The State of the Sunday Comics Section

By: Dave Astor Some people are sad about the state of the Sunday funnies.

Surveys show the comics section remains one of the most-read parts of the Sunday newspaper, yet the way it's treated doesn't always reflect its popularity.

The biggest complaint is shrinking size. "They're making comics smaller and smaller, and cramming them together," says "Beetle Bailey" creator Mort Walker, whose King Features Syndicate strip started in 1950.

"We've lost the grandeur of Sunday comics," agrees "Non Sequitur" creator Wiley Miller of Universal Press Syndicate, recalling the days when papers ran only one or two strips on a Sunday page -- allowing for much more lavish art. Now, many papers intent on cutting newsprint costs are squeezing five comics into a page and reducing the number of pages in the section.

He does add that this reality is unlikely to change, so cartoonists need to "get over it" and "maximize the space we have." For Miller, this means still doing elaborate art with complex color, and using a vertical format that enables papers to use the Sunday "Non Sequitur" without dropping other strips. Horizontal comics making innovative use of their space include "Zits" by Jerry Scott and Jim Borgman of King.

But Miller notes that a number of Sunday comics are only slightly larger, color versions of daily episodes. "We owe it to the readers, and we owe it to the newspapers who buy our features, to put more effort into our Sunday work," he says.

Certainly, Sunday comics color is looking better as more creators do their own coloring. Yet cartoonists have little control over the way the comics often get buried inside Sunday editions rather than wrap around them, and continue to look boxy and static even as other sections get lively graphic makeovers. The 21st Century Comics report of 1985 recommended changes such as running large drawings of cartoon characters amidst the Sunday strips. But with the 21st century actually here, Sunday funnies design looks pretty much the same as 18 years ago.

Why Comics Aren't Treated Better

Why don't papers pay more attention to these sections? Some interviewees theorize that text-oriented editors don't believe the comics are that important or are jealous of their popularity compared to, say, editorials.

Sunday comics sections also lose respect because they don't bring in as much ad revenue as papers would like. "A big problem is lead time," says Mike Peterson, the educational services director who deals with comics at The Post-Star in Glens Falls, N.Y. Because many Sunday comics sections aren't printed in-house, ad deadlines may be too far in advance for some local companies.

"With new technologies and advanced printing presses, more newspapers should explore bringing printing in-house once again," says Lisa Klem Wilson, vice president and general manager of United Media.

National advertisers that once made Sunday-comics buys now often prefer TV commercials or newspaper preprints, according to Meredith Johnston, director of magazines, comics, and preprints for Metro Newspaper Advertising Services (MNAS). She adds that, ironically, some papers have shrunk their Sunday comics sections so much that there may not be room for an ad even if one came in.

MNAS includes the Metro-Puck Comics Network, which reps national advertising for Sunday comics sections in about 200 U.S. papers with nearly 38 million circulation.

Why advertise in the comics? "It's a family medium and the reader loyalty is enormous," says Johnston, citing two of several reasons.

"It seems to me that advertisers are missing a huge opportunity here," adds Wilson, noting that the Sunday comics audience is massive. A 2003 Belden study found that the 200 Metro-Puck papers have 105 million comics readers, including 75 million adults, 17 million teens, and 13 million kids 6-11.

A higher percentage of kids read the Sunday comics than the daily comics --meaning the increasing number of strips that are topical, controversial, and/or a bit risque tend to be less so on Sundays. "It's more toward the 'G' level than the 'R' level," says Carl Nelson, editor of the Nelson Report newsletter, which often discusses comics trends.

Nelson adds that the Sunday funnies are still "a critical entry point" into newspapers for kids, who hopefully go on to also read other sections as they get older.

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Columnist: An American in Tokyo

Pete Rowe Spent Six Months in Japan

When columnist Pete Rowe signed on for six months in Japan to study that country's military, he didn't realize he would also end up observing the Iraq war from a vantage point few Americans experienced.

The San Diego Union-Tribune staffer, who returned from Tokyo last month, recalled that Japan's prime minister supported President Bush's tough approach to Iraq while much of the population opposed it.

"I had a lot of sympathy for the Japanese people's desire that more time be invested in diplomacy," said Rowe. "But your gut reaction is to defend your country." So when Japanese criticism got really strong -- as when one person called Bush "worse than Hitler" -- Rowe was not pleased.

The war was relevant to Rowe's research about changes in Japan's military. For instance, Japan's defense forces have had little presence in the global arena since World War II, but the country agreed to send peacekeeping troops to Iraq.

Rowe filled 14 notebooks with research gleaned from library sources and more than 100 interviews -- including talks with members of the Japanese military. One use for this information was an article published Aug. 24 in the Union-Tribune's "Insight" section. Rowe may also do other articles, and is also thinking about writing a book inspired by his friendship with an octogenarian Japanese imperial army veteran and retired architect he met in Japan.

Rowe Experienced 'Deja New'

The columnist, who went to Japan on a Fulbright grant, was struck by how the country has some similarities to other modern industrialized nations yet is quite different. "Deja new," he called it.

