[T]he call I really dislike is the one from a total or near-total stranger who is searching for a talented professional writer or artist who will work for free. Years ago, when I was the President of C.A.P.S. (the Comic Art Professional Society), I used to get this call with reference to cartoonists — and about as often as I got my mail. I still get it every month or so.

The caller is never someone who is in or around the comic strip business. They have, however, not just an idea for a new strip, but The All-Time Greatest Idea Ever for a new strip.

Not only that but someone at one of the syndicates — they can't tell me who or which syndicate, of course — has told them that this is, indeed, a sure-fire winner. It is "absolutely guaranteed," not only to sell to a syndicate but to every single newspaper this side of the Christian Science Monitor. The strip is invariably described as "the next Peanuts" or "the next Garfield" and all they need is a cartoonist who will draw up some samples of their idea and not be so unreasonable as to expect money…