Soup to Nutz ends 18 year run

The notice from The Meadville (Pa.) Tribune:

Soup to Nutz ends its run in print syndication the week of May 21. The final daily is release date May 26.

Soup to Nutz
by Rick Stromoski
March 27, 2000 – May 26, 2018
Newspaper Enterprise Association/United Feature Syndicate/(Universal Uclick/Andrews McMeel Syndicate for UFS)
[daily reprints since March 5, 2018; Sunday reprints since April 1, 2018]

As Alex Dueben described the strip earlier this year in the introduction to an interview with Rick:

Soup to Nutz has its own sense of design, and it stands out on the comics page for the sense of humor, which has much more of an edge than other family strips, and for the character of Andrew, who remains unique.

The art style, different than other strips, did draw the reader’s eye to the strip. Then they stayed for the laughs after reading Rick’s gags.

Saying that the child Andrew is unique is probably understating it. Andrew may be singular in the history of comic strips. I can think of no character so purely innocent. The closest I can come is Walt Kelly’s small animal children; but even they could, and would, be mischievous and knew when they were being so. Andrew never has a malicious thought, not even a childishly impish one.

As noted above the strip has been in reruns the last couple of months. The last new daily ran March 3, 2018, while the last new Sunday ran March 25, 2018.  The Alex Dueben interview with Rick from March of this year gives no hint at the ending, but does show a sample of a graphic novel, in a dramatically different style, Rick is working on.

Rick remains involved in illustrating books, magazines, advertising, gags, and more.

Rick has spent much of this century volunteering as a National Cartoonists Society Board member in various positions. In a 2014 interview he relates some of the activities NCS Board members (and presidents) are concerned with:

Duties as membership chairman was to review applications for membership, establish applicants as professionals and co-ordinate with the committee that reviewed potential new members. As awards chairman I co-ordinated instructions to awards juries, answered untold questions from juries and applicants, oversaw the production of the actual awards hardware, actually designed the Gold Key award (Hall of fame) when it was reinstated , designed and issued certificates of nomination to the nominees and mailed out nomination ballots and final ballots to the membership. I’d also have to contact members in arrears with their dues and gently remind them we can’t do what we do without their help. When we roasted one of our luminaries for the saturday night show, for months before hand I would solicit and gather original art from the membership that gently skewered them, have them bound in a portfolio to present to the roastee as a gift from the membership.
As NCS President I would visit potential sites for our Awards weekend for up to 500 members visiting cities and 5 diamond hotels all over the United States. I would plan the convention meeting with hotels negotiating dates, food and beverage prices, accomodations, travel, VIP details, oversee the awards night, seek sponsorship and host several events and parties for sponsors and members. I’d also write a monthly column for the newsletter as well as oversee budgets, income and the organizations finances and investments. At times it felt like herding cats.

Whew! All that while continuing to earn a living with his illustration and comic strip gigs!