Jeffrey Lindenblatt's Paper Trends: The Three Hundred for 1980 -- The Rookies

The year 1979 will go down in history as the last year of the adventure strip. In that year five adventure strips made their debut, which is the last time that many would begin. Of the five strips, three were science fiction, one western and one an adventure strip revival following the adventures of an orphan girl. There was also the very successful debut of a comedy soap opera strip in the tradition of Gasoline Alley.

The most popular of these new features was a science fiction strip based on what was the biggest money-making movie of all time. Star Wars debuted with 50 papers. The strip that debuted in second place would become one of the most successful comic strips, Lynn Johnston’s For Better or Worse, which debuted in 38 papers. Coming in third is a tie between two strips, John Darling and the western Latigo, which both premiered in 22 papers.

Here is the rookie strip breakdown:

Title	# of Papers	Syndicate	Overall Rank
Star Wars	50	Los Angeles Times	23
For Better or Worse	38	Universal	35
John Darling	22	Field	58
Latigo	22	Field	58
Buck Rogers	13	New York Times	78
Levy’s Law	13	NEA	78
Star Trek	12	Los Angeles Times	82
Annie	11	Tribune	84
Drabble	8	United	104
Prime Time	8	Tribune	104

Other notable new strips were No Comment with 7 and Dupont Circle with 6. Strips that had 5 or less were Albert Herbert Hawkins, Shambles, Copps and Robberts, Sergeant Renfrew (a Canadian strip), Zeus, Howie and Murphy’s Law.

Also very interesting is the debut of a panel feature that would become one of the most successful of the 1980’s and 1990’s, yet it did not even have one paper in our survey! That was Gary Larson’s Far Side.

We have been ranking rookie strips starting with the year 1977. So, how are these new strips doing compared to all the strips in syndication? Let’s take a look:

Title	# of Papers	Syndicate	Overall Rank
Shoe (1977)	59	Tribune	17
Amazing Spiderman (1977)	55	Register and Tribune	21
Star Wars	50	Los Angeles Times	23
For Better or For Worse	38	Universal	35
Winnie the Pooh (1978)	31	King	44
World’s Greatest Superheroes (1978)	23	Tribune	57
John Darling	22	Field	58
Latigo	22	Field	58
Garfield (1978)	21	United	63
Zoonies (1977)	16	NEA	70

Now let’s do a decade round-up. Here are the top 10 strips that debuted in the 1970’s:

Title	# of Papers	Syndicate	Overall Rank
Doonesbury	112	Universal	4
Hagar the Horrible	99	King	5
Frank and Ernest	89	NEA	9
Shoe	59	Tribune	17
Amazing Spider-Man	55	Register and Tribune	21
Star Wars	50	Los Angeles Times	23
Funky Winkerbean	43	Field	31
Tank McNamera	39	Universal	34
For Better or For Worse	38	Universal	35
Heathcliff	38	McNaught	35