As someone pointed out yesterday, brilliantly I think, many of us first read the newspapers because of comics. And many of us learned , and practiced, to read with the funny pages! Be it in print or online versions today, this should be true now as well. My local is a gannet, and the funny pages are basically the dead comics section. It didn’t used to be that way. Sunday had an entire section with scores of comics to read. Now the sunday paper is about the size of a neighborhood paper.
I was just listening to a conversation on local public radio WMNF where some of the old school newspaper staff were discussing the demise of the newspaper. Many participating in the roundtable discussion said that a lot of the publishers of printed news, from the small weekly to the small city daily all the way up to the large urban newspapers, all underestimated the power of the internet back in the late ‘90s and early 2000’s and by the time these entities realized that revenues were spiraling downward as advertisers found other modes of marketing, it was too late and the folding and mergers began and have never stopped.
I remember in Tampa through the ’70s to ’90s there were 2 main morning daily papers and 2 major evening dailies ( The Tampa Tribune, Tampa Times, St Pete Times, St Pete Daily Independent). Additionally, there were smaller dailies like the Clearwater Sun and the tri-lingual La Gaceta (now a weekly but still in Spanish, Italian and English). Eventually there were just 2 dailies: the Trib and St Pete (renamed Tampa Bay) Times and in 2016 the Times bought the Trib and laid off 90% of its staff without warning. Now the last paper, the Tampa Bay Times, is only printed on Sunday and Wednesday and is on life support. When I went to grad school in Alabama in the ’90s I could read the Birmingham News, the Post -Herald, The Tuscaloosa News and the Montgomery Advertiser. The Herald folded first and in 2023 the Birmingham News went online and was absorbed into an entity called ALcom along with the dailies from Mobile and Huntsville. The Montgomery paper is still around but not sold on the I-20 corridor anymore.
Sign of the times, I suspect these last few paper newspapers will be all digital soon. I will enjoy my comics on Go Comics and catch the news on NPR and PBS for the most part along with the local TV news at 6 and 11.
Oh yes! I learned to read with the newspaper funnies. Peanuts, Family circus, Hagar the horrible, and the Ask Andy column (before Google, kids could send in questions to Andy, and every day they would publish a question and the answer)Lets have less paper telling us what to think, and more showing us HOW to think
When I read the paper, I read headlines first, getting frustrated when I found an article I needed to read, because it delayed getting to the comics. Now I read comics first, news second.
It’s not just the comics pages. Less reporters, writers, smaller sports section, all of it is being reduced.
I dropped my paper subscription ages ago for this very reason. Also, I got tired of finding out today what happened yesterday when I already saw it in the evening news the previous day. Almost forgot, having to trudge outside in any weather to bring it in off the lawn, either soaking wet with rain, dew or buried in a snowdrift.
I don’t think the slow death of newspapers has anything to do with the comics. It’s the internet. People see no reason to subscribe to physical newspapers any more. Three pages of comics won’t be enough to convince people to fork over $$$ for subscriptions when they can go online and read all of the comics they want for free. it’s a great idea but I can’t see any newspapers being willing to increase their expenses this way.
The online trend also concerns me because of the digital divide. Rural Texas, the Canadian North, etc., have spotty if any reception. Then economic factors play in; our public libraries here all have banks of computers, which are especially prized by students, jobseekers, anyone who can’t afford access at home. Even a smartphone takes you only so far, because you may need to print a document out.
I mentioned this a couple days ago, but for me, taking our little rural paper is a treat because it’s all local news, but there are zero comics. The only way I get them is here on gocomics. I’m not willing to take the Freep which is all Detroit and the immediate surrounding area since truly, none of that area applies to me. Flint does either. We’re in a netherland area of news so I really have few choices.
Panel 1: Baba has been around long enough to know (as have many members of the Orb). Panel 2: Good thing you have the extra toe, Bea! Panel 3: Major tail poof, OZ! I bet that takes some time to return to the normal size. Panel 4: Tabitha for the win!
