DECATUR - They're ageless, (usually) funny and downright charming. And when some area residents heard their favorites could be in danger, the Herald & Review was flooded with several thousand responses about who should stay and who should go. The results of the comics survey are in, and the daily funnies page is in for a change.

Readers voted, via mail and online, for their favorites to keep and dump among the 17 strips in the daily paper. But the ballot format didn't stop them from jotting notes in the margins or simply drawing an angry black X through their least favorite.

Two strips attracted the most vehement response and votes to dump them - "Cathy" and "Get Fuzzy." They were, by popular opinion, on the survey's losing end. So starting Monday, they each will be replaced by two new strips in two-week trials.

"Pickles," a strip centered on the life of retiree Earl and his wife, Opal, along with their quirky family and friends, and "Loose Parts," a wacky observational strip about life, work and everything in between, will be the first ones on trial.

Pana resident Thelma Koontz, 78, reads the comics section every day and voted in the survey.

"I look at the funnies, and then I look at the obituaries," she said.

Her favorite is "For Better or For Worse." She likes it so much, in fact, that she reads it first to find out what's going on in the lives of the Patterson family.

"It just makes you feel like it's the way things happen in real life," Koontz said of the strip. "It's not just the funny papers. It's things you really get a kick out of."

Her other favorites are "Blondie" and "Jump Start." She voted to get rid of "Dilbert," "Frank & Ernest," "Get Fuzzy" and "Ziggy."

"I don't care that much for 'Frank & Ernest,' " said Koontz, a retired flower shop employee. "It's OK."

"Get Fuzzy" must be for a younger generation, Koontz added, because the humor just doesn't appeal to her.

Ben McRill, 78, of Sullivan said he has read the comics every morning since he retired, and in his opinion, "Beetle Bailey" might be the best one.

"It's about as far from the truth as you can get, which makes it funny," said McRill, who was in the Army in the '50s. "Anybody that's been in the Army knows that that's a real cartoon."

Ruth Smith, 46, of Charleston is another daily comics reader. Her favorite is the "The Dinette Set," which appears in the Charleston Times-Courier. Smith said she saves it to read last.

Smith has been clipping the funniest comics every day to send in her 14-year-old daughter Rebekah's lunch, since she was in fourth grade. Smith said Rebekah's teachers and friends come up to her at lunchtime to share a good laugh.

"Usually I clip out 'Zits,' " Smith said. "That's my second favorite one. That's my daughter's favorite."

And Smith said Jeremy, the main character of "Zits," reminds her of her 16-year-old son, Aaron. Jeremy's huge tennis shoes, giant appetite and tendency to daydream are aspects that remind her of Aaron.

"It makes me relate to my son better," Smith said of the comic.

Although Smith is an intense comics fan, she still has strips she just doesn't care for.

"That one is just so dumb," Smith said of "Ziggy." "I just look at it and think, 'that wasn't really funny.' "

And as for the carb-counting, neurotic, bathing-suit-shopping Cathy?

"It used to be funny before she got married, but now it's just so boring," Smith said.

Adults were not the only ones to weigh in on their favorites. Ethan Edwards, 9, of Decatur said he loves "Garfield" because the orange lasagna fiend is funny and kicks his pal Odie off the table.

"And he's a lovable cat," Ethan added.

Ethan's other favorites are "Blondie," "Beetle Bailey," "Peanuts," and sometimes "Ziggy" and "Family Circus."

He said "Beetle Bailey" reminds him of his dad's job - Shad Edwards is a master sergeant for the Illinois State Police. Ethan said getting fun, laughter or a joke in some people's lives is important, and comic strips can do that.

"It's something that people can look forward to," he said.

Other children agreed the comics brighten their mornings.

"It's just something funny in the morning that you can wake up to," said Emily Scott, 11, of Bethany.

She added that reading the strips gives her imagination a boost.

"I draw comics myself," she said. "I like to read them to learn."

Emily has been drawing her own comics in a notebook for several years. They are primarily about her life and what she imagines her brother, Nathan, 15, will be like when he grows up. In her drawings, he has children and works at a restaurant.

Paul Quick, 81, of Atwood reads the paper all the way through every day, including the comics. His favorites, he said, are the old ones he's been reading for years. He skips over the newer ones.

"I like to see comedy in a lot of things or things that are true to life, and some of these represent that to me," Quick said. "I think sometimes just reading them gives us a break from everyday life."

Many readers agreed that the comics are a simple pleasure in life that people often overlook.

"If people just stopped and looked at the little things, I'm sure there's plenty out there to look at," Koontz said.

Annie Getsinger can be reached at agetsinger@herald-review.com or 421-6968.