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Books and Periodicals

Deathwatch II: Print Apocalypse

Published: September 5, 2026 1 minute 6 comments

Magazine Deathwatch

Piggybacking on the news that The Saturday Evening Post is ending its print edition World of Monsters brings news that Castle of Frankenstein and Scary Monsters will be going to the special order/subscription-only market and no longer be distributed to newsstands.

I would see Scary Monsters when browsing the very small magazine section at Barnes and Noble, as for Castle of Frankenstein that is a blast from the past. Not a horror/monster fan I would nevertheless pick up an issue of CoF 50 or more years ago when they included a comic book article.

As John Navroth says, “…just another example of the print magazine slowly going by way of the dodo.”

Newspaper Deathwatch

The Advance Publications’ Michigan newspaper group will have to adjust their advertising promotion.

Danielle Salisbury for MLIve reports that the group is going digital only:

MLive Media Group has announced it will no longer produce printed editions of its eight newspaper titles, calling it the next step in its digital evolution and a response to long-shifting audience trends.

Dec. 6, 2026 will be the last print editions for The Ann Arbor News, The Bay City Times, The Flint Journal, The Grand Rapids Press, Jackson Citizen Patriot, Kalamazoo Gazette, Muskegon Chronicle and The Saginaw News.

Early last year the MLive Media Group, and by extension all Advance newspapers, announced an expansion of their daily and Sunday comics. This matters because the newspapers’ online digital comics pays a pittance compared with print versions. And if past practice is any indication of future intentions the digital-only “evolution” may very well spread to the other Advance newspapers.

So I guess for Michigan newspaper readers it no longer matters what will replace the daily Big Nate in their newspapers and there is no hope of Big Nate ever appearing in the Sunday edition.

Advance newspapers Sunday comics promotion
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Comments 6

  1. Gosh, I guess poor folks are supposed to squat in ignorance. Seond-hand magazines are a major source of information for those who can’t afford first runs. My library sells them for a dime apiece.
    Fascists are well aware that a stupid, ignorant poor populace is easily manipulated into going against their best interests.

  2. 2 Monster magazines going subscription only. Remember the glory days of the Famous Monsters of Filmland magazine?

  3. With the Advance Papers Michigan papers going digital instead of print, does this mean the USA Today owned Free Press/News newspapers are spared?

    1. Yeah, at least for now. At least in the Detroit Free Press they gave half a page to the newspapers going digital only.

  4. My grandfather worked in the pressroom of The Grand Rapids Press. He used to fold boats and hats for us out of newspaper. He was able to buy a home and a car and raise a family working there. Later, I was a paperboy for The Grand Rapids Press. That is all.

    1. Paperboys went out with afternoon papers. I had friends who delivered the paper after school, but when most papers went to morning production, it became legally problematic to send little kids out in the dark.

      Then again, the papers don’t weigh enough that you can throw them from the curb anymore. I had a front row seat to watch corporate management completely blow the rise of the Internet and competitors like Craigslist. I find it infuriating to see people motivated entirely by greed making such stupid, self-defeating blunders, but god knows nobody could talk them out of it.

      BTW, small independent community papers can survive, as can good on-line sources that cover local stories. Papers that feature Cub Scout awards and who’s back from the Army and where’s the chicken dinner can prosper, if they’re only supposed to live, not fuel a Wall Street conglomerate.

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