PD dropping Derf strip

The Plain Dealer is dropping Richfield native and Ohio State University graduate John Backderf’s comic strip, “The City.” The strip has run in more than 100 newspapers.

Derf’s Facebook post:

John Backderf

Well, just got word from the managing editor of the Cleveland Plain Dealer that next Monday's strip will be the last. The section where my strip appears is being eliminated. I guess this means the layoffs and end of home delivery are about to happen as well. Good times.

I’ve enjoyed my run in the PD. Lasted almost two full years.

It’s an unwelcome financial blow, so I’ll have to scramble to find other revenue. I have some things in the works, but it looks to be a pretty lean rest of the year until I pull these book proposals together and land another deal.

Derf was a staff artist-cartoonist for the Plain Dealer from 1986-89 and for the Akron Beacon Journal from 1990-1999. He was more awards than you can shake a stick at, local and national. 

Derf is married to Sheryl Harris, a former BJ reporter who became a business writer at the Plain Dealer.

Word is that one-third the remaining PD newsroom staff will be axed within the week.