Filed under: Syndicates

From a story out of Reuters comes news that Warner Home Video has negotiated a deal with Hearst Entertainment and King Features for worldwide distribution rights to all of Popeye’s theatrical shorts and television cartoons…. Warner also has licensed the exclusive rights to 220 Popeye made-for-TV animated shorts produced from 1960-62, 65 episodes of “The Continuing Adventures of Popeye,” produced from 1978-81 (and consisting of 161 animated shorts) and 26 “Popeye & Son” shorts produced in 1987.The Popeye theatrical slate includes 120 black-and-white shorts (106 of them produced by Fleischer Studios, the other 14 by Famous Studios) and 111 Technicolor cartoons (three produced by Fleischer Studios and 108 produced by Famous Studios).Warner will now have to begin preservation and restoration.

King Feature’s DailyINK has added five more comics to their list of features subscribers can subscribers to.  The new features are: Beetle Bailey, Bringing up Father, Buz Sawyer, Flash Gordon, and Rip Kirby.

According to their new blog (authored by Derek, Dir. of Web Operations) the site is the combination of Universal’s uComics.com and GoComics.com web sites.  Aside from the obvious visual changes, the new site uses a Flash-based comic reader to thwart would be copyright violators.

Dave Astor of Editor and Publisher has a great write up regarding the upcoming transition in leadership at Universal Press Syndicate when Lee Salem succeeds Bob Duffy as president of the company.

From the press release:The lively team of characters in the comic strip include Ronaldinho?s brother Asis; sister Daisy, number one fan Diego, his mother and two lovable dogs named Champ and Fireball. Readers can follow their adventures on and off of the soccer field in this daily and Sunday comic strip.De Sousa has already taken Ronaldinho to star status in publishing, licensing, animation, television syndication and social campaigns.

Patrick McDonnell has helped raise $12,000 for the Corbett Tiger Reserve in Ramnagar, India, according to Editor and Publisher.Visitors to the Muttscomics.com store donated $2,000 (in $1 increments), which was matched by McDonnell.  That $4,000 total was then matched twice by The Corbett Foundation and the World Wildlife Foundation of India.

Kirk Anderson has been added to the Universal Press line up of editorial cartoonists according to Editor and Publisher….  Paul Pioneer Press from 1995 to 2003 before being laid off.

An inside source at Universal Press Syndicate has alerted me that Lee Salem has been promoted to President of the syndicate. Lee has been the Executive Vice President and Editor for several years now. Robert Duffy the current/outgoing president is retiring. The official switch will become effective early this summer.Congratulations to Lee!Details will follow as […]

Universal Press has issued a press release to announce that Bill Amend has put out a new FoxTrot collection. This collection is available at Amazon.The Fox family’s zany antics keep us entertained as they encounter pop culture in their everyday lives. Mom Andy tries unsuccessfully to push her youngest son, Jason, away from his video […]

Arlo and Janis creator Jimmy Johnson posted on his website that he exerienced a mild heart attack earlier this week.I used to vaguely be amused when I’d miss a day here on the Web, and readers would write to enquire nervously about my health. I am no longer amused. Early Monday morning, I had a […]

Two more features have been launched. “On a Claire Day” was launched Monday. This new feature is by Carla Ventresca and Henry Beckett and is distributed through Creators. I’ve not seen a press release or much in the way of a description of the feature. You can see samples of the strip on their web […]

John Sherffius’ editorial cartoons will be syndicated through Copley starting March 13. John was the editorial cartoonist for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch until 2003 when he resigned out of frustration that the paper was trying to tone down this cartoons. John’s comic feature “Sam and Me” was launched last year through Creators.

Andrew McMeel Publishing is pushing to take a larger stake in the British market for cartoons and other comic licensed products.Andrews McMeel Publishing (AMP) announced the formation of a division in the United Kingdom. Jack Straw will split his duties as managing director of BrownTrout Europe with the position of managing director for Andrews McMeel […]

Tribune Media Services has pointed Jay Fehnel as vice president of its entertainment products division, overseeing the company’s extensive collection of television and movie information products. “Jay has played a significant role in the growth and development of TMS in general and specifically of the entertainment products division,” said David D. Williams, TMS’ president and […]

Lee Salem, editor and executive vice president of Universal Press will speak this April 6th at a comics symposium in Kirtland, OH.Salem will be the keynote speaker at the Third Annual Lakeland Community College Comics Symposium, to be held April 6 in Kirtland, Ohio. Salem?s remarks will address the history and present of ethnic diversity […]