Jeffrey Lindenblatt's Paper Trends: The 300 for 1999 -- Top Rookies of 1998

In 1998 newspaper editors again went to the entertainment medium (movie and television) for the biggest rookie, trying again to get the kids to read newspapers. Of course this did not work in the long run. The rookie winner was Rugrats; the kid’s show that was airing on Nickelodeon debuted in 19 papers. The remaining rookies did not make a significant impact in 1998. Only one other strip got 5 or more papers and that was Ben by Daniel Shelton which also got 5 papers, 4 of them being in Canada. Here is the complete but very short list of 1998 rookies:

 Rugrats – 19

Ben – 5

Murray’s Law – 3

Clarie & Weber, Heart of The City, Nest Heads – 2

Littlebuck, No Huddle, Offline (remarketing of old Smart Chart feature), Raw Material, Top of The World – 1