That’s four color comics, not four-color comics.
The Prescott Daily Courier will shrink its Sunday Color Comics print section to four comics beginning next week.
The Daily Courier informed their readers of “a new comics format” beginning February 5:
Today, Jan. 29, will be the last day The Daily Courier will offer its full section of Sunday color comics in the print edition of the newspaper.
Via Facebook the paper informs that the new Sunday Funnies will consist of four color comic strips*:
The top comics in our recent readers survey, in descending order are: Pickles, Peanuts, Zits, and Garfield. They will appear in color.
Naturally the loss will be compensated by more news and features to the print edition and the website.
*I couldn’t get past the paywall so this item consists of what could be gleaned from The Daily Courier website, their Facebook page, and Google News previews, they may run more Sunday comics in black and white.
header illustration © G. B. Trudeau
Growing up in England the 70s and 80s, I was limited to reading a handful of comics a day and that was only because I could read If…, Doonesbury, The Far Side, Calvin and Hobbes and Bloom County in the papers I delivered on my paper round.
When I moved to the US in 1990, I was gobsmacked to see PAGES of cartoons and then whole inserts of colour cartoons on Sundays. That, bottomless cups of coffee and decent bagels were a heavenly way to start the day.
What a loss.
Same here. Growing up in Australia it was 4-5 strips at the most. I was gobsmacked that newspapers elsewhere were running entire sections of comics and I was being robbed of that exposure growing up.
Enjoyed your comment. I’ve been collecting 1950s and 1960s Sunday newspapers from garage sales and have been amazed at the size and number of comic features. In many cities, TWO comics sections. And multiple adventure, drama and soap opera strips. Flash Gordon looked great on half a page of newsprint. They started cutting back by the 1970s and I rarely collect those. The “continuity strip” is largely gone though I get reports that some, like Dick Tracy, are still out there somewhere.
Having lived in the Prescott area for over 45 years and having taken the Daily Courier for 40 years, I’m not surprised at their reducing the Sunday comic page. Just another step towards the end. COVID pretty much ruined the paper. It is only printed 5 days a week now and they constantly are advertising for help to deliver it to subscribers.
The Roanoke Times in southwest Virginia also has significantly reduced its print edition comics content, promising all of its online subscribers they can see all the comics their hearts desire. Also, like your paper needs carriers, so too does the RT dedicate a LOT of print space to recruiting early-morning drivers for 3-4 hours a day, who will provide their own reliable transportation. The print ads feature a young woman whose eyes are lit up wide as she admires twelve $1 bills fanned across her hand.
The Daily Courier is run by your typical greedy corporate publishing company. They have a market made up of primarily older readers who have relocated from Phoenix & Southern California markets. The paper is so bad that they have abandoned the paper, as well as advertisers diminishing their print budgets. Newspapers always say they’ll deliver more “local news” to replace content, which is just a bunch of hooey. They just shrink and charge more for the product. Let it fail.
Jerry
Took guts to say that. Thank you.
With all due respect to my neighbor to the south, Prescott is a coelacanth; a living fossil rich with history but mostly living in its own past. This is part of its charm but I’d avoid viewing its decline as a bellwether for national trends.
Print is dead
Not in my house. I subscribe to the local fish wrap, just got a few books delivered today, and plan on visiting the nearest Barnes and Noble brick-and-mortar tomorrow.