I love a lot of the classic strips, and hope that younger generations can still know them. I was always a big fan of Peanuts and Snoopy and feel that those strips still stand up to time. Far Side is (still) a hoot! And Calvin and Hobbes. My gosh, rereading some C&H on this site, I am shocked how relevant some of those strips are in today’s world … some 20? 30? years later! As a kid, our local newspaper did not publish on Sundays, so it was a “treat” when my parents bought the (now defunct) Pittsburgh Press. It was fun to see store ads, movies and concerts in the “big city,” read the real estate and job ads, etc. But the biggest thrill for me, from a kid through young adulthood was the Sunday comics page. FULL color! At least 6 pages front and back. Some comics you didn’t see in the daily paper, some favorites, and some that were visually stunning with a sophisticated story arc (I’m looking at you, Prince Valiant!) When a certain strip was dropped nationwide, our paper didn’t replace it. They just “shifted” the layout slightly on the Mon. – Fri. edition and now have advertising in the combined Sat. – Sun. combined edition! The only positive I will cite is there is a local person who does a comic strip and they have run it in the paper since its inception. Assuming he got syndicated somehow, as our hometown paper was bought up many, many years ago.
I remember thinking this for a long time, but personally – I’d almost rather have just the comics pages and none of the rest. :) Growing up, I remember one paper actually did have 2 pages for comic strips and the political comics were in the op-ed or politics section. Admittedly, there were still many strips I just passed over, but they were available and mostly enjoyable.
Do declining sales follow shrinking funny pages, or is it the other way around? Is cutting back on entertainment features a cost-saving move to try to rescue failing papers?
Elvis-Anum: I like the plans for creating a printing press. Just imagine, we can get out more than five Daily Scrolls each day.
Scribe Apprentice Tira: What will we be doing now that we have more time to get things done?
Elvis: There is so much more we can do. I know you like to draw pictures and create stories. Maybe we could do more of those.
Scribe Apprentice Akil: Why not have pages of them?
Scribe Apprentice Ebonee: Not only that. Page after page.
Scribe Apprentice Hapi: That makes me happy just thinking about it!
Elvis: Alright. But we still have to get the news papyrus today. The printing press have to come later. Ladies, Tira and Ebonee, you work on the investigative reports. Akil and Hapi, sports and local news.
Hapi: Can I write about the music scene? Ora Z and Mallets Towards None are doing a concert for the Lawn Potato Tournament.
Ebonee: I’d like to interview Sue Chef for a cooking series.
Elvis: All worthy projects. But let’s not put the cart before the horse.
Tira: Speaking about that, Avenger and Emma Peelia will be at the jumping show with their filly Diana.
Elvis: Alright, we’ll get started after we finish copying The Daily Scroll. I have been meaning to work on that article on the dangers of shelves.
For another nostalgic view of newspapers, be sure to read today’s Arlo and Janis. My older brother had a paper route and I had to help him one summer so I could go to Girl Scout camp. I delivered half his route and even collected every week. We had these small tablets with a sheet of tabs for every subscriber. When we collected the money we tore off the tab for that week as the customer’s receipt. We were very careful to deliver each day’s paper in the proper spot. Everyone paid on time, very few people ever complained—but there was always the one guy who was never happy with anything. It was my first paying job ( I was in 5th grade) and I loved every minute of my week at camp!And I heartily endorse the ladies’ idea!
I really miss our local newspapers. They were shut down abruptly last year in a “money saving and production improvement” (an oxymoron if I ever saw one) move. They went digital, but I can’t find them anywhere under their old names.
As nice as the plan sounds, it is still impractical. For the young of today there are too many more interesting graphic novels, heniti, manga etc. type publications and videos that interest them instead of the comics of old. They also, even at a very young age, have the skills to access them on their own. Printed news papers are dying, going instead to an online subscription model themselves. Even the comics have done so with the likes of Go Comics and Comics Kingdom. There is nothing sacred about the printed paper in terms of its content over that of the same digital content, it is just the nostalgia factor kicking in.
