The American Cartoonist has posted a notice (I can't link) that the King Features Syndicate THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN newspaper strip will switch to reruns of prior strips on March 25, rather than continue on with Roy Thomas assuming the credited scripter's position, which I had presumed that they would do in the wake of Stan Lee's demise. Too bad, Roy...and Alex Savuik and Joe Sinott and all uncredited assistants as well.

  The post does indicate/suggest that the strip will return to new stories at some point but I'm not optimistic on that. Are Disney/Marvel and-or KFS so fixated on being able to continue to use Stan's million dollar name that they decided to go to reruns for that reason?

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  • I found the announcement you cite in The Daily Cartoonist. Note the comment by Roy Thomas:

    http://www.dailycartoonist.com/index.php/2019/03/06/the-future-of-t...

  • I haven't read the Spider-Man comic strip regularly in over 15 years.  I'm always astonished to find out that it still exists. That said, if I was a regular follower, I think I'd prefer new stories  under a different team to re-runs of old strips.

  • My daily newspaper carries the Amazing Spider-Man comic strip daily and Sunday, so I read it, well, daily and Sunday.

    Emerkeith Davyjack wrote:

    The post does indicate/suggest that the strip will return to new stories at some point but I'm not optimistic on that. Are Disney/Marvel and-or KFS so fixated on being able to continue to use Stan's million dollar name that they decided to go to reruns for that reason?

    Hardly. Stan Lee's "million dollar name" isn't so important to keep the Amazing Spider-Man comic strip alive because comic strips themselves aren't terribly important to newspapers. 

    What this announcement and the Roy Thomas remark tells me is that they are taking this opportunity to audition a new writer and artist team for the strip. They are likely looking for a new direction and/or a new concept, like what was done with Nancy when Guy Gilchrist moved on. They didn't have new writer/artist Olivia James immediately at the ready; she came on board about two months after Gilchrist left.

  • The Baron said:

    I haven't read the Spider-Man comic strip regularly in over 15 years.  I'm always astonished to find out that it still exists. That said, if I was a regular follower, I think I'd prefer new stories  under a different team to re-runs of old strips.

    If some of those reruns go back to when John Romita was drawing the strip, I won't complain.

  • The Baron said:

    I haven't read the Spider-Man comic strip regularly in over 15 years.  I'm always astonished to find out that it still exists. That said, if I was a regular follower, I think I'd prefer new stories  under a different team to re-runs of old strips.

    Maybe, but for long-running strips, they can pull stories from so long ago that they seem fresh. Peanuts has been in reruns ever since Charles Schulz died in 2000. For Better or for Worse has been in reruns since 2010 after Lyn Johnston retired, after a year and a half from 2008-2009 where it carried reruns with original material mixed in. And Doonesbury has been Sunday-only since 2013, the dailies are reruns.

  • ...I recall that when Guy Gilchrist left NANCY, apparently an accusation of sexual misconduct had a lot to do with it...though I've only been able to find second-ha d reference to this, I could be wrong. I recall read I g of another sexual misconduct accusation against another syndi aged cartoonist as well, I recall the NCS making some comment about it at the time - as the accusations against Harvey Weinstien, etc. also re either ed publicity in the wider world. Can anybody here point me to a fuller explanation of what the evide t accusation against Gilchrist and the other one were, please?

  • All I can find about allegations against Guy Gilchrist are Twitter postings and a since-deleted Facebook post. I'm not finding any news stories.

  • The SPIDER-MAN Sunday yesterday was its last under Roy/Alex/Joe etc.
  • On the heels of the end of the Amazing Spider-Man newspaper strip, Joe Sinnott retires. From CBR: "Legendary Marvel Comics Artist Joe Sinnott Announces His Retirement"

  • CBR prints that final Amazing Spider-Man Sunday strip: "Amazing Spider-Man Newspaper Comic Strip Facing Major Changes"

    The shape of the panels is odd, like it was repurposed from two dailies. 

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