Dark Side of the Horse by Samson will soon(?) be released into worldwide syndication by Andrews McMeel Syndication, but the comic strip is seeing print in an American newspaper pre-syndication.
The Mansfield (Mass.) Sun Chronicle announced that it has added the strip to its pages:
Recently, we’ve added “Dark Side of the Horse” by Samson, a comic strip about a sarcastic horse and his friends, to our daily page.
The addition is part of an effort by the paper to “freshen up” its comics pages. Other changes:
To our weekend page, we’ve added “WuMo,” by Wulff & Morgenthaler, which offers an irreverent look at the absurdities of daily life, and already a part of our daily page; “Pooch Café” by Paul Gilligan, a comic strip about a dog named Poncho who seeks canine camaraderie; “Pearls Before Swine” by Stephan Pastis, a comic about friendship, and “Grand Avenue” by four-time Pulitzer Prize finalist Mike Thompson, about an energetic pair of twins being raised by their grandmother, to our weekend section.
They join “Lola,” by Todd Clark, a comic about a grandmother living with her son and his family, and “Crankshaft,” which details the antics of an aging man, both of which joined our daily and weekend comics lineup earlier this year.
The paper notes that to make room some had to leave:
But, we know it’s sad to say goodbye to old friends, especially when you’re used to seeing them everyday.
We’ve bid farewell to “Stone Soup” written by Jan Eliot, as she entered retirement, “One Big Happy” by Rick Detorie, and “For Better or For Worse” by Lynn Johnson.
“For Better or For Worse,” it seems, was much beloved by many readers. However, Johnson retired from drawing the strip years ago. The strips you’ve been seeing over the past few years are reruns with a few new strips added occasionally.
Back to Dark Side of the Horse…
No date on when the strip was added to their print comics, only the vague “[r]ecently, we’ve added.” With that to go on I’m, for the moment, putting a start date for Samson’s strip in the U.S. as an equally vague August 2020. I enjoy the strip and am hopeful formal syndication will begin before this year ends.
“’ Pearls Before Swine’ by Stephan Pastis, a comic about friendship”
Love PBS, but that warm-fuzzies description is not the first thing that comes to mind.
Nice to see a paper drop a rerun and add some originals!