The days of a child crawling up on your lap to read the funny pages to them, either the daily or the more colorful Sunday funnies is rapidly dying off. Most people these days wouldn’t take the time to even do this, if their family actually did something like sit down together for breakfast where they had the time to read the comic or the paper in general.
What I find most amazing is that of the 72 posts so far as of this writing, only NINE/9 of the posters for today’s offering by Georgia are subscribing members to Go Comics. All the rest are here reading the comics for free, bemoaning the fact that the creators are losing money etc.
How about dropping some of the classic comics? Blondie (the strip) debuted in 1930, which means Blondie (the character) would be close to 115 years old in real life. She started out as a flapper!
Yes! I support this proposal. Our local paper is one of the ones that Gannett has gutted (Worcester Telegram & Gazette). They took away our lovely, current, recent, modern, new comics and gave us Dennis the Menace and Marmaduke in addition to other oldies (Beetle Bailey, Hi & Lois, Family Circus, etc.). Ugh. Sigh.
Yes! Exactly. My local paper, the Louisville Courier-Journal, is one of the Gannett ones that dropped a bunch of diverse comics. They did add some I’ve been reading here, including For Better or for Worse; but that should definitely NOT be the only woman-created strip! It’s reruns, for heaven’s sake. Though I AM glad they dropped Fort Knox, which was moronic and an insult to service people, making them all seem idiotic (as well as early on, running a strip saying that Memorial Day was honoring [live] service people rather than those that lost their lives.
One thing that doomed the local paper, as well as the dwindling comics, was the ridiculous cost of running a classified ad. They got so expensive, the section is almost nonexistent. That was extremely self-defeating; people used to buy the paper for the classifieds. As the prices went up, that really accelerated the migration to online sales sites. Between the dearth of local news, the lack of comics, and no more classifieds, there’s not much reason to continue. I am glad I get the paper online; also glad I don’t pay for it – Dad gets a free extra online subscription to share, so I now use that.
Okay, rant over. Thanks for sticking with me. Have a lovely day and weekend!
Well, the death of newspapers is more layered than just the reduction of its comic content, to be perfectly fair, but I imagine it certainly hasn’t helped situation any either. :P
Honestly, I stopped getting my comics through the newspaper years ago, and even before then the local papers never had a very good selection to begin with (not exactly big time papers, see), so for me, viewing them online had always been the better way to go. So while I totally sympathize with the ongoing plight being told here and agree to its unfairness, a part of me thinks that maybe the solution isn’t with the papers at all anymore and instead be better resolved through something else.
As to what, exactly, and how are more up in the air, admittedly, but that’s where those in the trade could help with that.
Yes! Bring back the funnies! Actual funny comics would be good, though some of the serial types aren’t too bad. I still subscribe and read the local paper (though it is pitiful).
Newspapers and magazines don’t make their money directly from selling the paper. It’s the advertising that generates revenue. (Good subscription /sales volume’s main effect on revenue comes from their motivation of ad sales and revenue. Advertisers want to spend their money on ads that reach the largest susceptible market. That’s how lots of web-based stuff works, too.)Those big papers of yesteryear were chock full of ads, accounting for a lot of their size. Today, other ad media, both broadcast and internet, give advertisers a better presence. This goes a long way towards explaining the extinction of print media. I can only wish the same thing would happen to all those billboards that deface the landscape.
The sad thing is, even if papers increase their funny pages, they’re killing themselves in other ways. Besides the consolidation and loss of local news, the prices they charge for other items are becoming cost prohibitive. I do genealogy, and had noticed less and less paper obituaries. It wasn’t until my father passed I figured out why. To place an obituary, locally, would be between $350-$500 per paper. Very few still do free and if they do its likely just a death notice. Major cities charge up to $2000. People figured out it was cheaper to just let the funeral home website publish it, or post on social media. Classified ads aren’t cheap either. And as subscribers decline, the fees will only increase. The industry has put itself into a viscous cycle.
