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Above is the only strip to ever be rejected by my editor at AMU. I thought it was a cute little interaction between Miles and his dad, but my editor was (rightly) concerned with ANY depiction of violence between an adult and a child. That’s the reason we never see evidence of Kevin getting spanked anymore even though the strip takes place in the 80s. Had I made the same strip with Miles and Kevin it probably would have gotten green lit. Unfortunately the gag doesn’t really work as well that way.

I hadn’t planned on the strip ever seeing the light of day but I thought you guys might enjoy this little peek behind the curtain.

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xis

I appreciate you sharing this with us! It's also nice to get a little understanding as to why certain gags no longer make it into the comic. If there ever are rejects in the future sharing them with us would also make for a nice perk.

Brian

For Better or For Worse by Lynn Johnston has a complete book series with commentary of each strip and what reactions she got. The spanking ones got her a lot of hate (the first one is omitted from reruns because Michael is getting a bare butt spanking on panel but she mentions on others how they edited out the pain stars for reprints). She also has one about an anatomically correct snowman gag that her editors didn’t like (Calvin and Hobbes would later do the same gag and I wonder if he got any angry letters?). Zits is another one I find interesting, I wonder how many they’ve had rejected? I know the condom on a pencil one got letters. And of course there’s the infamous Baby Blues one that looked like she was spraying breast milk when the intention was she was spraying it from a bottle. Anyway, what I’m saying is I’m a nerd that lives for this kind of stuff so please keep posting it.

Amy Frushour Kelly

Funny and in character, but definitely right to reject. I'm glad you've had just one reject!

Yer pal Mikey

As Mickey Dolenz said in an episode, "I can't believe you can't say 'H3LL' on television." Yes, it was bleeped, which was both the joke and the point. Or, as Krusty the Clown pointed out ironically, "Remember, kids, violence is fine, BUT DON'T SHOW A NIPPLE!"

D. G.

When would this have run

Dee Fish

While I certainly can see why this one was rejected... it is also SOOOOOO relatable. I'm not saying that this exact thing HAPPENED to. me... but I'm also not saying that it didn't. lol

Marcus Kaeso

I'd noticed Kevin getting spanked got dropped from comic, but hadn't connected it to you getting picked-up (congratulations again BTW). The divorce plotline was happening around the same time so I assumed, probably intentionally, that Kevin's dad had been the one who favored that punishment and that his mom was trying other things.