.

Pinaha also received from Hughes a copy of a letter to John P. McMeel, president of Universal Press Syndicate. In the letter Hughes explained to McMeel that Doonesbury's size had been reduced to make space for Calvin and Hobbes and a special strip commemorating the bicentennial of the US Constitution. Hughes wrote that Doonesbury would have returned to its full size when the Constitution feature ended.