The printing of last Sunday's comics was no laughing matter.

Gone were more than one-third of the strips in our regular lineup ("One Big Happy," "Sally Forth," "Jump Start," "Frazz," "Little Dog Lost," "Pearls Before Swine," "Between Friends," and "Shortcuts") and in their place appeared comics we haven't run on Sunday in nearly five years, such as "Cathy," "B.C.," "Shoe," "Frank and Ernest," "Marvin," "Born Loser," "Uncle Art's Funland," and "The Family Circus," a strip The Advertiser used to run on the front page and still runs on the daily comics page.

Readers wanted to know if we had lost our minds and if not, why hadn't we at least consulted them about the changes.

"When my sister and I saw the new Sunday Comics page, we were shocked and saddened," wrote eighth-grader Hannah Matsunaga. "Not only have you gotten rid of our favorite comic 'Pearls Before Swine,' you've replaced it with new comics that can only be described as NOT FUNNY. In addition, your 'Uncle Art's Funland' seems like it's targeted at 5- to 7-year olds, who I doubt read the newspaper. The Sunday Comics were a wonderful weekly treat, but now I think I'd rather read the obituaries."

John Shen of Kane'ohe wondered "what was with the 'retro' look of the Sunday Comics section this past Sunday. I didn't read anything about it, either before or afterwards. I felt like I was in a time warp."

The retro look goes back to a set of comics we used to pick up years ago. Someone at Western Colorprint out of Denver (which transmits our comics) sent the wrong file, according to Debbra Abeyta, the vice president of operations for Western Colorprint.

At our end, we had no system in place to cross-reference what we are sent to what ends up in the paper. From now on, Western Colorprint will transmit a layout sheet with all the names of the comics so we don't get comics we don't want.

The result is that our comics are back to our normal lineup, which means that for all the "Shoe" and "B.C." and "Cathy" fans out there, you had a week to revel in their return but they won't be coming back.

That's not to say we're never going to replace any of the current strips, but the last time we made changes, in 2003, we did so after thorough discussions and extensive reader input, solicited through your phone calls and e-mails. We said then and we'll repeat it now that we know that the comics page is sacrosanct to many readers and we won't make changes lightly. In fact, strong reader response brought back "Prince Valiant" after we killed him off a few years ago.

But the glitch that brought back our old comics is fixed and if we attempt to change them again, we'll ask you first.

Mark Platte is senior vice president/editor of The Honolulu Advertiser. Reach him at mplatte@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8080.