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We never thought we'd see the day: Effective September 18, a weekly comic strip will appear in The New York Times.

In fairness, it won't be "The Family Circus" — although we'd be intrigued to see that hilarious dotted line showing just how Jeffy got himself there — but an appropriately highbrow offering, a six-month serial by graphic novelist Chris Ware. (Other series, penned exclusively and originally for the Times, will follow.) It's part of a new section in the Times Magazine, to be called "The Funny Pages," which will also include humorous essays and serialized fiction, with the first story written by Elmore Leonard.

Of course, our favorite bit of humor in this whole announcement is the claim that the Leonard story will be the paper's first foray into fiction. Messrs. Blair and Finkel — hell, even Mr. Duranty — might beg to differ.

UPDATE (including some — godforbid — original reporting): We're told the new section will be edited by John ("Little Gray Books") Hodgman, which makes us think perhaps we should have bothered to read about that "androgynous, Nina Simone-loving downtown cult artist" on Sunday.

UPDATE to the UPDATE: Hodgman himself emails, letting us know we're mistaken. He is working on only one part of The Funny Pages, the humorous essays. Apologies to any graphic novelists who emailed him pitches.

Full press release after the jump.

THE NEW YORK TIMES MAGAZINE ANNOUNCES
"THE FUNNY PAGES" AND MAKES FIRST FORAY INTO FICTION

NEW YORK, September 6, 2005 - A comic strip, a humor column and a Sunday serial of fiction will appear each week in "The Funny Pages," a new 10-page section making its debut September 18 in The New York Times Magazine. The section will offer The Magazine's audience a new reading experience that complements "The Way We Live Now," the style section and the signature reportage for which The Magazine is known.

"The Funny Pages is our own take on the traditional Sunday paper funny pages," says Gerald Marzorati, editor, The New York Times Magazine. "We wanted a place in our pages for genre fiction - mysteries, detective stories, and the like - which is having a particularly vibrant moment in popular culture just now. And we wanted to make a place for the work of those creating narrative comics and graphic novels, a great new art form. We wanted to publish humor - narrative, memoirish humor. And most of all we wanted to give our readers some new things that would bring a smile to their faces each Sunday morning, and our youngest readers a go-to destination when the paper arrives."

"The Funny Pages" include:

"The Sunday Serial" - In the most ambitious feature of the new section, "The Sunday Serial" marks the first foray by The Times Magazine into fiction with approximately 14 weekly installments of an original, commissioned work. Best-selling author Elmore Leonard, whose highly acclaimed novels include "Get Shorty," "Freaky Deaky" and "Tishomingo Blues," launches the first serial.

"The Strip" - Stars of the graphic novel create serialized comic strips exclusively for Times Magazine readers. Each week's full-page color-strip features one self-contained story, and each strip will run for approximately six months. Chris Ware, whose best-selling graphic novel, "Jimmy Corrigan: The Smartest Kid on Earth," has won numerous literary prizes, will create the first strip. It tells the story of a young girl and her adventures in her apartment house.

"True-Life Tales" - A new column showcasing the best young humor writers who tell hilariously true stories about everyday family life and societal trends. The Magazine will draw on top writers from the world of late-night television, public radio's "This American Life" and elsewhere.

If readers miss an installment of "The Sunday Serial" or want to catch up on "The Strip," or the humor column, "The Funny Pages" will be available on NYTimes.com.

The New York Times Magazine ranked second in 2004 among all PIB (Publishers Information Bureau) measured magazines for total ad pages. Its regular contributors include Lynn Hirschberg, Michael Lewis, Jeffrey Rosen, Matt Bai, James Traub, Michael Ignatieff, James Bennet, Lisa Belkin, Peter Maass and Susan Dominus.

The New York Times Company (NYSE: NYT), a leading media company with 2004 revenues of $3.3 billion, includes The New York Times, the International Herald Tribune, The Boston Globe, 15 other daily newspapers, eight network-affiliated television stations, two New York City radio stations and 35 Web sites, including NYTimes.com, Boston.com and About.com. For the fifth consecutive year, the Company was ranked No. 1 in the publishing industry in Fortune's 2005 list of America's Most Admired Companies. The Company's core purpose is to enhance society by creating, collecting and distributing high-quality news, information and entertainment.

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