As the Washington Post Writers Group (WPWG) continues to dismantle their comics syndication service, the Mike du Jour comic strip by Mike Lester has signed on with Andrews McMeel Syndication (AMS). This week the title was added (out of alphabetical order) to the AMS page of syndicated comics.
This move comes as the comic strip is reaching its tenth year with the WPWG. Mike du Jour began distribution to daily newspapers on September 24, 2012, though it had appeared in The Wall Street Journal from 1995 to 1998. Unknown if that mean there was two five year contracts or one ten year contract. What is known is that Mike had switched his editorial cartoons to AMS in June of last year after ten years (2011 – 2021) with the Washington Post syndicate, so Mike and AMS are not strangers.
Reliable sources say the syndicate switch will happen August 1, 2022 (August 7 for Sundays).
© Mike Lester
This continues the position of the Washington Post Writers Group that they will continue to distribute their current group comic strips until the contracts between the cartoonists and the syndicate end, faithfully fulfilling their part of the bargain.
above: the Washington Post Writers Group comics from earlier in 2022
Mike du Jour once again joins Loose Parts and Pickles as stablemates since those two had moved from Washington Post Writers Group to Andrews McMeel earlier this year (June 1 and July 1 respectively).