Existing comment:
Rise of the Syndicates:
By the 1920s, comics had gained a national readership. Marketing organizations, called syndicates, vied to get cartoonists under contract and to sell their strips to newspapers across the country. "Peanuts," Charles Schulz's beloved strip, long held the record as the world's most syndicated comic strip. But by 2002, when newspapers were printed recycled "Peanuts" strips following of Schulz, the strip was overtaken in popularity by "Garfield," the fat cat who struggles with human problems. Created by Jim Davis, "Garfield" appears in more than 2,500 newspapers worldwide. In markets where two or more newspapers competed for circulation, popular comic strips became valuable assets. |