No Jokes: Newspapers Cutting Comic Strips -- To Save Money, Many Are Carrying Fewer Funnies

ABC News ^ | March 14, 2010 | John Berman and Joel Siege

[Zakeet]

No matter how bad the news, no matter how grim the headlines, you could always count on a smile from at least one corner of the daily newspaper: the comics.

But in this day when we could use a laugh more than ever, the reality facing the comics section is anything but funny.

With the newspaper business hemorrhaging readers and money, newspapers are slicing the number of strips they carry.

Artist and filmmaker Mark Tatulli said he has seen 30 newspapers drop his strip "Lio" in the last 18 months.

"Newspapers are saving money wherever they can, and they are doing it by cutting the comics. It's affecting cartoonists across the board," Tatulli said.

[Snip]

In 1945, the demand for comics was so strong, New York City Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia famously read the funnies over the radio during a newspaper strike. It is hard to imagine such a scenario today.

[Zakeet]

The funnies were about the only thing in the Daily Dose that I could stand.

[Laserman]

The comics are the only intelligent part of most liberal rags.

[GeronL]

bump.

[martin_fierro]

LAME-AND-GETTING-LAMER PING!

[pieceofthepuzzle]

“The comics are the only intelligent part of most liberal rags.”

Actually, it’s all comedy. It’s just that the comics were overt about it.

[Citizen Tom Paine]

The comics are the best feature in today’s domestic newspapers.

[Zakeet]

Newspapers are going out of business or dropping the entire section to save costs and space ping.

[discostu]

Well on the other side that means they’ll have more room for each, comic strip creators have been complaining about the compression their strips get for decades.

[Springman]

I was bummed when the Detroit News dropped Spiderman.

[Keith in Iowa]

Get your comics on-line...

comics.com - make your own daily viewing page - free.
dailyink.com - make your own page - $15 a year.

That’s how I get my comics.

[DeFault User]

Our local rag has reduced its comic strips to almost microscopic size and carries some of the most inane crap imaginable.

[smokingfrog]

The comics are the only thing worth reading. Everything else is a joke.

[Oceander]

This is a real shame, because the funnies were about the only reason left to read - or buy - most newspapers. This is the sort of penny-wise, pound-foolish cost-cutting that will sink rather than save most newspapers.

[Carley]

The front page of most newspapers is a joke enough.

[Leo Farnsworth]

“The front page of most newspapers is a joke enough.”

Brings new meaning to the old saw: ‘The joke is in your hand.’

[VoiceOfBruck]

Artist and filmmaker Mark Tatulli said he has seen 30 newspapers drop his strip "Lio" in the last 18 months.

If there's a market for your product, people will pay for it. Lio is absolutely terrible, just for example. Yes, I know, tastes vary and I'm probably offending someone, but I'm still right! :)

[SnakeDoctor]

Next, they’ll drop sports and coupons ... and destroy the only two remaining reasons to take the local paper.

SnakeDoc

[VanDeKoik]

Really these days other than Dilbert and the Classic Peanuts, I dont even bother looking at the funnies, and it used to be a hour-long ritual on Sunday for me when I was a kid.

These days I can get those, as well as Bloom County, Calvin and Hobbies, and The Far Side online.

[cranked]

I don’t read newspapers anyhow....get my news online.
No big deal to me...

[Colinsky]

Lio is absolutely terrible, just for example. Yes, I know, tastes vary and I'm probably offending someone, but I'm still right! :)

Lio isn't exactly terrible: it's a one-note samba. It doesn't grow, it doesn't develop, it never gets anywhere.

Winsor McCay's LITTLE NEMO: ADVENTURES IN SLUMBERLAND was a one-note strip--every night, Nemo went to bed and had a dream. But it was a fabulous adventure every night, helped by McCay's exquisite draftsmanship.