After a continuous newspaper run of 102 years the Australian comic strip Ginger Meggs has ended.
The strip began November 13, 1921 as a Sunday-only feature in The (Sydney Sunday) Sun titled Us Fellers.
From the New South Wales State Library:
The plot of the ‘Us Fellers’ strip had initially revolved round the activities of Gladsome Gladys, a sweet and pretty little girl whose larrikin friends used her charms to get them out of awkward jams. But Bancks tired of Gladys and dropped her a few months later to focus on a boy who’d only been a minor character until then.
As The Sunbeams supplement was printed in colour, with only a limited range of inks available — blue, red and yellow — Bancks had given the boy red hair and christened him Ginger Smith. By April 1922, Ginger had the new surname ‘Meggs’, but the strip would be known as ‘Us Fellers’ for another 18 years. It was not until November 1939 that the ‘Ginger Meggs’ banner officially took over.
Now, three months shy of 102 years, the last Ginger Meggs newspaper strip, once again as a Sunday-only feature, appeared August 13, 2023 in The (Sydney Sunday) Sun-Herald.
Jason Chatfield tells how the newspaper comic’s end came for everyone’s favorite little larrikin:
When I was phoned by Dave Braithwaite, Head of Editorial Operations for Nine’s Metro Publishing, to tell me they’d be killing off Ginger Meggs, (and fellow Aussie comic strip Bushy Tales) I insisted they explore any and all options to get them to move onto the website/apps.
This way, it isn’t “The End” but a “New Chapter” — a Good News story. The request was summarily ignored, once again. The opportunity to sustain the generations-long relationship with readers, and to build a relationship with new ones, was declined.
Not only have our daily strips been completely gutted by News Corp, but our only remaining Sunday newspaper clients, Nine Media/Rural Press/Fairfax have also terminated all comics contracts. The pages will now be filled with Harvey Norman ads and cheap puzzles.
New Ginger Meggs Sunday format strips will run online for a while. Says Jason:
GoComics will be the home for Ginger’s final storyline under my pen in the coming months.
The Daily Cartoonist did its best to celebrate the Ginger Meggs Centennial,
but R.C.Harvey, with an assist from Jason, has a definitive history of the comic strip.
Keep up with news of the redhead’s future endeavors at Ginger Meggs homesite.
Just skimmed the article, haven’t read in-depth yet. But, sad news. Is GC running the Sunday strips behind the schedule of the printing (as the last was 10 days ago)? Or are there new strips posted on GC after the print run has ended? And, are the dailies posted on GC reprints or originals now?
Hi Jim
The strip has been running repeats of the dailies on GoComics since September, but the new (final) original Sundays will run in a Few weeks. The final storyline will be hand-drawn with pen and ink as the other Sundays have been since January this year.
The last original Ginger Meggs daily ran September 10, 2022.
Since September 12, 2022 the dailies have been reprints.
I’m not sure how the Sundays are set up with GoComics.
The British Andy Capp and Fred Bassett run a couple weeks late on GoComics compared to when they run in England (excepting special occasions). Do Ginger Meggs Sundays follow that pattern?
I would think that last original Sunday would be held back until that GoComics-only final story is run.
Thanks Dennis.
Yes, the strip has been running repeats of the dailies on GoComics since September, but the new (final) original Sundays will run in a few weeks. The final storyline will be hand-drawn with pen and ink as the other Sundays have been since January this year.
As a long time fan of Ginger Meggs and collecting Ginger Meggs I won’t be buying the papers anymore the only thing in them is the crosswords my dad only gets it for that when that goes the paper goes it not the same looking at comics on line
You’ve been a very loyal friend and fan of our little Ginger mate all these years, James. Don’t count him out just yet, there’s a new chapter around the corner for Meggsie…
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Don’t pronounce “time of death” just yet— there is still an animated series in production, so Meggsie’s next chapter will not be in the paper, but on screens. I wish the team well with that endeavour.
As Keef Knight said st CXC last year,
“We need to forget the newspapers. They forgot us a long time ago.”
I have lived by Jason’s one quote: “Don’t curate your art to what gets likes. Curate it to what you like.” and now another: “We need to forget the newspapers. They forgot us a long time ago.”
Send a shiver down my spine to read that quote. But it’s true.
If the owners are abandoning Ginger, why can’t Jason just go ahead and make it a web comic? Wouldn’t the abandonment thwart any legal pettifoggery they might try?
It is the newspapers that have abandoned Ginger Meggs, not the owners.
The owners have books and animation in planning stages. https://www.gingermeggs.com/home
The death of Australian newspaper comics pages may have been the culprit to the end of Ginger Meggs.