Two reasons to subscribe to your daily newspaper

Who said the daily newspaper is dying? Well, this guy, for one. But nevertheless, comic fans have two really good reasons to start picking up a paper again in 2006.

Reason #1: Starting Jan. 8, manga comic strip Peach Fuzz will debut in newspapers like the Los Angeles Times and The Seattle Post-Intelligencer. Universal Press Syndicate also is offering Van Von Hunter. Both strips, drawn by Americans, come from manga publisher TOKYOPOP Inc.

TOKYOPOP founder Stuart Levy acknowledges that manga is not yet as popular in the USA as it is in Japan, but he expects that will change soon. "It's like sushi," he says from Japan. "There's a pretty good chance everyone has heard of sushi. "In a few years, everyone will know about manga."

Reason #2: Next summer many papers will start carrying reprints of Amazing Spider-Man, starting with issue #1 from 1963:

"In a time of fragmented interests and attention spans, advertisers see this as a unique opportunity to reach both parents and their children, who have a significant influence on family buying decisions," said Paul V. Carlucci, chairman and CEO of News America Marketing, in a statement.

The circulation for the Spider-Man series will be 10 million across metro markets. Each original book will be split in two, published on consecutive weeks, with 46 publication dates a year. News America Marketing's network includes about 1,100 newspapers.