Frew’s The Phantom reaches #2000, Walt Handelsman The Saints Caption Contest sets a record, a new Bob Staake book coming, news deserts and digitals – a report, Jason Chatfield on Substack as an alternative revenue stream, and The Kinks get a comic strip mention.
Frew Publications hold the record for producing the world’s longest unbroken run of Phantom comics. The first issue was released on the 9th of September 1948, and in 2023 Frew celebrated their 75th year of continuous publication of the Phantom.
The Phantom #1 (1948)The Phantom #2000 (2025)
Back in the USA
It’s been a while since we noted a Walt Handelsman Caption Contest in The Picayune Advance. At that time the responses numbered just under 1000. The decision was made to not feature it until the entries went over that magical number. The trajectory didn’t bode well for ever seeing it here again with gag writers floating around 7 or 8 hundred and sometimes as low as 600.
But now they featured a Caption Contest everyone could get into – disrespecting The 2025 Saints.
Walt Handelsman
From NOLA.com:
Wow! We received a record-breaking 1,186 entries in this week’s Cartoon Caption Contest, the most since this contest began back in 2014. There’s obviously a lot of frustration with the way this season has developed, but your Who Dat sense of humor has remained Super Bowl quality.
Humorist David Sedaris and illustrator Bob Staake are collaborating on a picture book set for release in 2026.
Astra will publish Sedaris and Staake’s The Selfish Sister next spring, the press announced in a news release. The press calls the book “a hilariously twisted take on selfishness and greed.”
It has been too long since we mentioned the amazing artist Bob Staake, and so the above good news.
2025 State of Local News Report
News deserts are widening. Newspaper closures continue unabated. Independent publishers are calling it quits at an alarming rate. Yet local digital-only news sites are multiplying. Many are even thriving.
The result of [the] months-long work is simultaneously sobering and inspiring.
The steady, unrelenting decline of local newspapers — still the primary news source in most areas – is leading to an ever-rising number of news deserts, now 213 counties. This has huge implications for communities and our society.
At the same time, digital-only local news sources are growing, providing pathways for new journalism entrepreneurs and giving consumers even more information choices.
The festering, 20-year-old problem? Those digital news sites don’t come close to replacing the number of newspapers and journalism jobs being lost. And the digital news providers are almost entirely concentrated in metro areas, leaving vast swaths of the country with little to no access to local news.
It’s not every night you find yourself in a Flatiron loft hanging out with the people who built the platform you publish on, especially one that hasn’t (yet) sold its soul for ad revenue and chaos.
Tonight’s Substack event felt less like a tech presentation and more like a support group for people who still believe words matter. There was even free booze, which always helps the optimism flow.
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