Faribault Daily News Thursday, November 26, 2015
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King Features Comics C1
100 YEARS OF KING FEATURES SYNDICATE - PART THREE
T
By Brian Walker
he outbreak of World War II closed many foreign markets for the major newspaper syndicates. King Features, which had twentysix overseas bureaus, was hit the hardest. After the Nazis invaded Belgium, Holland and France, American comics were banned in most newspapers in those countries. Publishers in England were forced to cancel features due to paper shortages. Currency exchange restrictions, the closing of shipping lanes and the loss of advertising revenue further restricted business.
Shortages of materials, including newsprint and ink, also hurt business on the home front as newspapers began cutting back on the number of comics they printed. The syndicates quickly responded to this threat by offering their comics in reduced sizes. They began distributing daily strips in a four-column width, as well as in the standard five and six-column formats (one column is approximately two inches in width).
Flash Gordon (1934 – 2001) by Alex Raymond The de nitive space strip, Flash Gordon combined stateof-the-art science ction with lush draftsmanship to produce a beloved classic that was made into radio, TV and movie series, as well as many reprint collections.
The Phantom (1936 – Present) created by Lee Falk The stories of The Phantom span many generations in the ceaseless family quest to destroy piracy on the African coast. The Phantom remains one of the most popular adventure strips today.
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Thursday, November 26, 2015
Prince Valiant (1937 – Present) by Hal Foster The comic strip world’s most earnest attempt at great art, Hal Foster’s epic adventure of the world of knights and chivalry features a young warrior prince from the court of King Arthur, his experiences in many exotic lands and the armor-and-sword battles he fought.
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Steve Canyon (1947 – 1988) by Milton Caniff teve was a et ghter pilot for the Air Force who served in the Korean and Vietnam Wars and often found himself on dangerous missions behind enemy lines and dealing with those on opposite sides of the ideological fence stateside.
After the hostilities ended and the foreign markets were restored, international distribution of comics became a growth industry. “We never did any promotion in the South American and European countries,” remarked one syndicate manager, “but the war and the s ent usiasm for comics opened up a i field for us t ere The comics industry lost its founding patron when William Randolph Hearst succumbed to a heart condition on August 14, 1951, at the age of eighty-eight. “The Chief” left behind sixteen daily and thirteen Sunday newspapers, eight monthly magazines, a sprawling real estate empire and a priceless collection of art and antiques. Hearst remained personally involved in every detail of his publishing empire until his death, including the supervision of the comics. All new features had to be approved by him before King Features could sign them up. Mort Walker’s Beetle Bailey was the last comic strip he personally green-lighted. When Hearst saw a comic strip he liked that wasn’t owned by King, he directed his people to hire the artist away from the current employer with a better offer. Many cartoonists, including Richard Outcault, Winsor McCay and Roy Crane, came under his control in this way. Ward Greene, who was the editor and general manager of King Features at the time of Hearst’s passing, made regular trips from t e syndicate offices in e or to is oss ome in alifornia Hearst would pore over two bound volumes containing all three hundred of the syndicate’s features and make comments and suggestions. He frequently suggested plot lines for comic strips and objected to sequences that he disliked. Over half a century before his death, Hearst set the stage for the birth of the medium. On October 17, 1896, the day preceding
Buz Sawyer (1943 – 1989) by Roy Crane Another heroic pilot was u awyer, who started out in the aci c in orld ar , and went on to many of the world’s trouble spots throughout the Cold War. His sidekick Rosco weeney took over the Sunday strip for many years, contrasting his comic rural stories with the exciting intrigues of u in the daily series.
The ellow Kid’s debut in Hearst’s Sunday edition of the ew ork Journal, a full-page advertisement described the new comics section as “Eight pages of iridescent polychromous effulgence that makes the rainbow look like a lead pipe!” Hearst didn’t invent the comics, but his promotional bravado was what sold them to the American public. A Hearst editor once said that his boss’ goal was to make every reader exclaim “Gee whiz!” upon opening the newspaper. That p rase mi t ave een a fittin epitap for t e reatest s o man in the history of journalism.
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Beetle Bailey (1950 – Present) by Mort Walker A soldier’s life is usually a busy one, but eetle’s is dedicated to artful inactivity. arge is always trying to get him to shape up, even if it means beating him to a pulpy mess to do it. ort alker continues to create eetle ailey today with his sons, Greg and Brian Walker.
Hi & Lois (1954 – Present) by Mort Walker & Dik Browne The friendly suburban Flagston couple and their forever-young children have become one of the staples of American strips, most famous for baby Trixie, who waxes philosophical to a sunbeam coming through a window.
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100 YEARS OF KING FEATURES SYNDICATE - PART 4 By Brian Walker
n the modern era, technological advances such as television and computers and social changes brought about by the baby boom eneration ad a ma or in uence on t e comics usiness rends within the industry had an even greater impact on cartoonists. The decline of story strips and the increasing dominance of humor features led to both terminated careers and new opportunities. The shrinking size that comics were printed in newspapers posed an ongoing threat to creativity. Other issues – censorship, ownership and merchandising – presented additional challenges.
Corporate mergers also dramatically altered the funnies business. In March 1986, under the leadership of President Joe D’Angelo, in eatures a sor ed t e sevent -lar est syndicate o les (formerly known as the Register and Tribune Syndicate). The following February, it purchased News America Syndicate, the third largest comics distributor, from Rupert Murdoch. King, which incorporated the renamed North America Syndicate into its group of companies, now controlled 225 syndicated features, including nine strips and panels with over 1,000 clients.
