Sale of comic strips to newspapers
A
comic strip syndicate
functions as an agent for
cartoonists
and
comic strip
creators, placing the cartoons and strips in as many newspapers as possible on behalf of the artist. A syndicate can annually receive thousands of submissions, from which only two or three might be selected for representation. In some cases, the work will be owned by the syndicate as opposed to the creator. The
Guinness World Record
for the world's most syndicated strip belongs to
Jim Davis
'
Garfield
, which at that point (2002) appeared in 2,570 newspapers, with 263 million readers worldwide.
[1]
As of 2017, the leading strip syndicates are
Andrews McMeel Syndication
,
King Features Syndicate
, and
Creators Syndicate
, with the
Tribune Content Agency
and
The Washington Post Writers Group
also in the running. Andrews McMeel syndicates more than 150 comic strips and news features. Andrews McMeel also owns and operates
GoComics
, a website featuring comic strips currently syndicated by Andrews McMeel, as well as discontinued titles such as
Calvin and Hobbes
,
The Boondocks
, and
Bloom County
; webcomics such as
Pibgorn
and
Kliban
; plus a selection of syndicated comic strips from
Creators Syndicate
and
Tribune Content Agency
. King Features syndicates 150 comic strips, newspaper columns, editorial cartoons, puzzles and games to nearly 5,000 newspapers worldwide. Creators syndicates close to 60 strips and 20 editorial cartoonists.
Strip submissions
[
edit
]
In
Syd Hoff
's
The Art of Cartooning
,
King Features Syndicate
comics editor
Sylvan Byck
, who served in that position for more than 25 years, observed that King Features received more than a thousand strip proposals annually, but chose only one each year. Byck offered some tips regarding strip submissions, including the creation of central characters with warmth and charm and the avoidance of "themes that are too confining," as he explained:
Although characterization is the most important element of a comic, the cartoonist also must cope with the problem of choosing a theme for his new strip. What will it be about? Actually, it is possible to do a successful comic strip about almost anything or anybody if the writing and drawing are exactly right for the chosen subject. In general, though, it is best to stay away from themes that are too confining. If you achieve your goal of
syndication
, you want your strip to last a long time. You don't want to run out of ideas after a few weeks or months. In humor strips, it is better to build around a character than around a job. For example, it is possible to do some very funny comic strip gags about a taxi driver. But a strip that is limited to taxi driver gags is bound to wear thin pretty fast. I'd rather see a strip about a warmly funny man who just happens to earn his living as a cabbie and whose job is only a minor facet of his potential for inspiring gags. Narrative strips can be and often are based on the central character's job. For example, the basis of a private eye strip is the work he does. But even here the strip will only be as successful as the characterization in it. The big question is: what kind of a man is this particular private eye?
[2]
Of the strips that successfully reach syndication, only about one-quarter survive longer than a year or two.
[3]
Contracts and creator ownership
[
edit
]
Historically, syndicates
owned the creators' work
? the name, characters, and likenesses ? enabling them to continue publishing the strip after the original creator retired, left the strip, or died. An early example of this practice was
Rudolph Dirks
' hugely successful comic strip,
The Katzenjammer Kids
, which first appeared in print in 1897. In 1912, Dirks challenged publisher
William Randolph Hearst
for ownership rights to his comic strip, and ultimately Hearst prevailed.
[4]
This practice led to "legacy strips" (or more pejoratively "
zombie strips
") ? strips taken over by other creators ? which are often criticized as lacking the "spark" that originally made the strip successful. Most syndicates signed creators to ten- or even twenty-year contracts. (There have been exceptions, however, such as
Bud Fisher
's
Mutt and Jeff
being an early ? if not the earliest ? case in which the creator retained ownership of his work from the outset.)
Milton Caniff
was another of several important cartoonists who had tried unsuccessfully to secure rights to their creations. In 1946, he walked away from the enormously popular
Terry and the Pirates
comic strip because his
syndicate
insisted that they own his creation. In 1947 Caniff created
Steve Canyon
because
Marshall Field III
, who owned
Field Newspaper Syndicate
, allowed him to own the rights to his comic strip.
