By: E&P Staff "Maintaining," the comic strip about the life of a biracial teenager, will end its daily run Aug. 1, creator Nate Creekmore announced Friday.
In an e-mail to the Albany, N.Y., Times-Union's Comics Blog, Creekmore said, "Unfortunately, Maintaining was never much of a financial success and recent market conditions have only exacerbated the situation. Universal Press Syndicate has chosen to opt out of its contract with my strip and I?ve decided to discontinue the production of the strip in order to concentrate on other projects. The final daily strip is set to run on August 1st and the final Sunday is set to run on August 30th."
Creekmore began drawing "Maintaining" as a freshman at Lipscomb University in Nashville, Tenn. He won the Scripps Howard Foundation National Journalism Award for College Cartooning in 2003 and 2004, as well as the Associated Collegiate Press Award for best college comic strip in 2005. Its run of national syndication began on May 7, 2007.
"Maintaining" focuses on the "peculiarities and absurdities" of daily life of Marcus, whose father is black and mother is white. "Marcus and his best friend Anton maneuver through high school and the world with Marcus as the temperamental, inquisitive explorer and Anton as the slightly cynical, level-headed balance," according to Creekmore's official site, Creekification.com.
"In the two years the Times Union has run 'Maintaining,' some readers have called jokes poking fun at stereotypes reverse racism," wrote Tracy Ormsbee on the Comics Blog. "Others praised the strip for being 'brave' and 'right on.'"
While still with Universal Press Syndicate, "Maintaining" ran in less than 20 newspapers -- and had peaked at about 40, according to UPS' John Glynn, VP/rights and acquisitions.
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