By: Dave Astor "Baby Blues" has passed the 1,000-client mark, making Jerry Scott one of the few cartoonists in history to have two comics with that many newspapers.
Scott, who does "Baby Blues" with Rick Kirkman, also collaborates with Jim Borgman on "Zits" -- which runs in nearly 1,400 newspapers. Both strips are distributed by King Features Syndicate.
"Baby Blues," which focuses on two harried parents and their three kids, began with Creators Syndicate in 1990 before later switching to King. It appears in 28 countries and 13 languages, and has spawned an animated TV series and 23 book collections.
Other cartoonists who have or had two 1,000-client comics include Mort Walker ("Beetle Bailey"/"Hi and Lois") of King, Dik Browne ("Hagar the Horrible"/"Hi and Lois") of King, and Johnny Hart ("B.C." and -- with Brant Parker -- "The Wizard of Id") of Creators.
Only about 15 currently syndicated comics have more than 1,000 clients. Five of them -- "Garfield," "For Better or For Worse," "Dilbert," "Blondie," and reruns of "Peanuts" -- have more than 2,000 papers.
Kirkman is an Arizona resident and the Indiana-born Scott lives in California. In May 2002, Scott won the National Cartoonists Society's Reuben Award as top cartoonist of the year. Several months later, he was named E&P's comic cartoonist of the year.
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