[5]
Also in 1947, according to publisher
Denis Kitchen
,
Al Capp
, creator of the hugely popular
Li'l Abner
, "sued
United Feature Syndicate
for $14 million, publicly embarrassed UFS in
Li'l Abner
, and wrested ownership and control of his creation the following year."
[6]
Changing syndicates
[
edit
]
Most strips stay with the same syndicate over the course of their run (not counting instances where syndicates merge with each other, are acquired, or change names). Over the years, however, for various reasons, a few notable strips changed syndicates.
AP Newsfeatures
closed down in 1961 and
McNaught Syndicate
closed down in 1989, prompting a number of strips to end their runs or move to other syndicates. Sometimes ? as in the case of strips like
The World's Greatest Superheroes
or
Poor Arnold's Almanac
? a strip took a long hiatus and when it returned to syndication it was with a new company.
A watershed moment came in early 1987, when
Creators Syndicate
was born in response to
King Features
' acquisition of
News America Syndicate
and the resulting consolidation of strip syndication. After Creators was founded,
Milton Caniff
sent Creators founder
Richard S. Newcombe
a postcard saying, "To put it on the record: Hooray!!!"
[7]
Pulitzer Prize
-winning cartoonist
Mike Peters
told
Editor & Publisher
magazine, "It's long overdue that syndicates realize a new day is here. Indentured servitude went out in the 1500s."
Johnny Hart
, creator of
B.C.
and
The Wizard of Id
, called Creators "a history-making venture in syndication."
Bil Keane
, creator of
The Family Circus
, described Creators Syndicate as "the first breath of fresh air the syndicates have had in 100 years of existence."
[8]
A number of prominent strips moved from King Features (and News America) to the independent company Creators.
The following is a list of notable comic strips that, for various reasons, changed syndicates:
- Andy Capp
? Publishers-Hall Syndicate (1957?1975), Field Newspaper Syndicate/News America Syndicate (1975?c. 1987), Creators Syndicate (c. 1987?present)
- B.C.
? New York Herald Tribune Syndicate (1958?1966),
[9]
Publishers Syndicate
[10]
/ Publishers-Hall Syndicate / Field Newspaper Syndicate / News America Syndicate / North America Syndicate
[11]
(1967?1987), Creators Syndicate (1987
[12]
?present)
- Bizarro
? Chronicle Features (1985?1995), Universal Press Syndicate (1995?2003), King Features Syndicate (2003?present)
[13]
- The Bungle Family
? McClure Newspaper Syndicate (1919?1924), McNaught Syndicate (1924?1942), Self-syndicated (1943?1945)
- For Better or For Worse
? Universal Press Syndicate (1979?1997,
[14]
2004?present), United Feature Syndicate (1997?2004)
- The Dinette Set
? King Features (1997?c. 2006), Creators Syndicate (c. 2006 ? Jan. 2010), United Feature Syndicate (May 2010?Nov. 29, 2015)
- Foxy Grandpa
? New York Herald, W.R. Hearst, American-Journal-Examiner, Publishers Press (C.J. Mar), Associated Newspapers, New York Press, New York Herald (again), Philadelphia Bulletin
- Fred Basset
? Hall Syndicate / Publishers-Hall Syndicate (1960s?1975), Field Newspaper Syndicate (1975?1984), King Features Syndicate, Tribune Media Services, Universal Press Syndicate (2001?2009), Andrews McMeel Syndication (2009?present)
[15]
- Garfield
? United Feature Syndicate (1978?1993), Universal Press Syndicate (1994?present)
- Grin and Bear It
?