Rowe noted that Japan is still very homogenous, with an immigrant population of only about 1%. He added that Tokyo is much more mass-transit-oriented than Southern California, has a low crime rate, and is amazingly crowded. "I used to think San Diego County had a lot of development and traffic jams, but there's no comparison to Tokyo's density," he said.

The Japanese people? "They're justly celebrated for their courtesy," said Rowe. "Everywhere we went, people bent over backwards to see we got what we needed."

All in all, he said, the trip was "a wonderful experience."

Rowe, who is not fluent in Japanese but did get better in the language during his stay, lived on the west side of Tokyo with his wife, Lynn Hanson-Rowe, and his 14-year-old son, Alec. Two college-age sons remained in the U.S.

In addition to working on the "Insight" article, Rowe has done editing for the Union-Tribune's art desk since returning from Japan. He will eventually resume his general-interest column for the paper. At the moment, the feature is going through a revamping process that will make it more local and people-oriented.

Rowe, 47, is a former Union-Tribune feature editor and feature writer who began his column in 1992. He served as president of the National Society of Newspaper Columnists from 2000 to 2002, and has resumed his NSNC involvement as chair of the group's annual writing contest.

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King Syndicating 'Word Court'

Language Column Is by Barbara Wallraff

"Word Court" is being launched Aug. 31 by King Features Syndicate.

The weekly Q&A language column is by Barbara Wallraff, author of the Word Court book, senior editor and words columnist at The Atlantic Monthly magazine, and editor in chief of the newsletter Copy Editor: Language News for the Publishing Profession.

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Et cetera ...

At a time when few papers are expanding their funny sections, the St. Petersburg (Fla.) Times increased the number of comics it runs by almost 50%. "Research told us we had not kept pace with some of the more popular, topical strips," said Managing Editor Neil Brown. The daily section will have 29 comics on two pages, one color and one black and white. Nine comics are being added on Sunday. The new features include "Baby Blues," "Bizarro," "FoxTrot," "Get Fuzzy," "Luann," "Non Sequitur," "Pearls Before Swine," "Rose is Rose," "The Boondocks," and "Zits."

The 2004 Erma Bombeck Writers' Workshop is scheduled to be held March 25-27 at the University of Dayton in Ohio. Among the speakers will be Bruce Cameron, Creators Syndicate columnist and author of 8 Simple Rules for Dating My Teenage Daughter. For more information on the workshop, see HumorWriters.org.

Full Tilt Features -- a group of independent cartoonists collaborating to market their comics online and to print newspapers -- is launching two RSS feeds for Weblog users. (RSS stands for the "Rich Site Summary" XML format.) Full Tilt (http://www.fulltiltfeatures.com) -- which has a lineup of 14 features -- is also working with Plogs.net to create an online blogging product for newspapers that will allow both reporters and readers to contribute content. The service will also allow readers to choose the news groups, columns, comics, and ad categories they would like delivered each day to their individualized pages.

National Society of Newspaper Columnists (NSNC) President Mike Leonard wrote a column (http://www.columnists.com) about Tribune Media Services columnist/60 Minutes commentator Andy Rooney saying he did not receive a promised $20,000 fee from the Program Corporation of America lecture agency for speaking at Indiana State University in Terre Haute this March. The president of the White Plains, N.Y.-based PCA did not return an E&P Online phone call. Rooney received the NSNC Lifetime Achievement Award at the organization's June's conference in Tucson, Ariz. Leonard is based at The Herald-Times in Bloomington, Ind.

"Blondie" by Dean Young and Denis Lebrun of King Features Syndicate was the best-read comic in a recent survey conducted by The Gazette in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

The U.S. Soccer Federation is using the "Cleats" comic by Bill Hinds of Universal Press Syndicate in its Laws of the Game Made Easy booklet. It's being distributed to more than 40,000 referees, players, coached, parents, and other youth-soccer participants. Cartoonist Hinds is a volunteer soccer coach.

"Between Friends" cartoonist Sandra Bell-Lundy of King has released her first book collection. Hello, Daughter (Plan Nine Publishing) focuses on married couple Susan and Harv's struggle with infertility and the adoption of their daughter, Emma. It is not autobiographical, but was influenced by Bell-Lundy's own struggle with infertility. She is now the mother of two children.

Cow Tipping, the first collection of "Oddly Enough" cartoons by Chris Kemp of Ucomics.com, is available as an ebook at http://www.itoon.ca.


"Capital Connections" columnist Karen Feld won the National Federation of Press Women's communications contest.

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Editor's note: This November, E&P is scheduled to run its third annual "Features of the Year" spread. If you have any syndicated features you'd like to nominate, please e-mail Dave Astor (at the address below) their names and a brief explanation of why you feel they're having a particularly good 2003. The four categories include best comic, best editorial cartoons, best column, and best feature. The last category can include non-Op-Ed columns, puzzles, children's features, paginated pages, etc.