I love my print comics in the Washington Post. And my on line comics here. I wrote an opEd to the Post to add to the comics. They ignored me. The next day they wrote a two page story about a school in California in the Metro Section – which is normally for local news. The only section that hasn’t shrunk, and isn’t half advertising is the useless (unless it is for a bird cage) Sports Section.
Love this! Of course.. did anyone see the news this morning? Gannett and McClatchy have now dumped the Associated Press. Going to generate their own “content” with more recycled reddit posts instead of paying for actual news.
I’ve loved the comics since my parents started reading them to me in the late 1940s. They had two coffee table books, one a history of cartoons and the other a New Yorker anthology that I read over and over once I learned how. When I went grocery shopping with my mom I sat sat down on the floor by the comic book rack and read till she was done. I think they’re a basic biological drive that Maslow forgot to include in his triangle.
uncle snipe about 2 months ago
OH MY! Is Beatrix giving the newspapers the Two Finger Salute? LOL Well, count my two fingers in as well!
Le'letha Premium Member about 2 months ago
Yes! More comics! Readers love comics!
Sue Ellen about 2 months ago
You have my whole hearted support for that proposal. You can never have too many funnies in the funny papers!
uncle snipe about 2 months ago
As someone pointed out yesterday, brilliantly I think, many of us first read the newspapers because of comics. And many of us learned , and practiced, to read with the funny pages! Be it in print or online versions today, this should be true now as well. My local is a gannet, and the funny pages are basically the dead comics section. It didn’t used to be that way. Sunday had an entire section with scores of comics to read. Now the sunday paper is about the size of a neighborhood paper.
LoveBritTV Premium Member about 2 months ago
We want more comics!
MrsXandamere about 2 months ago
As a kid I read the funnies and I scanned the entertainment section for mention of the x-files. Best part of the paper.
FreyjaRN Premium Member about 2 months ago
They are absolutely correct. In fact, the LA paper cut down on comics already. We unsubscribed. I hear it is going to online only.
DorseyBelle about 2 months ago
Woah, a chart!! Pulling out all the BCN stops! And Beatrix giving a sarcastic 2 thumbs up: snort! (2 thumbs on 1 paw, hee hee).
comic4matt about 2 months ago
Two pages for comics? Ludicrous! There should be AT LEAST 5!
WelshRat Premium Member about 2 months ago
It’d work. It’s logical. “It’ll never work!”
Jacob Mattingly about 2 months ago
Seconded. It’s a good strategy.
Firebat about 2 months ago
That’s great advice but the corporate overlords will ignore it.
TampaFanatic1 about 2 months ago
I was just listening to a conversation on local public radio WMNF where some of the old school newspaper staff were discussing the demise of the newspaper. Many participating in the roundtable discussion said that a lot of the publishers of printed news, from the small weekly to the small city daily all the way up to the large urban newspapers, all underestimated the power of the internet back in the late ‘90s and early 2000’s and by the time these entities realized that revenues were spiraling downward as advertisers found other modes of marketing, it was too late and the folding and mergers began and have never stopped.
I remember in Tampa through the ’70s to ’90s there were 2 main morning daily papers and 2 major evening dailies ( The Tampa Tribune, Tampa Times, St Pete Times, St Pete Daily Independent). Additionally, there were smaller dailies like the Clearwater Sun and the tri-lingual La Gaceta (now a weekly but still in Spanish, Italian and English). Eventually there were just 2 dailies: the Trib and St Pete (renamed Tampa Bay) Times and in 2016 the Times bought the Trib and laid off 90% of its staff without warning. Now the last paper, the Tampa Bay Times, is only printed on Sunday and Wednesday and is on life support. When I went to grad school in Alabama in the ’90s I could read the Birmingham News, the Post -Herald, The Tuscaloosa News and the Montgomery Advertiser. The Herald folded first and in 2023 the Birmingham News went online and was absorbed into an entity called ALcom along with the dailies from Mobile and Huntsville. The Montgomery paper is still around but not sold on the I-20 corridor anymore.