Chicago Times Syndicate
, United Feature Syndicate, Field Enterprises, Publishers-Hall Syndicate, News America Syndicate, North America Syndicate
[15]
- Heathcliff
? McNaught Syndicate (1973?1988), Creators Syndicate (1988?present)
- Li'l Abner
? United Feature Syndicate (1933?1964), Chicago Tribune New York News Syndicate (1964?1977)
[16]
- Loose Parts
? Los Angeles Times Syndicate (1998?2000), Tribune Media Services (2000?2014), The Washington Post Writers Group, (2014?2022) Andrews McMeel Syndication (2022?present)
[17]
- Mark Trail
? New York Post Syndicate, Post-Hall Syndicate, Hall Syndicate, Publishers-Hall Syndicate, Field Enterprises, News America Syndicate, North America Syndicate
[15]
- Miss Peach
? New York Herald Tribune (1957?1966), Publisher Syndicate / Field Newspaper Syndicate / News America Syndicate (1966?1986), Creators Syndicate (1987?2002)
- Momma
? Publishers-Hall (1970?1987), Creators Syndicate (1987?2016)
- Mother Goose and Grimm
? Tribune Media Services (1984?2002), King Features (2003?present)
[18]
- Mutt and Jeff
? King Features Syndicate (1907?1915), Wheeler Syndicate (1915-1916), Bell Syndicate (1916?c. 1944), Field Newspaper Syndicate (c. 1944?1983)
- Napoleon and Uncle Elby
? LaFave Newspaper Features (1932?1952), Mirror Enterprises Syndicate (1952?1961)
- Reg'lar Fellers
? Bell Syndicate (1917?1924), George Matthew Adams Service (1924?1929),
[19]
King Features (1929?1942), Associated Newspapers (1942?1949)
[20]
- Sherman's Lagoon
? Creators Syndicate (1991?1997), King Features Syndicate (1997?present)
- Shoe
? Tribune Media Services (1977?2008), King Features Syndicate (2008?present)
[21]
- Steve Canyon
? Field Enterprises, Sun and Times Company, Publishers Syndicate, Publishers-Hall Syndicate, Field Enterprises, News America Syndicate, North America Syndicate
[15]
- Tumbleweeds
? Lew Little Enterprises (1965-1967), Register & Tribune Syndicate (1967?1972), King Features Syndicate (1972-1977), United Feature Syndicate (1977-1980), Field Enterprises (1980-1984), News America Syndicate (1984-1986), North America Syndicate (1986-2007)
- Wee Pals
? Lew Little Enterprises (1965), Register and Tribune Syndicate (1965-1970s), King Features, United Feature Syndicate, Field Enterprises / News America Syndicate / North America Syndicate, Creators Syndicate (1980s?present)
[15]
- The Wizard of Id
? Publishers Newspaper Syndicate / North America Syndicate (1964?1989), Creators Syndicate (1989?present)
History
[
edit
]
Origins (1900s?1910s)
[
edit
]
Comic strip syndication services began operating in the opening years of the 20th century. The first syndicate to distribute comic strips was the
McClure Newspaper Syndicate
(founded in 1884), which began syndicating comic strips circa 1901. (McClure's more notable strips included
Billy Bounce
, by
W. W. Denslow
and later by
C. W. Kahles
, [1901?1906];
[22]
Superman
, which it syndicated beginning in 1939; and
Batman and Robin
, debuting in 1943.)
Beginning about 1905,
Joseph Pulitzer
's
New York World
began syndicating strips to other newspapers under the name
World Feature Service
; in circa 1910 it added the syndication division New York World Press Publishing (also known as
Press Publishing Co.
).
[23]
The
Newspaper Enterprise Association
, (NEA), founded by
E. W. Scripps
in 1902, began syndicating comic strips by 1909.
The
Associated Newspapers
syndicate, run by
S. S. McClure
's cousin H. H. McClure, was launched in 1912, it was a cooperative of four newspapers:
The New York Globe
, the
Chicago Daily News
,
The Boston Globe
, and the
Philadelphia Bulletin
.
[24]
John Neville Wheeler
's
Wheeler Syndicate
debuted in 1913, contracting with pioneering comic strip artist
Bud Fisher
and cartoonist
Fontaine Fox
to begin distributing their work. Fisher is reported to have received an annual guarantee of $52,000, an unprecedented amount at that time.
[
citation needed
]
The Wheeler Syndicate was purchased by the
McClure Syndicate
in 1916; Wheeler immediately founded another operation, the
Bell Syndicate
, and re-acquired cartoonists Fisher and Fox.
