While the management is upgrading the look and feel of the website a bit in order to lure more punters into the joint and part them from their doubloons, is it at all possible to upgrade the quality of the retina-thrashing cartoons that grace the home page? De gustibus and all that, but they are baboon-startlingly ugly well beyond the point of being downright off-putting. I know the present illustrator has been doing them for a while, and his sub-Robert Crumb stylings may have had a certain hemp-scented charm in a free local rag back in 1973, but 36 years later they should be decently interred in a none-too-salubrious ditch somewhere, preferably under a decomposing tramp to prevent the casual passer-by from investigating too closely, instead of continuing to scorch corneas on the entrance to the site.
I would estimate the chance of the Dope separating itself from Slug to be roughly equivalent to, oh, say, the chance of me becoming the illustrator. 
I suspect Slug’s response would be along these lines.
You can have our Slug when you can pry him from our cold, slimy hands.
Squee! A whole archive of Sluggy goodness! 
Oh, and to the OP, your opinion is not concordant with mine. 
JRB
Slug and his illustrations are a fundamental part of the Straight Dope.
He’s going to smear that on his CV, you know.
I have no idea what you’re going on about. Slug’s illustrations positively tickle my corneas. Either that or its conjunctivitis.
No way in Hell. I love those cartoons. They are 50% of the reason to go to that page.
Is this turning into a referendum? I loathe them.
If Slug leaves, so do I.
My favorite, which always makes me giggle.
Huh. Those of us who dislike him would probably point to the exact same one (that’s just nasty).
Sometimes (not often) I think they’re clever or funny, but always I think they’re ugly. Slug Signorino’s stylistic choice is one I have always found repulsive.
This column has my favorite Slug illustration.
Oh c’mon, that’s just vile as well as ugly: is splashing that on the entrance page meant to attract people? I submit that anyone posting a link to an image like that in a thread would be summarily warned not to do it again.
This.
On behalf of illustrator Slug Signorino, let me say thank you, Scissorjack. This is high praise indeed.
Ha!
If it repels whiners and prudes, I’d say Slug earned his keep.