Comments on: The future of syndication and cartooning

By: Dana Summers

Dana Summers — Tue, 13 Mar 2012 10:58:02 +0000

Just a comment, or rather a question for those of you who are syndicated. Has anyone out there been editred, or as I see it, censored by their syndicate? Lately TMS has been refusing to send certain cartoons to my clients and asking me to change others. This includes my comic strips. Personally, I think it should be up to the individual editors to make that call. I don’t need a filtering system at the syndicate. I know of at least one other cartoonist this is happening with at TMS.
Anyone else out there with another syndicate experiencing this crap?

By: Terry LaBan

Terry LaBan — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 18:29:47 +0000

Anyhow, print cartooning and animation are two completely different art forms.

By: Jonathan Gies

Jonathan Gies — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 00:17:06 +0000

I disagree that animation is booming. I may not be in the biz, but I see what I see. Because of corporate consolidation, changing economics, and unimaginative executives, the boom days of the late 80s through the early ’00s are dead. There were so many series (some great, many good, many others bad) and features (some great, many bad) being made during that time. So much of it has dried up. The markets are completely different now and many slots that once were open to cartoons are closed off. And not only that, because of the advent of certain technologies, standards have gone WAYYYY down.
There may be a lot of animation on the web, but much of it suffers from the problem I mention above. So many shortcuts, almost no meat.

By: Larry Levine

Larry Levine — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 14:12:23 +0000

The traditional comic strip, as we know it, is in it’s final days. To survive, it’s vital for the syndicates to reinvent the ‘the funnies’ for a world that’s leaving print media behind.

By: Milt Priggee

Milt Priggee — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 13:49:26 +0000

FUTURE…?

By: RYAN BROWN

RYAN BROWN — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 07:11:19 +0000

Sometimes I really wish I was born about 40 or 50 years ago to have grown up in an era when newspapers were thriving. I enjoy the benefits of today’s technology in regards to cartooning, but I still just love the purity of hand-drawing a 3 or 4 panel black & white comic strip.

By: Justin Riley

Justin Riley — Thu, 16 Feb 2012 23:13:38 +0000

I’m a little apprehensive about cartoon shows. Dilbert didn’t make it and it was an ideal property for tv, most strips aren’t. I think they should go in the direction of movies, but not live action stuff like Garfield. Start with a high-end Pixar animated Peanuts. Maybe the syndicates can become the new Marvel and DC.

By: David Jones

David Jones — Thu, 16 Feb 2012 21:48:04 +0000

Maybe edgy isn’t the word… not like Family Guy edgy…. I meant like a fast pace humor style with modern overtones. Blonde should always remain a FAMILY FRIENDLY experience… but for TV any cartoon now has to be willing to “sharpen their wit” a bit for viewers who are expecting a laugh every 35-42.6 seconds…

By: Ed Power

Ed Power — Thu, 16 Feb 2012 20:40:40 +0000

“a really edgy Blondie”

I would kill or be killed to see any attempt at this. :)

By: David Jones

David Jones — Thu, 16 Feb 2012 16:36:19 +0000

Animation is booming while Comic Strips decline. I wish the syndicates would expand into animation again like they did when I was a kid with Beetle Bailey and Snuffy Smith. I would love to see a Pearls Before Swine show or a really edgy Blondie. I used to love the old Blondie movies…

There are much better strips that would transfer well to an animated TV show sitting on Comic Sherpa. Strips too edgy for newsprint but perfect for animation.