In 1914,
William Randolph Hearst
founded
King Features
, the oldest comics syndicate still in operation. Popular, long-running King strips launched during this period included
The Katzenjammer Kids
(1897-2006) and
Thimble Theatre
/
Popeye
(1919?present).
Also launched c. 1914 was the New York Herald Syndicate, known for most of its operation as the
New York Herald Tribune Syndicate
.
[25]
The Syndicate's first comic strip of note was
Clare Briggs
'
Mr. and Mrs.
, which debuted in 1919.
The
Public Ledger Syndicate
was launched in 1915 by Philadelphia
Public Ledger
publisher
Cyrus H. K. Curtis
.
[23]
The Ledger Syndicates' most notable strips during its 30 years in operation were
A. E. Hayward
's
Somebody's Stenog
;
Hairbreadth Harry
(by
C. W. Kahles
and later by
F. O. Alexander
);
Frank Godwin
's
Connie
and
Babe Bunting
; Joe Bowers'
Dizzy Dramas
;
Clare Victor Dwiggins
("Dwig")'s
Footprints on the Sands of Time
and
Nipper
; and
Roy Powers, Eagle Scout
("the official strip of the
Boy Scouts of America
").
[
citation needed
]
The
George Matthew Adams Service
debuted in 1916, which syndicated such strips as
Billy DeBeck
's
Finn an' Haddie
,
Robert Baldwin
's
Freddy
,
Edwina Dumm
's
Cap Stubbs and Tippie
and
Ed Wheelan
's
Minute Movies
. Adams' syndicate peaked in the 1920s and 1930s.
Cartoonist
Sidney Smith
's popular strip
The Gumps
, which debuted in the
Chicago Tribune
in 1917, played a key role in the rise of syndication.
Joseph Medill Patterson
founded the
Chicago Tribune Syndicate
in 1918, managed by Arthur Crawford.
[26]
In 1919, Patterson and
Robert R. McCormick
, who had been co-publishing the
Chicago Tribune
since 1914, planned to launch a tabloid in New York. As comics historian
Coulton Waugh
explained:
So originated on June 16, 1919, the
Illustrated Daily News
, a title which, as too English, was almost at once clipped to
Daily News
. It was a picture paper, and it was a perfect setting for the newly developed art of the comic strip. The first issue shows but a single strip,
The Gumps
. It was the almost instant popularity of this famous strip that directly brought national syndication into being. Midwestern and other papers began writing to the
Chicago Tribune
, which also published
The Gumps
, requesting to be allowed to use the new comic, and the result was that the heads of the two papers collaborated and founded the
Chicago Tribune New York News Syndicate
, which soon was distributing Tribune-News features to every nook and cranny of the country.
[27]
Now known as Tribune Content Agency, the syndicate continues to provide content to newspapers.
Continued growth (1920s?1930s)
[
edit
]
Notable strips launched by the
New York Herald Tribune Syndicate
in the 1920s included
Harrison Cady
's
Peter Rabbit
,
Charles A. Voight
's
Betty
(which had originated with the
McClure Syndicate
),
[28]
Crawford Young's
Clarence
,
[29]
and
H. T. Webster
's
The Timid Soul
(later known as
Caspar Milquetoast
). All of those strips had long syndication runs of at least 25 years.
The
McNaught Syndicate
was founded in 1922, with one of its first notable syndicated strips being those of
Rube Goldberg
. McNaught's line-up of comic strips included
Dixie Dugan
and
Mickey Finn
.
Ham Fisher
's
Joe Palooka
was one of the McNaught Syndicate's big successes.
[30]
The Des Moines Register
launched the long-running
Register and Tribune Syndicate
in 1922 as well; its most notable cartoons and comic strips included
The Family Circus
(debuting in 1960), which was eventually distributed to more than 1,000 newspapers. It also syndicated
The Amazing Spider-Man
, which debuted in 1977 and ran until 2019.
In 1925, Chicago-area businessmen Harold H. Anderson
[31]
and Eugene Conley
[32]
launched the
Publishers Newspaper Syndicate
, later to be known for such popular, long-running strips as
Big Chief Wahoo
/
Steve Roper
,
Mary Worth
,
Kerry Drake
,
Rex Morgan, M.D.
