Comics Continuity for Vindicator Readers
Skip to commentsToday, August 31, marks the end of The Vindicator‘s 150 year run. As Mike Peterson explains it will continue, after a manner, as a Youngstown edition of the nearby Warren, Ohio Tribune Chroncle.
As the link in Mike’s column tells it…
The Tribune Chronicle has been planning increased coverage of Mahoning County and has added considerable resources to get that done. The Vindicator edition will be the area’s best source for Mahoning Valley news and will offer a strong advertising medium to support the businesses that drive the region’s economy.
and importantly for our interests:
Many of The Vindicator’s popular features, including all the daily comics and most of the Sunday comics, will be included (emphasis added) in The Vindicator edition.
But that leaves me wondering if the Youngstown edition of the newspaper’s funny pages will contain all the Tribune Chronicle comics plus the comics that The Vindicator ran, or if the new Vindicator will only run the old Vindicator comics.
The list of Vindicator comics from earlier this year*
(with comics that appear in either the Sunday or daily Tribune Chronicle in bold):
Blondie
Pickles
Garfield
Dilbert
Classic Rugrats
Marmaduke
Crankshaft
Prince Valiant
Funky Winkerbean
Hagar The Horrible
Classic Peanuts
The Family Circus
B.C.
Ziggy
Rex Morgan
Zits
Hi & Lois
Beetle Bailey
The Middletons
Wizard Of Id
Mary Worth
Judge Parker
Mark Trail
Dennis The Menace
Compare to the current list” of Tribune Chronicle comics:
Daily
Gil Thorp (Sports)
Speed Bump
Ziggy
Mutts
Zits
Curtis
Beetle Bailey
Funky Winkerbean
Dilbert
Mallard Fillmore
Doonesbury
Shoe
Garfield
Wizard Of Id
Baby Blues
Rose Is Rose
Hi & Lois
For Better Or For Worse
Arlo & Janis
Hagar The Horrible
CrankshaftSunday Comics
Peanuts
For Better Or For Worse
The Family Circus
Prince Valiant
Funky Winkerbean
The Lockhorns
Dennis The Menace
Rose Is Rose
Wizard Of Id
Curtis
Zits
Garfield
Mark Trail
Doonesbury
Mallard Fillmore
Hagar The Horrible
Hi & Lois
Blondie
Andy Capp
Dilbert
Fox Trot
Speed Bump
Shoe
Baby Blues
Mutts
Sally Forth
Slylock Fox & Comics For Kids
That would be quite the comics pages if Youngstown residents got all the comics, though past practice from elsewhere would suggest that they would be winnowed down eventually.
*hat tip to Jimmy Delach for the comics lists of both papers.
The Sunday Vindicator started running a weekly color comic supplement as part of the newspaper. In 1911, the first daily comic strip, “Doings of the Van Loons” by Fred Leipziger (Detroit News) began.
A second strip, “Felix & Fink” from North American Press Syndicate, was added in 1912.
Since then, The Vindicator has consistently run daily comics for the last 100 years: 1919 saw the beginning of the daily comics within The Youngstown Vindicator, starting with “Somebody Is Always Taking the Joy Out Of Life” by Briggs, followed by “That Son-In-Law’s of Pa’s” by Wellington. “School Days,” a single-panel cartoon by Dwig, also appeared.
As part of the farewell edition, The Vindicator supplies a history of comic strips in the newspaper.
Rob Morris
Charles Brubaker
Rob Morris