“The Far Side” Returns to a Weird World
"Its creator, Gary Larson (no relation!), retired in 1995, after having been syndicated in more than nineteen hundred newspapers and selling more than forty million books."<p>The Newyorker clearly cares a bit about grammar: "its" for ownership - no apostrophe.  Then it goes a bit mad: an awkward comma between creator and Gary.  There are multiple firing solutions here.  You could go in with something like:<p>"Gary Larson (no relation!) retired in 1995.  He was ... etc ...<p>I'm not asking for a return to the strictures of "Usage and Abusage" but I'd like to think that professional journalists are able to stick words on the page without them looking uncomfortable.<p>Prose should flow.  When you write it, why not read it back to yourself.<p>[Cow holding a bow, wearing a 10 gallon hat and saying something unlikely to Rowland. Rowland is a chicken]