Executive Meddling/Newspaper Comics

Examples of Executive Meddling in Newspaper Comics include:

Bloom County had this as a favorite target.
Stephan Pastis of Pearls Before Swine has talked about several strips over the years that his syndicate has asked him to change for one reason or another, and he has usually agreed(with the strips in question usually being so edgy that the risk outweighs the reward). In the treasury Pearls Sells Out, Pastis writes about a particular strip that his syndicate wanted changed because it showed the characters drinking beer. Pastis flat-out refused to do so, arguing that he wasn't "gonna keep looking over...[his]...shoulder" every time he submitted a strip and worrying about their attitude. With the exception of a few minor edits, Pastis says that the syndicate has since left him alone and that he understands most other syndicates wouldn't have even published Pearls to begin with.
In the early days of Dilbert, Scott Adams was planning on adding Satan to the strip's cast. The syndicate wouldn't let him, so he ended up creating the character of Phil, Prince of Insufficient Light, the ruler of "Heck". An example of Executive Meddling having good results since even Adams agrees that this was much funnier than his original plan.
- The subject was Played for Laughs in a strip where Dogbert tells a writer to make a few changes to his manuscript so it can be more publishable:

Dogbert: Make the main character a purple dinosaur instead of a detective. Add some upbeat songs and eliminate the murder.
Writer: It's a murder mystery!!
Dogbert: Oh, that's original.

A couple strips of The Perry Bible Fellowship have been removed because they were offensive. (Namely, a strip in which a boy gives a girl a pair if ballerina slippers and the final frame shows her in a wheelchair. Even the author admits it was rather offensive.)
The creator of Luann anticipated this so he made alternate strips concerning one story arc.
Lynn Johnston wanted to end For Better or For Worse in 2008, however she was forced to write more strips because the syndicate(s) didn't want to lose their slots in the papers.

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