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.
An early example of this practice was Rudolph Dirks' hugely successful comic strip, The Katzenjammer Kids, which first appeared in print in 1897.
(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.)
In 1946, he walked away from the enormously popular Terry and the Pirates comic strip because his syndicate insisted that they own his creation.
"[7] Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist Mike Peters told Editor & Publisher magazine, "It's long overdue that syndicates realize a new day is here.
"[8] A number of prominent strips moved from King Features (and News America) to the independent company Creators.
(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.)
[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.
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.
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.
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.
[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).
[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.
[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.
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.
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.
Cartoonist Al Smith (mostly known for his long run on Mutt and Jeff) launched his own syndication service — mainly serving weekly newspapers — in 1951.
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.
When the New York Herald Tribune folded in 1966,[46] Publishers inherited their strips, including B.C., Miss Peach, and Penny.
By the mid-1960s competition from television and other media began to dilute the central place of comic strips in American lives.
[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.
[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.
[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.
[75] (It had earlier acquired notable Chronicle Features strips The Far Side, Bizarro, and the editorial cartoons of Ted Rall).
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.
[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.