,
Judge Parker
, and
Apartment 3-G
.
The
Associated Press
launched its syndicate (later known as
AP Newsfeatures
) in 1930 with nine comic strips, including John Terry's
Scorchy Smith
. It added Sunday strips a decade later, in 1940.
In 1930, the
North American Newspaper Alliance
absorbed the
Bell Syndicate
, both continuing to operate individually under joint ownership as the Bell Syndicate-North American Newspaper Alliance. That same year, Bell acquired
Associated Newspapers
. Keeping Associated Newspapers as a division, at that point the company became the Bell-McClure Syndicate.
[24]
King Features
had a series of hits during the 1930s with the launch of
Blondie
(1930?present),
Flash Gordon
(1934?2003),
Mandrake the Magician
(1934?2013), and
The Phantom
(1936?present).
United Feature Syndicate
(founded in 1919)
[33]
became a dominant player in the comic strip syndication market in the early 1930s. In March 1930, United Features acquired the
Metropolitan Newspaper Service
(ostensibly from the
Bell Syndicate
).
[23]
And in late February 1931, Scripps acquired the
New York World
, which controlled the syndication arms of the Pulitzer company:
World Feature Service
[23]
and
Press Publishing Co.
[34]
(which unlike other syndicates were owned by the paper rather than being separate entities). United Feature and the
Newspaper Enterprise Association
both became successful distributors of newspaper comics in the 1930s.
[35]
An April 1933 article in
Fortune
described the "Big Four" American syndicates as
United Feature Syndicate
,
King Features Syndicate
, the
Chicago Tribune Syndicate
, and the
Bell-McClure Syndicate
.
[36]
Later that year, the Chicago Tribune Syndicate changed its name to the Tribune-New York (Daily) News Syndicate
[37]
[38]
(eventually becoming
Tribune Content Agency
).
In 1933, just as the concept of "
comic books
" was getting off the ground,
Eastern Color Printing
published
Funnies on Parade
, which reprinted in color several comic strips licensed from the
Ledger Syndicate
, the
McNaught Syndicate
, and the
Bell-McClure Syndicate
.
[39]
Eastern Color neither sold this periodical nor made it available on
newsstands
, but rather sent it out free as a promotional item to consumers who mailed in coupons clipped from
Procter & Gamble
soap and toiletries products. The company printed 10,000 copies, and it was a great success.
[40]
[41]
Eventually, Gaines and Eastern collaborated in 1934 to publish the ongoing title
Famous Funnies
, which ran for 218 issues using a mixture of newspaper strip reprints and some original material, and is considered the first true American comic book.
[42]
Also in 1933,
Editors Press Service
launched; though never a large operation, EPS is notable for being the first U.S. company to actively syndicate material internationally.
The boom years (1940s?1950s)
[
edit
]
Marshall Field III
launched the Chicago Sun Syndicate (later known as the
Field Newspaper Syndicate
) in 1941, whose most popular offering was the comic strip
Steve Canyon
.
In the 1940s, the
Register and Tribune Syndicate
's
The Spirit
(by
Will Eisner
) was part of a 16-page Sunday supplement known colloquially as "The Spirit Section". This was a
tabloid
-sized newsprint comic book sold as part of eventually 20 Sunday newspapers with a combined circulation of as many as five million copies.
During the final months of
World War II
,
Robert M. Hall
(who had worked at
United Feature Syndicate
in the 1930s) began his own syndicate. Soon Hall developed his own features, including a variety of comic strips:
Debbie Dean
,
Mark Trail
and
Bruce Gentry
, along with
Herblock
's editorial cartoons. Beginning in April 1959,
Feiffer
was distributed nationally by the Hall Syndicate.
The
Times Mirror Company
launched Mirror Enterprises Syndicate in the late 1940s; it eventually became known as the
Los Angeles Times Syndicate
and was known for syndicating the
Star Wars
newspaper strip from 1979 to 1984.
