The syndicate was known for the offbeat comic strips it championed, such as Gary Larson's The Far Side, Dan Piraro's Bizarro, and the editorial cartoons of Ted Rall.
[2] Chronicle Features' first comic strips were Dan O'Neill's Odd Bodkins and Bill Weber's Doctor Funshine, both launched in 1963.
[5] Farley began as a nationally syndicated strip with Chronicle Features,[6] but Frank missed the "timeliness and joy of doing local politics" and, dissatisfied with the four-to-six week lead time required of syndication, in 1985 switched to working exclusively for the Chronicle, which enabled him to quickly mine local events — usually overnight — for his satire.
A year later, however, Rall also left for UPS, prompting general manager Dodd to say, "There's sort of a path between us and Universal, and I'd like the grass to grow for a while.
[8] In 1996 Chronicle Features outsourced their sales to UPS rival United Media; Dodd claimed, "We now offer the editorial intimacy of a small syndicate and the marketing power of a large one.