Sunday bucketful marks a milestone in the comics world. That's when Lynn Johnston ends her 29-year run of actively telling the story of the Patterson family via her popular comic strip, "For Better or For Worse."

Through the years, Johnston has stretched the boundaries of issues typically taken up within a daily strip, most notably with the death of the family's Old English sheepdog, Farley, and the controversial outing of the Lawrence Poirier gay character in 1993.

But "For Better or For Worse" also has suffered from its "real-time" approach that has drawn heavily from Johnston's own family experiences. Her family has grown up. Thus, almost most a year ago, "For Better or Worse" shifted to a mix of old and new strips, giving the 61-year-old creator a chance to work through health problems and do some traveling.

As of Sunday, even that era ends.

The Pantagraph, then, is giving you, the readers, a chance to select a replacement. We'll run three acclaimed strips for two weeks each, then give you a chance to vote for your favorite.

Here's the lineup, starting on Monday's comics page:

Mutts (runs Sept. 1-14)

Patrick McDonnell created Mutts in 1994, and it now appears in more than 700 newspapers and 20 countries. McDonnell has received numerous awards for this strip, including the National Cartoonists Society's highest honor, The Reuben, for Cartoonist of the Year, five Harvey Awards for Best Comic Strip, Germany's Max and Moritz Award for Best International Comic Strip, and the Swedish Academy of Comic Art's Adamson Statuette.

The main characters in Mutts are a loveable pup named Earl and Mooch, a cat that lives next door.

DeFlocked (runs Sept. 15-28)

DeFlocked is about four outcasts who are forced to coexist on a centuries-old farm. Behind the hay bales and fertilizer lies a secret animal preserve for displaced and disenchanted pets, including Mamet, a self-absorbed sheep. Mamet's outlandish behavior meets its reckoning with Cobb, the mature, sensible dog. Cobb's clueless brother Rupert burns with sunny optimism, which contrasts with the dark, semi-twisted antics of Tucker, the human boy they are raising as one of their own.

DeFlocked is a 21st century take on the legendary sitcoms of our time. The comic is a contemporary family strip that blends the dynamic relationship comedy of TV classic "All in the Family" with a Seinfeld-like outlook on the human condition. Its creator is Jeff Corriveau, who has written for many television shows, including "Saturday Night Live," "Talk Soup" and "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno."

Tundra (runs Sept. 29-Oct. 12)

Tundra is the invention of Alaskan Chad Carpenter and it's often been dubbed "the next Far Side." Though it has only been in syndication for two years, it already appears in 200 newspapers and won this year's Reuben Award (cartoonists' equivalent of Academy Awards) for Best Newspaper Panel.

Here's Carpenter's own description of the strip: "Consisting of anything animal, vegetable or mineral but with a decidedly outdoorsy slant, Tundra takes an offbeat view of the woodsy side of life. Whether its outhouses, chainsaws, fishing or something a bit more metropolitan, everything is always in season."