The Daily Cartoonist

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Comic changes of the week

Alan Gardner71 mins

Today is the national debut of Bleeker: The Rechargeable Dog – at least in print syndication. The Times-Tribune picked it up and dropped Arlo and Janis. They’ve also picked up the Sunday Bleeker.

The Contra Costa Times has picked up Pickles after several months of trying to find a Cathy replacement. In the reader poll, Pickles beat out Zits and Peanuts.

Yesterday was the last Brenda Starr. The Boston Herald picked up Brewster Rockit – Space Guy! to replace the red-head reporter.

The New York Daily News has reportedly dropped Beetle Bailey. Comics Reporter Tom Spurgeon writes that Brian Walker has issued a call to fans to have the strip reinstated.

The Journal Gazette (Fort Wayne, IN) has picked up Freshly Squeezed.

7 thoughts on “Comic changes of the week”

  2. Good luck getting Beetle back in the Daily News, though I don’t know if they care how old the comics they run are (“Gasoline Alley” and “Blondie” notwithstanding). The Daily News dropped popular comics like “Cathy”, “Peanuts” and “For Better Or For Worse” over the years (the last two obviously when they started rerunning the strips).

    BTW the Chicago Tribune has replaced Brenda with “Dogs of C Kennel” Monday through Saturday (it already runs on Sundays). On Sundays, the Tribune is replacing Brenda with “Thatababy”. Here’s a story by the Trib mentioning the changes:

    http://newsblogs.chicagotribune.com/tribnation/2010/12/brenda-starr-becomes-collectors-item-sunday.html

  4. I picked up the Daily News yesterday and couldn’t believe it when I saw “Red and Rover”. I’ve always been a fan of the comic strip and to know that I would be able to read the comic strip on a daily basis really made my day. As the day went on I though I thought about which comic strip “Red and Rover took over. It then came to me late in the afternoon whereupon I thought, “They took out Beetle Bailey?” Huh?”
    SIGH
    Oh well.

  5. The Daily News bought back Red and Rover to replace Beetle Bailey? It originally ran in the NY Daily News in 2004.

    Too bad the NY Daily News stopped carrying Brenda Starr in the 1980’s, I think. The Daily News even no longer carries Dick Tracy and Broom Hilda and Spider-Man since 1999.

    When is Gasoline Alley going to retire? Maybe by this Summer 2011?

  6. With Brenda Starr gone, the Chicago Tribune only has 1 adventure strip still running in its comics: Dick Tracy.

  7. I think Dick Tracy is the only Tribune syndicated strip still running in the Chicago Tribune (Is Broom-Hilda still there?). The Tribune has Shoe but they switched to King Features some time ago.

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