Dennis the Menace (1951 – Present) by Hank Ketcham The terror of the neighborhood, ennis isn’t so much of a mean kid, or a troublemaker, more that he’s ust an unbridled little devil, causing low-scale catastrophes unintentionally. Dennis the Menace remains one of the most famous characters in American popular culture.
The Family Circus (1960 – Present) by Bil Keane Keane’s real family in uenced his cartoon creations, drawing from their everyday experiences and the kids’ comical takes on the world. The comic was revolutionary in its design with its signature circular daily format. t continues today at the hand of il Keane’s son, eff Keane.
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Please pick up an extra pair of kids mittens, hats, coats and scarves while shopping and bring them in to either bank location before November 30th.
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Among the new acquisitions were Dennis the Menace by Hank Ketchum and The Family Circus by Bil Keane, which were added to established properties like Blondie, Beetle Bailey, Hi and Lois, Hägar the Horrible, The Lockhorns, Curtis, The Piranha Club (formerly Ernie) and ippy the inhead. Jay Kennedy, a former cartoon editor and consultant to Esquire, People, National Lampoon and ear’s magazines, took over as comics editor at King Features in 1989. Kennedy, who had represented a number of “alternative” comics artists, promised to compliment King’s mainstream features with “edgier” creations. Kennedy would have a major hand in bringing fresh ideas to the syndicate in the 1990s. The three most successful new strips of the decade – Baby Blues, its, and Mutts – blended traditional themes with fresh perspectives. Jerry Scott, Rick Kirkman, Jim Borgman and Patrick McDonnell, the creators of these King-distributed comic strips, were all born during the postwar years. They helped to revive classic, family-oriented genres and brought quality draftsmanship back to the funnies pages.
Hägar the Horrible (1973 – Present) by Dik Browne Far from living up to his name as a Viking, Hägar is more epicurean than bloodthirsty. His expeditions to sack the cities of medieval Europe are likely to result in plunder rich in pi a and beer as much as gold.
Zippy the Pinhead (1986 – Present) by Bill Griffith Hollywood references, old landmarks, catchphrases and comic strip characters mixed with confused nuggets of ideology comprise ippy’s bi arre world. nce an underground character, the ipster has pioneered the outer edge of mainstream comics for almost thirty years.
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Mutts (1994 – Present) by Patrick McDonnell Earl the dog and Mooch the cat are neighbors and best friends. hen they’re not begging at the deli counter for treats, they spend their time interacting with other animals birds and sea creatures. Most agree that Mutts is a true modern-day classic.
Among the other successful creations King launched in the 1990s and 2000s were: etween Friends by Sandra Bell Lundy, Mallard Fillmore by Bruce Tinsley, hymes with range by Hilary Price, Six Chix by Isabella Bannerman, Margaret Shulock, Rina Piccolo, Anne Gibbons, Benita Epstein and Stephanie Piro, Tina’s Groove by Rina Piccolo, a ama iaries by Terri Libenson and Dustin by Steve Kelley and Jeff Parker. A number of features that had been successful with other distributors also joined the King family, including herman’s agoon by Jim Toomey, i aro by Dan Piraro, Mother Goose and Grimm by Mike Peters and Shoe by Gary Brookins and Susie MacNelly. The emergence of the Internet as a global communications network in the 1990s had parallels to the rise of television in the 1950s. The new electronic medium presented both a challenge and an opportunity to the comics business. Syndicates, initially concerned about competing with their newspaper clients, eventually set up websites and marketed features directly to Internet subscribers in de uted its first di ital destination on anuary
which was renamed DailyINK in 2004. A new, improved version, Comics Kingdom, was launched in 2008. Today, the comics claim an estimated 113 million loyal readers in the United States and millions more worldwide. King Features Syndicate is the leading distributor of comics, columns, editorial cartoons pu les and ames to nearly five t ousand daily unday weekly and digital newspapers around the globe. President T.R. “Rocky” Shepard and Editor Brendan Burford continue a tradition of providing quality entertainment to readers that William Randolph Hearst established more than one hundred years ago.
Brian Walker has written, edited and contributed to more than forty books on cartoon art and is the author of the de nitive history The omics The omplete Collection.” He has served as curator for seventy cartoon exhibitions, is a founder and former director of the Museum of Cartoon Art and a part of the creative team that produces the comic strips Beetle Bailey and Hi & Lois.
Zits (1997 – Present) by Jerry Scott & Jim Borgman Jeremy is a typical modern teenager, disagreeable and dependent on his hapless parents, though to his high school friends, he’s pretty cool. His dream is to oin his friends Hector and ierce in his van on a nationwide tour as rock stars that is, if they can ever get the heap of a van to actually run. its is largely considered the most successful comic strip of the last years.
A note on the comic strip selections herein: King Features has syndicated more than different comics through its -year history some have come and gone, and some stalwarts continue today. A wonderful variety of comic strips has been brought to readers in ust the last years. f we had the luxury of printing this great anniversary supplement with even twice the number of pages, we still wouldn’t be able to t all of the tremendous comics we would want to. ucky you, though, your local newspaper carries many of these comics every day
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For a complete selection of King Features comics, new and old, visit omicsKingdom.com Special thanks to Brian Walker, Peter Maresca, Donna Ferreiro, Dean Mullaney, enny obb and the illy reland artoon ibrary useum your contributions and help along the way are greatly appreciated.
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