Sign of the times, I suspect these last few paper newspapers will be all digital soon. I will enjoy my comics on Go Comics and catch the news on NPR and PBS for the most part along with the local TV news at 6 and 11.
ElliottB.C.Rennie about 2 months ago
Oh yes! I learned to read with the newspaper funnies. Peanuts, Family circus, Hagar the horrible, and the Ask Andy column (before Google, kids could send in questions to Andy, and every day they would publish a question and the answer)Lets have less paper telling us what to think, and more showing us HOW to think
Lifeflame about 2 months ago
You Women have my vote!!! Your plan sounds like a good idea
drivingfuriously Premium Member about 2 months ago
When I read the paper, I read headlines first, getting frustrated when I found an article I needed to read, because it delayed getting to the comics. Now I read comics first, news second.
It’s not just the comics pages. Less reporters, writers, smaller sports section, all of it is being reduced.
Space_cat about 2 months ago
I dropped my paper subscription ages ago for this very reason. Also, I got tired of finding out today what happened yesterday when I already saw it in the evening news the previous day. Almost forgot, having to trudge outside in any weather to bring it in off the lawn, either soaking wet with rain, dew or buried in a snowdrift.
win.45mag about 2 months ago
Why ? No one can read.
sueb1863 about 2 months ago
I don’t think the slow death of newspapers has anything to do with the comics. It’s the internet. People see no reason to subscribe to physical newspapers any more. Three pages of comics won’t be enough to convince people to fork over $$$ for subscriptions when they can go online and read all of the comics they want for free. it’s a great idea but I can’t see any newspapers being willing to increase their expenses this way.
I AM CARTOON LADY! about 2 months ago
I did suggest this! It’s a great idea and I’d love a chance to get in there, too!
NeedaChuckle Premium Member about 2 months ago
It would be nice if the paper actually had more local news. You see cops and fire engines going everywhere and not one article about why or where.
emiesty about 2 months ago
The online trend also concerns me because of the digital divide. Rural Texas, the Canadian North, etc., have spotty if any reception. Then economic factors play in; our public libraries here all have banks of computers, which are especially prized by students, jobseekers, anyone who can’t afford access at home. Even a smartphone takes you only so far, because you may need to print a document out.
Tigrisan Premium Member about 2 months ago
I mentioned this a couple days ago, but for me, taking our little rural paper is a treat because it’s all local news, but there are zero comics. The only way I get them is here on gocomics. I’m not willing to take the Freep which is all Detroit and the immediate surrounding area since truly, none of that area applies to me. Flint does either. We’re in a netherland area of news so I really have few choices.
dvandom about 2 months ago
Killing local newspapers is seen as a feature, not a bug, by the companies gobbling them up.
artchick530 about 2 months ago
Panel 1: Baba has been around long enough to know (as have many members of the Orb). Panel 2: Good thing you have the extra toe, Bea! Panel 3: Major tail poof, OZ! I bet that takes some time to return to the normal size. Panel 4: Tabitha for the win!
cat19632001 about 2 months ago
Sigh … how will tomorrow’s young kittens learn the meaning and importance of “Extra! Extra! Read all about it!” Or “Stop the Presses!”?
