Best Development to Come Out of the News-Post Joint Operating Agreement

Quit the funny business! The newspaper war's over, and the terms of the settlement make readers the undisputed victors in one area: comics. Come April, the Denver Post will boast the largest Sunday comics section in the country, since it's adding the Rocky Mountain News's former lineup to its own on that day. (The News will return the favor by running the Post's comics on Saturday -- but those aren't the big, four-color Sunday funnies.) You might not give a hoot about Willy 'n' Ethel, much less that fusspot Nancy. But for many readers, comic strips are the most important part of their Sunday paper -- and they complain long and hard whenever the dailies fool around with them. Now, though, it won't be a matter of one paper stealing Garfield from the other -- they'll share weekend custody of the curmudgeonly cat. But since the Post won the right to print the town's only Sunday rag, that's where you'll find the lollapalooza of laughs -- everything from A (Annie, Little Orphan) to Z (Zippy the Pinhead). It's double the pleasure, double the funnies.