I love this newsletter! Thank you for making it. Maybe one day I can show support with a sub.
And thanks for the article. But I'm going to play devil's advocate, though: what if they are right? What if reader preferences are changing?
I think comic strips have been declining for decades. I'm a big fan of comic strips and single panel gags, and I have been collecting these in book form for many years. And yet, I often feel like that guy who collects vinyl records. Unless I encounter another true fan, comic strips and gag panels never come up in conversations. The place I see them most often are shares among memes in some of the Whatsapp groups or Discord channels I frequent, and those are most often either edgy internet comics or classic stuff like Far Side.
I miss the comic folds in newspapers, and I definitely long for the day when publications like Punch gave a place for gag and strip comics. There are definitely still buyers for such work, but it feels like a niche market these days. Is that really the fault of the newspapers? After all, the New York Times seems to be getting a lot of subscribers because of their games, not because of comics.
I hope I'm wrong, but this new change seems a little inevitable for a comic industry that is a shadow of its golden age.
I have to apologize about the comics. I have always been the last one in the door before it closes. This was true of the Disney Features Renaissance (they finally hired me after all the 'big hits' were released, and none of the pictures I worked on were blockbusters). I got an idea for a comic strip last year and it was picked up by an online syndicate in June, and here we are. It's just a coincidence, of course. I am not speaking to Rupert Murdoch and his minions.
I love this newsletter! Thank you for making it. Maybe one day I can show support with a sub.
And thanks for the article. But I'm going to play devil's advocate, though: what if they are right? What if reader preferences are changing?
I think comic strips have been declining for decades. I'm a big fan of comic strips and single panel gags, and I have been collecting these in book form for many years. And yet, I often feel like that guy who collects vinyl records. Unless I encounter another true fan, comic strips and gag panels never come up in conversations. The place I see them most often are shares among memes in some of the Whatsapp groups or Discord channels I frequent, and those are most often either edgy internet comics or classic stuff like Far Side.
I miss the comic folds in newspapers, and I definitely long for the day when publications like Punch gave a place for gag and strip comics. There are definitely still buyers for such work, but it feels like a niche market these days. Is that really the fault of the newspapers? After all, the New York Times seems to be getting a lot of subscribers because of their games, not because of comics.
I hope I'm wrong, but this new change seems a little inevitable for a comic industry that is a shadow of its golden age.
Sorry to hear about Ginger Meggs, Jason! It must be quite the cultural tragedy in Australia to lose that!
As for jobs, could you leverage your Food Network job to bigger and better things? Like hosting Is It Cake?
I have to apologize about the comics. I have always been the last one in the door before it closes. This was true of the Disney Features Renaissance (they finally hired me after all the 'big hits' were released, and none of the pictures I worked on were blockbusters). I got an idea for a comic strip last year and it was picked up by an online syndicate in June, and here we are. It's just a coincidence, of course. I am not speaking to Rupert Murdoch and his minions.
No Rapidograph pens?