Cartoonist
Al Smith
(mostly known for his long run on
Mutt and Jeff
) launched his own syndication service ? mainly serving
weekly newspapers
? in 1951. Early on, the syndicate partnered with the
Chicago Tribune Syndicate
. At its height, the service distributed 25 features, by such notable names as
Pat Boyette
,
Warren Sattler
,
Don Sherwood
,
Frank Thomas
,
George Wolfe
, and Smith himself. Smith died in 1986,
[43]
with the
Al Smith Feature Service
continued by his daughters until
c.
1999.
In September 1952, the
Bell-McClure Syndicate
acquired the historic
McClure Newspaper Syndicate
, with Louis Ruppel installed as president and editor.
[44]
King Features, meanwhile, remained a "powerhouse" syndicate throughout the 1950s and the 1960s.
[45]
Consolidation and changing times (1960s and 1970s)
[
edit
]
In 1963, Chicago-based
Field Enterprises
and
New York Herald Tribune
publisher
John Hay Whitney
acquired
Publishers Syndicate
,
[46]
merging Publishers' existing syndication operations with the
New York Herald Tribune Syndicate
, Field's
Chicago Sun-Times Syndicate
, and the syndicate of the
Chicago Daily News
[47]
(a newspaper that had been acquired by Field Enterprises in 1959). When the
New York Herald Tribune
folded in 1966,
[46]
Publishers inherited their strips, including
B.C.
,
Miss Peach
, and
Penny
.
The
George Matthew Adams Service
petered out in the mid-1960s after the death of Adams in 1962; in 1966 the Adams Service's remaining assets and features were acquired by
The Washington Star
to form the
Washington Star Syndicate
[48]
(which never had much traction in the comic strip market).
In 1967, Field Enterprises acquired the Hall Syndicate, merging it with the previously acquired Publishers Syndicate to form the
Publishers-Hall Syndicate
.
By the mid-1960s competition from
television
and other media began to dilute the central place of comic strips in American lives. As comics historian
Maurice Horn
writes, "the 1960s were the decade during which the comics syndicates were most blatantly aping successful television shows in a desperate (and vain) attempt at regaining their fast-disappearing readership."
[49]
In 1968, an
Editor & Publisher
survey of a selection of syndicates revealed the following details about the syndicates, the number of features offered, and the number of client papers:
Starting in the late 1960s and running through the 1970s,
underground comics
strips were syndicated, first by the
Underground Press Syndicate
[51]
and then the
Rip Off Press Syndicate
(ROPS), both of which sold weekly content to
alternative newspapers
and
student publications
.
[52]
Artists and strips by the likes of
Robert Crumb
,
Gilbert Shelton
(
Wonder Wart-Hog
,
The Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers
,
Fat Freddy's Cat
, and
Motoring Tips
),
Joel Beck
(
Cartoon Cavalcade
),
Dave Sheridan
(
Dealer McDope
and
Nerds
),
Ted Richards
(
Forty Year Old Hippie
and
E.Z. Wolf
),
Bill Griffith
(
Griffith Observatory
and
Zippy
), and
R. Diggs
(
Mom Squad
) gained wide exposure through these services. As the underground press and underground comix booms petered out by the mid-1970s, both services wound down, with the Rip Off Press Syndicate being discontinued by 1979.
[52]
Griffith's
Zippy
strip, however, which had debuted in 1976 as a weekly strip from ROPS,
[53]
was picked up for daily syndication in 1986 by
King Features Syndicate
.
John McMeel was assistant general manager and national sales director for the
Publishers-Hall Syndicate
when he began
Universal Press Syndicate
in 1970.
[54]
When
Gary Trudeau
's
Doonesbury
, another product of the
counterculture of the 1960s
, debuted as a daily strip in two dozen newspapers on October 26, 1970, it was the first strip from Universal Press Syndicate, and a Sunday strip was launched March 21, 1971. Circulation of
Doonesbury
eventually expanded to more than 1,400 newspapers internationally.
[55]
At first, ownership of the strips was in the hands of both the artist and the syndicate.
In 1972,
United Features Syndicate
acquired the combined operations of the
North American Newspaper Alliance
and the
Bell-McClure Syndicate
and absorbed them into United Features' operations.
