Some would say that decreases in circulation led to cuts in staff, which led to the content going downhill, which led to decreases in circulation, which led to… and as I sit here reading news and comics on the internet, I understand what caused the cycle to begin.
Yeah. Comic strips have gotten short shrift from editors for years. From four panels to three and from twelve panels or full page Sundays down to six. From 3" panels down to 1 1/2. All you can fit are talking heads without background, and frankly I don’t like daily strip color it should have been kept for Sundays only. Maybe Newspaper business hasn’t changed but the comic strip business sure has and almost to oblivion!
The Greensboro News & Record dropped GA about 13 years ago. I’ve followed it online since. The quality of the new comics they’ve added is much lower. The size of papers has decreased along with the quality of writing. Nobody seems to be proofreading or editing these days. Some papers have gone online completely. It’s a shame.
For most of my over 6 decades of newspaper reading, I have always read the comics first. My papers have cut out so many of my longtime favorites, that I am grateful for sites like this that offer such a wide selection
With so many people getting news on tv, things have had to change. If it wasn’t for the comics and word games, I doubt I’d bother getting the paper. As it is, I bum it off the guy next door when he is done with it. Even then, he just gets it for the sports section.
I don’t think it’s Major Hoople from Our Boarding House. The eyes are too different. We quit getting the local newspapers after the comics section shrank and more and more articles were obviously written without any sort of serious research or interest in presenting both sides of an issue.
As everyone here seems to know, newspaper publishers are caught in a “no win” situation. The same problem is being faced by book publishers. -Computers will continue to change our lives … just think about how much phones have changed in the past 20 years. Ask any university Dean or company president … and computers are here to stay … only they are changing as well.
The Trolley conductor (and gas lamp lighter) was a scrawny senior, Barney Google was clean shaven and the Major from the boarding house was mustachioed as I recall. Can’t say I can offer a clear suggestion as to who the gentleman may be though.
The Sunday Comics were a gateway to reading for many of us. My wife thinks I’m silly because while the Sunday inserts are delivered with the Saturday Post, I set the comics aside and won’t read them until Sunday.
Best I can make of this feller by combing through my Comics Bibles is that he’s Polly’s “Pa” of “Polly and Her Pals” drawn by Cliff Sterrett as seen in a 1923 color plate.
@Nabu: agreed.. I get so steamed at what the US passes off on us as ‘advanced technology’ web-wise versus that of Europe that it becomes unwordable in my publishable lexicon. . The music/talent/lawyer/writer/studio snakeball of laws and blockages astounds the sane mind. I, too, have gone into the “dark cellar” of early computers and sometimes these days, I wonder how I did it. I don’t care anymore and just let Windows rain on me everyday with their constant ‘updates’… I just roll my eyes.. I’ve got time(I think)
Newspapers are not the only one have budget issues. Homeowners or people with no jobs to people who retired. I do not have a job my husband decided to retire, we had to trim our expenses. Only part I really like is funnies. So I explore. We’ve trimmed other expenses down. My mom saves money like crazy. No internet and she deplores reading. I would be lost just siting do nothing.
Rod Gonzalez almost 11 years ago
Heh.
axe-grinder almost 11 years ago
Some would say that decreases in circulation led to cuts in staff, which led to the content going downhill, which led to decreases in circulation, which led to… and as I sit here reading news and comics on the internet, I understand what caused the cycle to begin.
St. Pillsbury almost 11 years ago
I think he is the conductor of the Toonerville Trolley.
St. Pillsbury almost 11 years ago
Might be Barney Google without his hat, but I doubt it.
davidf42 almost 11 years ago
Barney Google was one of my guesses, too. But wasn’t there a character in Our Boarding House that looked like this?
davidf42 almost 11 years ago
Or a character from Popeye?
436rge almost 11 years ago
Yeah. Comic strips have gotten short shrift from editors for years. From four panels to three and from twelve panels or full page Sundays down to six. From 3" panels down to 1 1/2. All you can fit are talking heads without background, and frankly I don’t like daily strip color it should have been kept for Sundays only. Maybe Newspaper business hasn’t changed but the comic strip business sure has and almost to oblivion!
elgancho38 almost 11 years ago
The Greensboro News & Record dropped GA about 13 years ago. I’ve followed it online since. The quality of the new comics they’ve added is much lower. The size of papers has decreased along with the quality of writing. Nobody seems to be proofreading or editing these days. Some papers have gone online completely. It’s a shame.
roohey almost 11 years ago
For most of my over 6 decades of newspaper reading, I have always read the comics first. My papers have cut out so many of my longtime favorites, that I am grateful for sites like this that offer such a wide selection
flagfly almost 11 years ago
With so many people getting news on tv, things have had to change. If it wasn’t for the comics and word games, I doubt I’d bother getting the paper. As it is, I bum it off the guy next door when he is done with it. Even then, he just gets it for the sports section.
ewalnut almost 11 years ago
I don’t think it’s Major Hoople from Our Boarding House. The eyes are too different. We quit getting the local newspapers after the comics section shrank and more and more articles were obviously written without any sort of serious research or interest in presenting both sides of an issue.
APersonOfInterest almost 11 years ago
As everyone here seems to know, newspaper publishers are caught in a “no win” situation. The same problem is being faced by book publishers. -Computers will continue to change our lives … just think about how much phones have changed in the past 20 years. Ask any university Dean or company president … and computers are here to stay … only they are changing as well.
Ray Toler almost 11 years ago
I really like this.
rmbdot almost 11 years ago
Has Slim gone to belly up to the burger bar with Wimpy?
TheAuldWan almost 11 years ago
I remember Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia reading us the Sunday Funnies on the radio when I was a kid…. It’s how I learned to read.
I Go Pogo almost 11 years ago
The Trolley conductor (and gas lamp lighter) was a scrawny senior, Barney Google was clean shaven and the Major from the boarding house was mustachioed as I recall. Can’t say I can offer a clear suggestion as to who the gentleman may be though.
The Sunday Comics were a gateway to reading for many of us. My wife thinks I’m silly because while the Sunday inserts are delivered with the Saturday Post, I set the comics aside and won’t read them until Sunday.
unca jim almost 11 years ago
Best I can make of this feller by combing through my Comics Bibles is that he’s Polly’s “Pa” of “Polly and Her Pals” drawn by Cliff Sterrett as seen in a 1923 color plate.
unca jim almost 11 years ago
@Nabu: agreed.. I get so steamed at what the US passes off on us as ‘advanced technology’ web-wise versus that of Europe that it becomes unwordable in my publishable lexicon. . The music/talent/lawyer/writer/studio snakeball of laws and blockages astounds the sane mind. I, too, have gone into the “dark cellar” of early computers and sometimes these days, I wonder how I did it. I don’t care anymore and just let Windows rain on me everyday with their constant ‘updates’… I just roll my eyes.. I’ve got time(I think)
nucker1 almost 11 years ago
I can say it is not the Skipper from Toonerville Trolley but I don’t know who it is.
kab2rb almost 11 years ago
Newspapers are not the only one have budget issues. Homeowners or people with no jobs to people who retired. I do not have a job my husband decided to retire, we had to trim our expenses. Only part I really like is funnies. So I explore. We’ve trimmed other expenses down. My mom saves money like crazy. No internet and she deplores reading. I would be lost just siting do nothing.