Stripper's Guide

In the heyday of newspapes many cities had two papers published by the same publisher, one for the morning and one for the evening; in most cases they would have different comics in the two papers. A good sign that a paper is in trouble is when suddenly both papers start running the same comics in both editions. This is what happened in Spokane Washington with the Chronicle. The Chronicle stopped publishing on July 31, 1992. The Pittsburgh Press, which ended a few days earlier, shut down because of a strike among other factors. So for this year’s  survey we are down to 263 papers. 

This year we have a lot of movement in the Top 30 with the end of Herman. Funky Winkerbean returns to the Top 30. With Calvin And Hobbes gaining 4 papers it is moving closer to the top, rising  from #4 to #3. Blondie takes another hit, dropping to position #4 – just last year the strip dropped from #2 to #3. Far Side moves into the Top 5 with its 12-paper gain. Beetle Bailey falls to 6th. Cathy enters the Top 10 knocking Family Circus to 11. Sally Forth, Fox Trot and Arlo and Janis all move up 3 places.

Since Calvin and Far Side moved up the Universal Section gains more papers in the 3rd and 5th positions.
Top 2 – 198 (Up 1)
Top 3 – 177 (Up 10)
Top 4 – 156 (Up 3)
Top 5 – 134 (Up 9)
Top 6 - 115 (Up 13)
Top 7 – 86 (Up 6)
Top 8 – 66 (Up 3)
Top 9 – 53 (Up 5)
Top 10 – 47 (Up 11)
Top 11 – 35 (Up 5)
Top 12 – 27 (Up 2)
Top 13 – 22 (Up 2)
Top 14 – 7 (Down 11)
Top 15 – 6 (Up 1)
Top 16 – 3 (Same)
Top 17 – 1 (Same)

The Galveston Daily News (TX) again won this year’s most universal comic section newspaper.
Here are the remaining results of the 1993 Survey.

34 – The Lockhorns (+1), Winthorp (0)

33 – Gasoline Alley (-4)
32 – Alley Oop (+1), Eek and Meek (+3)

29 – Tank McNamara (-3)

27 – Grizzwells (-3)

25 – Rose is Rose (-3)

24 – Geech (-5), In The Bleachers (-6)

23 – Crankshaft (+2), Kit N Carlyle (-4), Real Life Adventures (+17)

21 – Farcus (+15), Luann (+3)

20 – Berry’s World (+4), Curtis (+2)

19 – Jump Start (+1), Non Sequitur (R), Snafu (-4)

17 – Nancy (-3)

16 – Amazing Spider-Man (-1), Robotman (-1)

15 – Apartment 3-G (+1), Bizarro (+3)

14 – Ernie (+2), Mark Trail (-1), Phantom (-1), Tiger (+1)

13 – Adam (+1), Fred Bassett (-2), Overboard (+4), Tumbleweeds (-1)

12 – Archie (-1), Dilbert (+6), Dunagin’s People (+1), Walnut Cove (0)

11 – Dick Tracy (-3), Drabble (-1)

10 – Baby Blues (0), Gil Thorp (+1), Herb and Jamaal (+2), Sylvia (+3)

9 – Bound & Gagged (R), Brenda Starr (+1), Buckets (-3), Close To Home (R), Pop Culture (R), Rubes (+1)

8 – Broom Hilda (-2), Kuduz (0), Momma (0), Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (-6), They’ll Do It Every Time (0)

7 – Big Nate (+1), Comics For Kids (R), Crock (0), Dave (R), Donald Duck (-1), Grin and Bear It (+2), Middletons (-1), Mr. Boffo (-4), One Big Happy (0), Steve Roper and Mike Nomad (0), Willy N’ Ethel (-2)

6 – Betty (+2), Fusco Brothers (0), Hazel (-1), Horrorscope (0), Mickey Mouse (-1), Pogo (-8), That’s Jake (0), Zippy (-1)
5 – Francie (+2), Hocus-Focus (-2), Motley’s Crew (0), Word For World (0)

4 – Animal Crackers, On The Fastrack, Redeye, Sherman’s Lagoon, Trudy

3 – Agatha Crumm, Better Half, Chubb & Chauncey, Ducking Out, Guy Stuff, Heart of Juliet Jones, Little Orphan Annie, New Breed, Off The Leash, Pickles, Rip Kirby, Single Slices, Small Society, Sports Hall of Shame, Winnie Winkle

2 – Bent Offering, Catfish, Curious Avenue, Ferd’Nand, Flintstones, Laff-A-Day, Leescapes, Love Is, Moose Miller, Our Fascinating Earth, Potluck, Quality Time, Ripley’s Believe It or Not, Ryatts, Silbling Revelry, Smith Family, Suburban Cowgirls

1 – Ballard Street, Belvedere, Ben Wicks, Bringing Up Father, Duffy, Family Business, Flash Gordon, Graffiti, Just Add Water, Kaleb, Laffbreak, Meet Mr. Luckey, Miss Peach, Modesty Blaise, Out of Bounds, Outcasts, Pete & Clete, Pitts, Play Better Golf With Jack Nicklaus, Popeye, Pop’s Place, Quigmans, Stan Smith Tennis, Tom and Jerry, What A Guy, Wild Life, Wit of the World, Zero

As always, if you would like a Word document with the complete list, which includes every paper that runs every feature, just send a request to strippersguide@gmail.com (let me know which year(s) you would like).

Labels: Paper Trends

# posted by Allan Holtz @ 6:00 AM