For 25 years, from 1983 to 2008, David Astor reported on the newspaper syndicates for Editor & Publisher. Alan Gardner, the creator of this Daily Cartoonist site, called David “the founding father of syndication reporting.”
Every week David reported on comic strips and political cartooning and puzzles and columnists syndicated to newspapers, both upfront and behind the scenes.
At least some of those historical records, along with a multitude of comics,
are now being archived at I Love Comix.
The I Love Comix Archive has collected the David Astor reports for 1993, 1994, 1995, and 1996. A wonderful, nostalgic look at the comic strip and panel industry of 25 years ago.
For even more behind-the-scenes information, get David Astor’s memoirs of his time at Editor & Publisher: Comic (and Column) Confessional.
These days David is pontificating on Literature.
a tip of the Hatlo hat to Mike Rhode for the head’s up!
I read David every week in E&P (as I’m sure every cartoonist did)
Thank you very much for mentioning this, D.D., and for the kind words! I didn’t know about the archiving until I was tipped off about your post. 🙂