artchick530 about 2 months ago
I love a lot of the classic strips, and hope that younger generations can still know them. I was always a big fan of Peanuts and Snoopy and feel that those strips still stand up to time. Far Side is (still) a hoot! And Calvin and Hobbes. My gosh, rereading some C&H on this site, I am shocked how relevant some of those strips are in today’s world … some 20? 30? years later! As a kid, our local newspaper did not publish on Sundays, so it was a “treat” when my parents bought the (now defunct) Pittsburgh Press. It was fun to see store ads, movies and concerts in the “big city,” read the real estate and job ads, etc. But the biggest thrill for me, from a kid through young adulthood was the Sunday comics page. FULL color! At least 6 pages front and back. Some comics you didn’t see in the daily paper, some favorites, and some that were visually stunning with a sophisticated story arc (I’m looking at you, Prince Valiant!) When a certain strip was dropped nationwide, our paper didn’t replace it. They just “shifted” the layout slightly on the Mon. – Fri. edition and now have advertising in the combined Sat. – Sun. combined edition! The only positive I will cite is there is a local person who does a comic strip and they have run it in the paper since its inception. Assuming he got syndicated somehow, as our hometown paper was bought up many, many years ago.
Katzen1415 about 2 months ago
I like the proposal! Keep the old beloved strips while allowing room for new voices. Everybody wins, including newspapers.
paschott about 2 months ago
I remember thinking this for a long time, but personally – I’d almost rather have just the comics pages and none of the rest. :) Growing up, I remember one paper actually did have 2 pages for comic strips and the political comics were in the op-ed or politics section. Admittedly, there were still many strips I just passed over, but they were available and mostly enjoyable.
lsnielson about 2 months ago
We no longer have a print newspaper so the only comics I read are BCN and, when I have the time, any others here on Go Comics.
Wayno® creator about 2 months ago
A perfect plan!
Ignatz Premium Member about 2 months ago
This is completely great. And that second panel is something I’ve been pointing out for years, but it’s illustrated.
LtPowers about 2 months ago
Do declining sales follow shrinking funny pages, or is it the other way around? Is cutting back on entertainment features a cost-saving move to try to rescue failing papers?
diskus Premium Member about 2 months ago
I would buy a comics only print paper. All the rest is garbage
Kitty Katz about 2 months ago
Meanwhile, Back on the Nile
Elvis-Anum: I like the plans for creating a printing press. Just imagine, we can get out more than five Daily Scrolls each day.
Scribe Apprentice Tira: What will we be doing now that we have more time to get things done?
Elvis: There is so much more we can do. I know you like to draw pictures and create stories. Maybe we could do more of those.
Scribe Apprentice Akil: Why not have pages of them?
Scribe Apprentice Ebonee: Not only that. Page after page.
Scribe Apprentice Hapi: That makes me happy just thinking about it!
Elvis: Alright. But we still have to get the news papyrus today. The printing press have to come later. Ladies, Tira and Ebonee, you work on the investigative reports. Akil and Hapi, sports and local news.
Hapi: Can I write about the music scene? Ora Z and Mallets Towards None are doing a concert for the Lawn Potato Tournament.
Ebonee: I’d like to interview Sue Chef for a cooking series.
Elvis: All worthy projects. But let’s not put the cart before the horse.
Tira: Speaking about that, Avenger and Emma Peelia will be at the jumping show with their filly Diana.
Elvis: Alright, we’ll get started after we finish copying The Daily Scroll. I have been meaning to work on that article on the dangers of shelves.
Kawasaki Cat about 2 months ago
I read my comics on the computer.
mustardjmd about 2 months ago
For another nostalgic view of newspapers, be sure to read today’s Arlo and Janis. My older brother had a paper route and I had to help him one summer so I could go to Girl Scout camp. I delivered half his route and even collected every week. We had these small tablets with a sheet of tabs for every subscriber. When we collected the money we tore off the tab for that week as the customer’s receipt. We were very careful to deliver each day’s paper in the proper spot. Everyone paid on time, very few people ever complained—but there was always the one guy who was never happy with anything. It was my first paying job ( I was in 5th grade) and I loved every minute of my week at camp!And I heartily endorse the ladies’ idea!
ladykat about 2 months ago
I really miss our local newspapers. They were shut down abruptly last year in a “money saving and production improvement” (an oxymoron if I ever saw one) move. They went digital, but I can’t find them anywhere under their old names.
