Andrews McMeel Syndication has recently (this past week) dropped the English-language James Bond comic strip from their menu of offerings to newspapers. Like the Tarzan comic strip they dropped earlier this year, the James Bond adventure strip had been reruns. No new James Bond newspaper strip adventures have been created since around 1984.
Screenshots show AMS was still offering the daily strip until at least January of this year (below), while the Sunday strip, a 3-pack of colorized dailies, was being distributed until as late as July 2021 (above).
Today (an hour ago) we sent a request for specific end dates of the James Bond comic strip to Andrews McMeel and we will update this post if we receive a response.
Like Tarzan we guess the client list for the James Bond strip in the U. S. and Canada is minimal, and that estimate is probably generous. For much of the rest of The Americas Andrews McMeel continues to offer James Bond en Español.
UPDATE:
Andrews McMeel Syndication has graciously responded to our request for information:
“The last daily delivered to newspapers was 7/31/21, and the last Sunday was 7/25/21.
The Spanish was also canceled but there was a miscommunication on removing it from the syndicate site (it will be coming down shortly).”
to Shena Wolf for responding so quickly to our questions.
So July 2021 ended the U.S. syndication offering of the James Bond comic strip.
I have no idea when the latest syndication efforts of the James Bond comic strip began.The original importation of James Bond began June 1, 1964
and ran a bit over two years until September 24, 1966 (Standard-Speaker)We now return to our previously scheduled post….
Now Andrews McMeel offers only two adventure strips, both all-new: Alley Oop and Rip Haywire.
Tribune Content Agency continues to run new episodes of Dick Tracy.
It’s Mark Trail, Prince Valiant, and The Phantom for new King Features Syndicate action strips.
A measly half dozen new adventure comic strips for newspaper syndication.
A far cry from the adventurous decades of the 1930s through the 1960s.
Alley Oop is no more an adventures strip. The recent storylines are so stupid.
Is the Born Loser comic strip going to end?
I have a question for you about Chip Sansom comic The Born Loser. Is the comic strip going to retire or will it be passed on to one of his 2 daughters or a third artist?
The reason I ask is because the comic strip is now considered problematic. For example the comic strip features Brutus boss Rancid gets to bullying him at work and hoards the money and gets away with it.
Also Chip Sansom has been making fat shaming jokes by having Brutus Mother in Law Ramona who bullies Brutus in the comic which aren’t funny and I find it offensive to read. Also the characters are too negative and they never solve their problems. I also don’t like the Comic title “Loser”, it sounds very negative which most people don’t like.
Also I don’t like the rude jokes Brutus makes on Mothers day or on his sons homework assignment.
With that said, is The Born Loser going to retire soon? If so I would be glad because Chip Sansom Comic isn’t very popular anymore and I feel that he should retire the comic strip as I don’t like the negativity he continues to put in his comic strip.
I’m ready for The Born Loser comic strip to either change with the times with positivity and removing the offensive title word “Loser” or else come to an end and be replaced for a more positive updated comic strip, I don’t want to see The Born Loser in my Daily Herald Newspaper anymore.
Ben, I doubt that The Born Loser will end anytime soon. It is one of the more successful comic strips. When Alan Gardner asked the syndicates about comic strips with the best circulation The Born Loser was among the top 34, and it probably remains so.
https://www.dailycartoonist.com/index.php/2012/01/18/which-comic-features-appear-in-500-papers/
In an interview 20 years ago Chip did say he was grooming his young daughters to continue the strip. Has that intent continued over the years? I don’t know.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/liveonline/02/style/comics041902.htm
As for what you find distasteful – The Born Loser is hardly alone in utilizing some form of those situations.
Unlike “Keeping Up With The Joneses,” Born Loser isn’t a phrase the comic strip created. It had been around for at least a century before Art Sansom began the comic strip.
Do you find the adversarial relationship between Dagwood Bumstead and Mr. Dithers objectionable? What about Henry Tremblechin and J. P. Bigdome? I’m afraid the employee vs. employer situation is as old as Gilgamesh.
I’m sorry not all comic strips are sugar and spice, but that would make for a boring comics page. I suggest you bypass reading the strips you don’t find entertaining.