At the Elephant!

Just thought I'd toss out this interview with Berkeley Breathed about the end of Opus:

http://www.salon.com/books/feature/2008/10/18/opus/

I've only been reading it online for the past few months--I can't recall what kept me away from Bloom County as a kid, it may have been too risque to be reading around the house--but in my mind, it's the last survivor of the iconic newspaper comics of my youth (Garfield having something of a "walking dead" feel for some time now). This may be nostalgia, or it may have something to do with a phenomenon Breathed points out here:

The very, absolute last comic strip characters destined to become true household words across America were invented 23 years ago: Calvin & Hobbes. There are and will be no more new ones.

That's a technology and cultural issue. Not a talent issue.

It does seem to be the new media trend... Are we trading a market of cultural icons for a more diverse market of creative freedoms and niche audiences? Is that a step up, or a step down? (my guess: both)