Like it says ~ In US syndication , how many syndicated newspaper strips that would be described as " Continuity strips " are still running , including rerun ones ? Also , when did each of them start ?
I will intend this as being about " serious " continuity - Action/adventure or soap opera - strips , generally?? drawn in - Something of a?? - realistic/idealized/heroic-romantic style (Spider-Man , Mary Worth , et al.) , however, I would also count humorous/cartoon strips that include continuities of some lengthh/depth/" realness " - especially the " down home " humor strips that include occasional " REAL real world " perils (Luanne , FBOFW) - Perhaps they could be separated , however .
So , how many continuity strips are still being offered by Ameican syndicates ~ Including those cartoon/real world continuities ones ?
I'd try to think of names myself but I'm asking YOU guys for help ~ And I'd presumably forget something , anyway ~ and what would be the point then ? :-)
Replies
I think these are all of the continuity strips that remain.
The continuity strips I am currently reading are:
9 Chickweed Lane
Amazing Spider-Man
Crankshaft
Dick Tracy
Funky Winkerbean
Luann
Mark Trail
The Phantom
Rex Morgan M.D.
The continuity strips I don't follow are:
Flash Gordon
For Better or For Worse *
Judge Parker
Mandrake the Magician
Mary Worth**
* I followed FBOFW up to the end, and followed the restarted timeline for a short while.
** I followed Mary Worth until a couple of years ago, but got tired of it.
Mandrake the Magician ended in 2013. If any newspaper is running it they're reprints. Same thing with Flash Gordon, which ended in 2003.
Prince Valiant is still going, I believe.
I couldn't tell from the King Features site. Mandrake has guested recently in the Phantom strip, but that doesn't mean anything.
Luke Blanchard said:
The strip ended when Fred Fredericks retired. He had drawn it since the 1960s. He reportedly wrote it after Lee Falk died, but the strip continued to use the byline "Falk &/(F)redericks".
The Phantom strip still has Falk's signature in the corner and he occasionally addresses the reader from a cartoon likeness of himself. The actual writer and artist are credited. Currently Tony DePaul writes the dailies and the Sundays (which have separate stories). Mike Manley draws the daily strips and Terry Beatty draws the Sunday strips.
The Phantom dailies and Sundays have always been separate. I believe they did separate versions of the Phantom's wedding story.
Prince Valiant continues to be seen in the Hartford Courant, in the Sunday edition, just as it has all my life.
Luke Blanchard said:
"Continuity" is an interesting description. I wouldn't consider Snuffy Smith to be continuity driven; but, the strip began as Barney Google, morphing into Snuffy as time went on. Barney continues to appear in the strip from time to time with his horse Sparkplug. Each time I've seen Barney appear, it has been acknowledged that he hasn't visited for awhile. So, there is a continuity there. The past is not discarded, its just not dwelt upon.
I think the word "continuity" is the problem. I think what we really mean is "narrative." They are telling a continuing story, not just a gag a day.
Barney Google was continuity driven.
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