Here we have a recent obscurity, a delightful gag feature titled Meehan Streak by Kieran Meehan. Meehan is Scottish and made a name for himself over there in the 1980s and 90s with various features. In the 90s he invaded the colonies by contributing to King Features' 'edgy' panel cartoon series The New Breed. King Features editor Jay Kennedy was impressed with Meehan's work and encouraged him to come up with his own feature. The result was Meehan Streak, a daily and Sunday gag strip with no continuing characters.
Ultimately Kennedy ended up not taking the feature, and Meehan shopped it around. Meehan Streak ended up with a syndication contract at the Los Angeles Times Syndicate. The feature debuted sometime in 1999 (sorry, I have no exact start date) and ran until March 27 2005. Syndication moved to Tribune Media Services when the Trib and Times combined ownership in 2001.
Although the strip was, in my opinion, a definite cut above the average, it suffered the almost inescapable fate of features that don't have a continuing cast of characters. As much as readers might have enjoyed the strip, there was no hook that would make them storm the battlements at a newspaper if it was dropped. Newspaper editors, therefore, tended to think of it as a disposable feature. When a syndicate salesman plopped the next 'instant classic' on the editor's desk, Meehan Streak was a prime target for cancellation.
When Meehan Streak ended its run in 2005, Meehan bounced right back with a new feature titled A Lawyer, a Doctor and a Cop, this time for King. The feature is still in syndication but isn't taking the world by storm. The title was changed to Pros & Cons in 2008, but that doesn't seem to have led to any big jump in popularity. Donning my syndication guru turban again, I say the problem is the same -- lack of memorable characters.
UPDATE 5/14/2024: Found a start date of March 15 1999 in the Honolulu Advertiser.
Pros & Cons is one of my favorite strips.
ReplyDeleteI remember this strip. Toward the end he turned it into a strip about cavemen and changed the name to Tribal Meehan Streak. Didn't seem to improve the client list, alas.
ReplyDeleteMeehan Streak is one of my all-time favorites. Was quite disappointed to see it end.
ReplyDeleteThe Chicago Tribune carried Meehan Streak as a replacement strip when a comic strip goes into reruns for a week or two or month in 2002-2003. Then the strip ran regularly from March 2004 (replacing the Hots) to August 2004 when it was replaced by Brewster Rockit: Space Guy.
ReplyDeleteOriginally from 1999 to 2003 it was focused for about 12 several plots/characters/scerios (including pirates, boxers, a pyscatrist,ancient Romans, and cavepeople), but from January 2004 until the end of the strip run in March 2005 it only focused on the cavepeople with rumors to rename the strip under the title of either Tribal or Tribal Meehan Streak as a last ditch effort for the strip, but I think failed to catch on.