So, after seven years of plying their trade with tireless optimism, The Pitchers are retiring from The Guardian. Today's strip, in the Film and Music section, is the final episode, newspaper budget cuts having taken their toll. Taking them elsewhere, doing a book … We're not sure what we'll do with them in the future. I wasn't prepared for how hard it is to kill off cartoon characters, but after living with them in my head for so long, perhaps it shouldn't come as a surprise. So I'm glad to say we decided not to drop a piano on them, or lose them in the Creative Vacuum – but to end just as things began: with a good (ie awful) idea for a movie. Thanks for sticking with them through thick and thin. We'll let you know when they finally hit Tinseltown heights. PW
They have always seemed to me to have a life beyond what we wrote and drew, corny as that may sound. I mentioned this at the time, but when we were in LA in 2007 I kept expecting to see Chet and Foley come walking round a corner, or sitting in Greenblats Deli discussing a script. Maybe they're better off without us. Maybe we were holding them back. I'll look out for their screen credits. JB
