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Rarities: The Cartoon Factory Ltd, A Comic Strip Syndicate – Part 1

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The Cartoon Factory, Ltd. ad from Cartoonist PROfiles #46 June 1980

In 1980 John Michael Pugh, Susanne M. Pugh, and David K. Batsche, all of Mason, Ohio, joined together to form a syndicate to distribute comic strips to weekly and semi-weekly newspapers. In pursuit of that goal they began soliciting comic strip and panel submissions from cartoonists.

By mid-1981 The Cartoon Factory, Ltd. had signed a number of cartoonists and enough newspapers to begin.

The Morton County and Mandan News for July 5, 1981

The Cartoon Factory, Ltd. page of comics debuted on July 5, 1981 in The Morton County and Mandan News (North Dakota) with twelve comic strips and four comic panels taking up about a half broadsheet page.

The Morton County and Mandan News July 5, 1981

The first Cartoon Factory, Ltd. page of comics from July 5, 1981 -The Morton County and Mandan News

For semi-weekly newspapers the page of comics could easily be split in half to run twice in a week.

Chula Vista Star-News announcement on October 29, 1981

The Chula Vista (CA) Star-News published on Thursdays and Sundays and so split The Cartoon Factory page.

Chula Vista Star-News October 29, 1981
Chula Vista Star-News November 1, 1981

The effort lasted less than a year, ending at the end of March 1982 in The Morton County and Mandan News; by that time occupying a full page in that weekly newspaper.

The Morton County and Mandan News March 28, 1982

Imperial Beach Star-News March 28, 1982 announcement

The Cartoon Factory stable of cartoonists and comics remained, well, stable throughout its nine months.

The Cartoon Factory, Ltd. list of comics and cartoonists:

Snavely by Ron Stanfield

Bottom Lines by Chuck Vaden

Gillbert by Mike Kreffel

Newsmonger Report by Jerry Steadham

Horse & Feathers by Fred Womack

Snouts by Mark Segelman

Clipper’s Ship by Craig Boldman and Jim Erskine

Sen. Boondoggle by Sears and Jerry Steadman

Bazar by Jared Lee

Tanglefoot by Gil Parcell

McCobber by Bob Zahn

Charley by Charles Marsh

Elf Squad by Ross (Gary R. Hoffman?)

Salty by Fran Matera

Mutts by GAG (Gregory A. Gilger)

Coach Gibbs by Lance Martin

Some of the cartoonists are familiar some are obscure,

we’ll take a look at half of them in The Cartoon Factory, Ltd. Part 2

and the other eight in The Cartoon Factory, Ltd. Part 3.

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Comments 11

  1. Syndication to weekly newspapers has always been an unstable field. The only ones I can think of that had a measure of success if Al Smith Service and King Features Weekly Service.

    Shame, tho. This syndicate seemed promising.

  2. You guys really should do something about the tiny size of the cartoons. They are so small and illegible! Even when you click on the right mouse button. You write about comics, you would think you would respect them enough to show them properly.

    1. agreed. But there is a nicer way to request.

  3. The Mutts from the Cartoon Factory is different than today’s current Mutts comic strip done by Patrick McDonnell.

  4. I was doing a comic strip in the mid-80’s (Of Mice and Men) syndicated by Dickson/Bennett Features catering to mainly weeklies also. I worked on it for 2-1/2 years, (long story why I didn’t continue). At it’s height I was in 7 newspapers and towards the end they wanted to go overseas, Australia was mentioned. To this day I haven’t been able to find out anything about Dickson/Bennett and what when they went under.

    1. Dickson/Bennett is one of those mystery syndicates that’s eluding us comic strip researchers! Would love to know more about them and what papers ran their wares!

      1. Dickson-Bennett International Features was formed in late 1980 when Gerald Bennett joined Nadia Dickson to form the syndicate. They seem to have had as much success (maybe more?) outside the U.S. as they did inside. As far as I can tell they had been able to sell the comics to the cartoonists’ local papers and not much beyond that.
        They disappeared some time around the second half of the 1980s.

      2. If anyone can verify that any Dickson-Bennett features other than HERMIE THE HERMIT actually ran in US papers, I’m all ears. Ray, where did your OF MICE AND MEN run?

      3. Gene Machamer’s “Machamer’s Corner” ran in his local Harrisburg Patriot-News in 1981.

  5. Congrats on finding an earlier start date for the Cartoon Factory offerings. I can’t tell you how many years I ran around with their one single appearance in a small PA paper (Wayne Independent I think), trying to figure out what the heck it was all about. Finally found the Chula Vista paper to verify that it really did run for awhile. Then, still may moons ago, I got in touch with one of the creators (can’t remember which anymore) and they gave me the names of the syndicate managers/owners. I actually managed to find a phone number and left a few messages, but they never returned my calls. Dead end.

    I’m amazed at how many of the creators are dead. Geez, this was only 1981! That’s like last week, right?

  6. Now I remember — the creator I got in touch with was Craig Boldman.

    Also, can’t wait to find out how you IDed “GAG”!

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