[56]
The
McNaught Syndicate
's last success came with the comic strip
Heathcliff
, which they syndicated from the start in 1973 until the late 1980s.
Heathcliff
appeared in some 1,000 newspapers, and the McNaught Syndicate became the production company for a few
Heathcliff
movies, including
Heathcliff: The Movie
from 1986.
[57]
In 1975,
Field Enterprises
absorbed
Publishers-Hall
into its
Field Newspaper Syndicate
, consolidating control of such popular, long-running strips as
Mary Worth
,
Steve Roper
,
Penny
,
Kerry Drake
,
Rex Morgan, M.D.
,
Judge Parker
,
Miss Peach
,
B.C.
,
The Wizard of Id
,
Dennis the Menace
,
Funky Winkerbean
,
Mark Trail
, and
Momma
.
By the fall of 1977, 300 American syndicates, large and small, were distributing 10,000 features with combined sales of $100 million a year.
[58]
In February 1978, the
Washington Star Syndicate
was sold (along with its parent company) to
Time Inc.
[59]
A little more than a year later, the
Universal Press Syndicate
acquired the Star Syndicate from the remaining assets of the Washington Star Company.
[60]
In May 1978 Scripps merged
United Feature Syndicate
and the
Newspaper Enterprise Association
[61]
to form United Media Enterprises.
[62]
Although the
Washington Post Writers Group
was formed in 1973, it didn't begin syndicating comic strips until 1980
[
citation needed
]
with
Berkeley Breathed
's popular strip
Bloom County
.
Further consolidation and upheaval (1980s?1990s)
[
edit
]
The 1980s was a period of consolidation and upheaval in the syndicated comics strip business. In 1983,
Rupert Murdoch
's
News Corporation
purchased the
Field Newspaper Syndicate
,
[63]
renaming it
News America Syndicate
(NAS) in 1984.
In 1986, the
Register and Tribune Syndicate
was sold to Hearst and
King Features
for $4.3 million.
[64]
Late in that year, the
Chicago Tribune
estimated that the country's top three comic strip syndicates were
Hearst
's
King Features
,
Scripps
'
United Media
, and News Corp's NAS.
[11]
In late December of that same year, Hearst bought NAS (which the company renamed North America Syndicate).
[11]
[65]
The pending sale of NAS (which was first reported in October 1986),
[66]
prompted NAS president
Richard S. Newcombe
to leave the company in January 1987 and, using financial backing from
London
-based publisher
Robert Maxwell
, form
Creators Syndicate
before the
close
of the NAS sale.
[67]
[68]
Creators Syndicate originated on February 13, 1987.
[69]
[70]
Within a month, Creators Syndicate acquired the syndication rights to the worldwide
comic strip
B.C.
,
[71]
and a few months after that acquired the syndication rights to the cartoon works of
Herblock
.
[67]
Creators became one of the few successful independent syndicates founded since the 1930s; it was also the first syndicate to allow cartoonists ownership rights to their work.
[67]
By this point (mid-1987), the top syndicates, by number of features, ranked as follows:
- King Features Syndicate
(
Hearst Corporation
) 194
- North America Syndicate
(Hearst Corporation) 122
- Tribune Media Services
(
Tribune Company
) 120
- United Feature Syndicate
(
United Media
) 85
- Los Angeles Times Syndicate
(
Times Mirror Company
) 85
- Newspaper Enterprise Association
(United Media) 76
- Universal Press Syndicate
74
- New York Times Syndication Sales
(
New York Times Company
) 51
- The Washington Post Writers Group
(
The Washington Post Company
) 37
- McNaught Syndicate
(independent) 24
[67]
Hearst (King Features and NAS) led the way with 316 features, United Media (United Feature Syndicate and NEA) ranked second with 161, and the Tribune Company (Tribune Media Services) was third with 120 features.
The
McNaught Syndicate
eventually folded in September 1989.
[72]
Beginning in 1990, following the lead of Creators,
Universal Press Syndicate
gave strip creators full rights to their respective works. The company also instituted a policy that any cartoonist who was with them for five years or more received four weeks a year of vacation.