Daltongang Premium Member about 2 months ago
As nice as the plan sounds, it is still impractical. For the young of today there are too many more interesting graphic novels, heniti, manga etc. type publications and videos that interest them instead of the comics of old. They also, even at a very young age, have the skills to access them on their own. Printed news papers are dying, going instead to an online subscription model themselves. Even the comics have done so with the likes of Go Comics and Comics Kingdom. There is nothing sacred about the printed paper in terms of its content over that of the same digital content, it is just the nostalgia factor kicking in.
The days of a child crawling up on your lap to read the funny pages to them, either the daily or the more colorful Sunday funnies is rapidly dying off. Most people these days wouldn’t take the time to even do this, if their family actually did something like sit down together for breakfast where they had the time to read the comic or the paper in general.
What I find most amazing is that of the 72 posts so far as of this writing, only NINE/9 of the posters for today’s offering by Georgia are subscribing members to Go Comics. All the rest are here reading the comics for free, bemoaning the fact that the creators are losing money etc.
BFletch651 about 2 months ago
A plea we read on an internet comics page.
galechar about 2 months ago
Yes!!!
tim about 2 months ago
How about dropping some of the classic comics? Blondie (the strip) debuted in 1930, which means Blondie (the character) would be close to 115 years old in real life. She started out as a flapper!
bonita.eley about 2 months ago
We want funnies! We want funnies!
w*st Premium Member about 2 months ago
Yes! I support this proposal. Our local paper is one of the ones that Gannett has gutted (Worcester Telegram & Gazette). They took away our lovely, current, recent, modern, new comics and gave us Dennis the Menace and Marmaduke in addition to other oldies (Beetle Bailey, Hi & Lois, Family Circus, etc.). Ugh. Sigh.
Red Bird about 2 months ago
That is a great idea, Tabitha. The more comics the merrier!
22Wu33/es Premium Member about 2 months ago
You got my vote
Solarbear Premium Member about 2 months ago
Yes! Exactly. My local paper, the Louisville Courier-Journal, is one of the Gannett ones that dropped a bunch of diverse comics. They did add some I’ve been reading here, including For Better or for Worse; but that should definitely NOT be the only woman-created strip! It’s reruns, for heaven’s sake. Though I AM glad they dropped Fort Knox, which was moronic and an insult to service people, making them all seem idiotic (as well as early on, running a strip saying that Memorial Day was honoring [live] service people rather than those that lost their lives.
One thing that doomed the local paper, as well as the dwindling comics, was the ridiculous cost of running a classified ad. They got so expensive, the section is almost nonexistent. That was extremely self-defeating; people used to buy the paper for the classifieds. As the prices went up, that really accelerated the migration to online sales sites. Between the dearth of local news, the lack of comics, and no more classifieds, there’s not much reason to continue. I am glad I get the paper online; also glad I don’t pay for it – Dad gets a free extra online subscription to share, so I now use that.
Okay, rant over. Thanks for sticking with me. Have a lovely day and weekend!
scaeva Premium Member about 2 months ago
OT PSA ANNOUNCEMENT: (REPOST FROM LATE YESTERDAY)
Aladar30 Premium Member about 2 months ago
I TOTALLY AGREE!!!
mousefumanchu Premium Member about 2 months ago
I’ll go along with that! Need more comics!
Kitty Katz about 2 months ago
OT: Another Character
scyphi26 about 2 months ago
Well, the death of newspapers is more layered than just the reduction of its comic content, to be perfectly fair, but I imagine it certainly hasn’t helped situation any either. :P
Honestly, I stopped getting my comics through the newspaper years ago, and even before then the local papers never had a very good selection to begin with (not exactly big time papers, see), so for me, viewing them online had always been the better way to go. So while I totally sympathize with the ongoing plight being told here and agree to its unfairness, a part of me thinks that maybe the solution isn’t with the papers at all anymore and instead be better resolved through something else.
