Around The Comic Strip Scene
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A Newnan Times-Herald comics page survey; Mara Llave, Keeper of (No More) Time; Pope Leo XIV and Peanuts; Russ Manning’s Star Wars; The Phantom and Advance Local; and a Comics Kingdom Survey (what!? when?).
Newnan Times-Herald Comics Page Change
As part of a planned revamp of its comics page, The Newnan Times-Herald (locally owned, not part of a conglomerate) is asking readers to weigh in on which comic strips they’d like to see featured in the paper.
The Newnan Times-Herald is asking readers to pick eight comics out of a list of only King Features Syndicate (KFS) comic strips and panels. The ballot contains only and all KFS dailies, weeklies and Sundays.
With changes to syndication and a shift toward independent selection, the paper now has the opportunity to curate a new comics lineup-and reader feedback will play a key role in that process.
The paper seems to be published twice weekly so including those daily continuity strips doesn’t make sense. Also I guess the paper’s default comics image is a collage of Captain America head shots.
Mara Llave Runs Out of Time
When Eye Lie Popeye debuted on Comics Kingdom yesterday Mara Llave, Keeper of Time was erased. The monthly/weekly/occasional Sunday-style comic strip is no longer listed among the titles on the Comics Kingdom index page and clicking on the Mara Llave Comics Kingdom page results in a 404 error.
I’m not finding any notice from Alex Segura or Nickolej Villiger or Comics Kingdom.
Pope Leo XIV: Peanuts Fan
Based on a single retweeted meme from five years ago Pope Leo XIV has been declared a Peanuts fan.
Pope Leo XIV made comedy history when he became the first Charles Schulz fan to lead the Catholic Church
Wayback Whensday: The Manning Star Wars Comic Strip
I’m not aware of anyone who doesn’t admire the work of Russ Manning. Manning created a sleek handsome future world for Magnus the Robot Fighter, a world which was visually sometimes at odds with the dangerous threats it faced from too much reliance on technology. He’d broken in on Brothers of the Spear and made himself an international star with his definitive work on Tarzan of the Apes. So when the Star Wars folks wanted to take their stripling concept and expand it onto the funny pages, they found the ideal translator in Manning.
Rip Jagger at his Dojo has praise for the early Star Wars comic strip as realized by Russ Manning.
Advance Newspapers (not) printing Phantom stories
From the Chronicle Chamber – USA Newspapers printing Phantom stories:
It is time for some good news. Back in 2020 and 2022 we saw newspaper companies in Australia and USA dropping the Phantom strip in their newspapers. Several fans and even creators have since wondered on the future of the character.
[Now] we can celebrate that several newspapers in 2025 have added the strip to their newspaper in a surprising turn of events.
While they use “print” in the headline the Chronicle Chamber does not use that word in the body of the article. As The Daily Cartoonist reported the Advance newspapers (all the listed papers in the article are Advance Publications) have added The Phantom to their daily e-editions, not the printed issues.
A Comics Kingdom Survey I Knew Nothing About
Also from the Chronicle Chamber:
Do you use the Comics Kingdom website? Do you have any changes you would like to see made to the website and or subscription service?
The team behind the website have started a survey to ask for us readers opinions on how they can improve the website.
Some of the changes suggested by the team at Chronicle Chamber are:
- The current and archive past stories are currently listed by dates instead of the stories. This means to start reading a past or current story, you need to know the start date which is hard with 350+ Daily and Sunday stories.
- A Phantom related themed banner instead of Mandrake the Magician characters.
- The navigation is hard
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