Those being 1: raise the actual print sizes of the strips back at least close to where they were, say, back in the 1960′s. And number 2: Add more strip pages; with inclusions of some well drawn – consistently mass appeal funny gagged – comic strips.

There’s actually a few web exclusive comic strips being produced at the moment. Off the top of my head Myth Tickle comes to mind as a good candidate; there are a few others I’m sure the people here could also suggest…

My point is, is that the newspapers could really delay their so called impending demise by readopting a selling model that completely worked for them from their own past – that of using comic strips to help sell newspapers. Even if the paper gods, did what I’m suggesting on just their Sunday editions it would go a long way in helping increase circulation.

I feel putting forth new blood infusions of yet un-newspapered comic strips would help do the trick for newspapers.

They could even start a new strips try-out page and let the public decide which strips would and should grace the comic strips regular pages. Run each try-out strip for a month and then have at the end of each year long period hold a vote in the paper(s) to determine which lucky strip(s) become newly syndicated. (It could be limited to just an actual total of 1 or 2 new winners each year, too). Just a suggestion, off the top of my head. *Shrugs*

At the very least it would provide more exposure for those try-out cartoonist(s) work. *Double Shrugs*

I’m not trying to trick “real” cartoonists into helping me achieve some elusive success. I’m not in some “fix” that I need rescue from. There is no Machiavellian plot at work here.

I don’t think you really have any grasp on who I am or what I do. You don’t really know the facts about my work or my business.

And yet you’re the first to pop up at any mention of my name to testify as some diviner of my true motivations.

Did I wrong you in a past life? Why do you even care? Was this article on daily cartoonist not innocuous enough for you? Was it such a threat to your sensibilities? Jimmy posted at Arloandjanis.com that he talked to me. Sound the alarms?

My email is kurtz@pvponline.com. Drop me a note and I’ll give you my phone number. You can finally tell me off and get it all out of your system or off your chest.

You can let the healing begin, Rick.

I’m not sure why you think the syndicated cartoonists should do the innovation

I think that was my point. I DON’T expect it to come from within the ranks as too many are, as you describe, working a day job and their strip is a moonlighting project OR they’re so big that they don’t have to look for more channels as their licensing deals are so lucrative that they don’t have to look elsewhere.

But there are a few. I’ve also thought of Over the Hedge writer Michael Fry who is using his Hollywood connections to create RingTales – a company created to push animated shorts (not just from big studios – but any cartoonists – syndicated included) on to mobile phones. I’m not sure where that ended up, but again, there are a few in the syndicated community who are “innovating.”

I guess lastly, let me say one more thing. Please don’t construe my support of Scott to mean that I agree with everything that he says, how he says it, etc. At the end of the day – I’m still in a cloud about what medium/product he’s searching for. I’m merely cheering him on hoping that something good will come of it. I certainly don’t share his assessment of the current state of the art. So, Lurker, I’m sorry if you felt I was being critical of the syndicated folks – that was not my intent. I remain a devoted fan of the art and will continue to enjoy my favs.

Well, creative innovation can’t exist without some medium. Many of us can come up with a dozen innovative ideas, but until the medium exists, it’s a waste of effort. Now in theory, those like you and Scott, who criticize the syndicated cartoonists could come back and say “well, come up with the creative product and the medium will come”. In theory, I suppose that’s possible. But that’s a heck of a lot to ask.

Maybe Scott will do something, who knows. Anything’s possible.

First and foremost artists should not be giving content away for free in the hope that licensing will be their holy grail. It’s not. Very few features have such wide mass appeal that makes licensing a lucrative venture. Syndicates as well as individual cartoonists dilute the value of their content by doing so. Many illustrators and cartoonists have created niche markets that afford them a significant income because they charge for what they offer. They do this on their own. Kurtz boasts a daily readership of 100 thousand yet ignores a significant source of income by giving his content away for free in the hopes that enough t-shirts, plushies and mugs will be sold in order to afford him an income. He’s got it backwards. Until he realizes this and creates a successful model for himself that charges readers for his content ($1 a year x 100,000 readers =$100K) he’ll continue to whine to established artists to find the answers for him all the while labeling what they do as mediocre crap.

Will Scott do it? I don’t know. I agree whatever he’s trying to cook up, he’s going to need a more established name or syndicated to sell it. And I agree with Rick that he’s burned a far too many bridges in his criticsm of syndicated cartoonists. I’m just not going to fault him for trying.

That’s it. I’ve had it with this website.

The money syndicated cartoonists generate is the only reason the web guys even have any prayer at all. Some of the greatest cartoon art in history has come from syndicated cartoonists. Some of the greatest cartoon characters in history have come from syndicated cartoonists.

So how DARE you blame the cartoonists? Every syndicated cartoonist I know tries to innovate every single strip, but to do so in a way the keeps putting food on the table. No one blames you for not innovating in ways that will get YOU fired from YOUR job. If that happens not to be your definition of innovation, whose problem is that?

And then, you say Scott Kurtz is doing something? I beg your pardon??? He’s doing NOTHING. He’s trying to get real cartoonists to do something and carry him along for the ride.

Point me to something Scott has actually done to help the cartoon industry.

“But if you want to blame a group for mediocrity in comic strips, you need only look at the current membership of the NCS or attend a Reuben’s award ceremony.

How many times can we hear Cathy “ACK!” about being fat? How many Monday’s must Garfield suffer through? Mediocrity lives and thrives. Lowered expectations breathe healthy, but not on the web. It lives in these newspapers and with these syndicates…

Newspaper comic strips are total crap. They have been for years. They are nothing but boring, unfunny, recycled, stale non-humor.

If you ask someone my age or younger if they read any strips in the newspaper, you’ll probably hear them mention either Get Fuzzy or Foxtrot and both of those strips are, at best, the top of the mediocre pile.”

I can’t see how anything here could be taken out of context other than in the mean spirit in which they were presented.