[73]
In 1996,
Universal Press Syndicate
formed Universal New Media, later known as
Uclick
, to distribute "digital entertainment content."
A 1997 article in
The Washington Post
gave the number of syndicates which distributed comic strips as nine, specifically mentioning United Media, Creators Syndicate, Universal Press Syndicate, The Washington Post Writers Group, and
Chronicle Features
.
[74]
(Not mentioned were King Features, the Tribune Company Syndicate,
The New York Times
Syndicate, and the Los Angeles Times Syndicate.)
Later in 1997, Universal Press Syndicate acquired and eventually absorbed
Chronicle Features
.
[75]
(It had earlier acquired notable Chronicle Features strips
The Far Side
,
Bizarro
, and the editorial cartoons of
Ted Rall
).
[76]
Further consolidation (2000s)
[
edit
]
Upon the acquisition of
Times Mirror Company
in 2000, the
Los Angeles Times Syndicate
was merged into Tribune Media Services, which still operates today under the name
Tribune Content Agency
, and syndicates close to 15 comic strips.
In 2009,
Universal Press Syndicate
merged with
Uclick
to form
Universal Uclick
.
[77]
In 2011, Universal Uclick acquired
United Media
(with its divisions
United Feature Syndicate
and the
Newspaper Enterprise Association
) to become the largest American press syndicate.
[78]
[79]
As a result, Universal Uclick became one of the largest print syndicators in the United States, as United Media was one of the company's main competitor in the industry.
King Features Syndicate
and
Creators Syndicate
still had extensive operations' at that point, the top five syndicates were King Features, Creators Syndicate, Tribune Media Services, Universal Uclick, and the Washington Post Writers Group (WPWG).
[
citation needed
]
Challenging times (2005?present)
[
edit
]
Syndicates responded in different ways to the rise of
digital content
?
Uclick
launched its digital distribution portal,
GoComics
, in 2005; and
King Features
launched its Comics Kingdom in 2008;
[80]
while other syndicates did not embrace digital distribution so warmly. Among other things, the syndicates' digital portals allowed them to continue selling strips that had ended or no longer ran in print.
[81]
A 2015 article in the trade magazine
Editor & Publisher
highlighted the challenges facing comic strip syndication, which included the rise of digital content and declining readership in print newspapers. Whereas syndicates had formerly launched three or more strips each year, it was now common to introduce as few as one new strip per year.
[82]
In late 2016, the top-selling syndicates were Universal Uclick and King Features, with 80 and 62 active strips, respectively.
[81]
In January 2017, Universal Uclick became known as
Andrews McMeel Syndication
.
[83]
As of 2017, the leading strip syndicates were Andrews McMeel, King Features,
[81]
and Creators Syndicate, with the Tribune Content Agency and the Washington Post Writers Group still active but declining.
In early 2022, The Washington Post Writers Group announced it would wind down its comic strips and editorial cartoons business
[84]
[85]
[86]
announcing it would finish out any existing contracts.
[87]
In response, a number of strips left for other syndicates (mostly to Andrews McMeel).
[87]
In addition, a group of WPWG editorial cartoonists ? including
Clay Bennett
,
Jack Ohman
, and
Pedro X. Molina
? left for
Nick Anderson
's
Counterpoint Media
, which launched its own syndication service.
[87]
In September 2022, Counterpoint began syndicating
comic strips
, first taking on
Darrin Bell
's
Rudy Park
[88]
and then
Gene Weingarten
, Dan Weingarten, and
David Clark
's
Barney & Clyde
,
[89]
both of which were formerly distributed by WPWG.
Visual timeline
[
edit
]
A visual timeline of notable comic strip syndicates from 1900?present:
See also
[
edit
]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
"Garfield Named World's Most Syndicated Comic Strip"
.
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Hoff, Syd.
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. Stravon, 1973.
- ^
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- ^
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,
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"
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"Hare Tonic: Johnny Hart to Appear B.C.,"
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(March 22, 2012).
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ISSN
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- ^
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.
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b
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.
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- ^
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.
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- ^
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.
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.
External links
[
edit
]