As to what, exactly, and how are more up in the air, admittedly, but that’s where those in the trade could help with that.
k8zhd about 2 months ago
Yes! Bring back the funnies! Actual funny comics would be good, though some of the serial types aren’t too bad. I still subscribe and read the local paper (though it is pitiful).
Demo12 Premium Member about 2 months ago
I was surprised at how many strips The Washington Post shows. Many overlap with GoComics but not all.
cat19632001 about 2 months ago
(sorta) OT – Going back to something referenced in the March 11, 2024 strip
BarbaraKrooss about 2 months ago
Newspapers and magazines don’t make their money directly from selling the paper. It’s the advertising that generates revenue. (Good subscription /sales volume’s main effect on revenue comes from their motivation of ad sales and revenue. Advertisers want to spend their money on ads that reach the largest susceptible market. That’s how lots of web-based stuff works, too.)Those big papers of yesteryear were chock full of ads, accounting for a lot of their size. Today, other ad media, both broadcast and internet, give advertisers a better presence. This goes a long way towards explaining the extinction of print media. I can only wish the same thing would happen to all those billboards that deface the landscape.
scaeva Premium Member about 2 months ago
From the dictionary (emphasis mine)
gannet—noun
1. a large seabird with mainly white plumage, known for catching fish by plunge-diving.
2. British informal a greedy person.
Seems to fit …
Fennec! at the Disco about 2 months ago
Yes and amen!
Slappy Squirrel about 2 months ago
The sad thing is, even if papers increase their funny pages, they’re killing themselves in other ways. Besides the consolidation and loss of local news, the prices they charge for other items are becoming cost prohibitive. I do genealogy, and had noticed less and less paper obituaries. It wasn’t until my father passed I figured out why. To place an obituary, locally, would be between $350-$500 per paper. Very few still do free and if they do its likely just a death notice. Major cities charge up to $2000. People figured out it was cheaper to just let the funeral home website publish it, or post on social media. Classified ads aren’t cheap either. And as subscribers decline, the fees will only increase. The industry has put itself into a viscous cycle.
Eric S about 2 months ago
in order to do that you’d have to convince people to buy papers more.. and for what, comics? I get my comics for FREE.. who’s going to BUY them??
JohnTheFoole about 2 months ago
Amen!
crazeekatlady about 2 months ago
I love my print comics in the Washington Post. And my on line comics here. I wrote an opEd to the Post to add to the comics. They ignored me. The next day they wrote a two page story about a school in California in the Metro Section – which is normally for local news. The only section that hasn’t shrunk, and isn’t half advertising is the useless (unless it is for a bird cage) Sports Section.
betsypoe about 2 months ago
Love this! Of course.. did anyone see the news this morning? Gannett and McClatchy have now dumped the Associated Press. Going to generate their own “content” with more recycled reddit posts instead of paying for actual news.
Laurie Stoker Premium Member about 2 months ago
Ooooo! Nice sarcasm in the second panel!!!
willie_mctell about 2 months ago
I’ve loved the comics since my parents started reading them to me in the late 1940s. They had two coffee table books, one a history of cartoons and the other a New Yorker anthology that I read over and over once I learned how. When I went grocery shopping with my mom I sat sat down on the floor by the comic book rack and read till she was done. I think they’re a basic biological drive that Maslow forgot to include in his triangle.
burke129529 about 2 months ago
OT
david.reichert about 2 months ago
more comics? yes please.
MT Wallet about 2 months ago
I was reading in a newspaper that an animal shelter had to relocate because it has a rat infestation.
davidp05201 about 2 months ago
Our local newspaper in California insisted on putting the comics page opposite the obituaries… We stopped getting the paper.
lanainutahdesert about 2 months ago
I agree! Skip the other nonsense and give us comics! “Let them read comics!”