Jeffrey Lindenblatt's Paper Trends: The 300 for 2000 -- Results

In this year’s survey we lost only one paper and again it is a newspaper publisher who had a morning and evening paper closing one of them. This time it was the Indianapolis News. So the total papers reviewed for this survey is 253 papers.

The biggest mover in the Top 30 was Baby Blues, which moved up 3 spots from 23 to 20. With the end of the original Peanuts, the most popular strip in the last 20 plus years falls to number 2 tying with the most popular previous strip Blondie. Garfield now has the number 1 spot all to itself and I don’t think we are going to have a challenger in the future.

Arlo and Janis re-enters the Top 30 while Mary Worth falls out of the Top 30. With Mary Worth falling out of the Top 30 this means that all Top 30 strips are either sitcoms or gag a day strips.

Title (253 Papers)	Rank	Rank Change	Papers +/-	Total Papers
Garfield	1	Same	0	223
Blondie	2	Up 1	1	210
Peanuts	2	Down 1	-13	210
For Better or For Worse	4	Same	1	205
Beetle Bailey	5	Same	2	184
Dilbert	6	Same	4	182
Family Circus	7	Same	7	164
Hagar The Horrible	8	Down 1	4	161
Cathy	9	Same	-4	145
Doonesbury	10	Same	-2	143
Fox Trot	11	Up 2	8	110
B.C.	12	Same	0	107
Hi and Lois	12	Down 1	-1	107
Frank and Ernest	14	Down 1	-2	100
Wizard of Id	15	Same	0	99
Zits	16	Up 1	16	97
Born Loser	17	Down 1	0	90
Dennis The Menace	18	Down 1	2	83
Shoe	19	Same	-4	72
Baby Blues	20	Up 3	10	68
Marmaduke	21	Same	1	64
Sally Forth	22	Down 2	-1	64
Mother Goose and Grimm	23	Down 1	-2	59
Non Sequitur	24	Same	0	54
Close To Home	25	Down 1	-3	51
Ziggy	26	Same	-3	50
Mallard Fillmore	27	Same	-3	48
Rose is Rose	27	Up 2	6	48
Jump Start	29	Down 1	4	47
Arlo and Janis	30	Returning	2	43

 

The average number of comic strips per paper went up to 18.41 from last year’s average of 18.18, a pretty big gain and perhaps helps to explain some of the strong debuts we saw.

On the Universal comic section there are big changes:

Top 2 – 190 (Down 19)
Top 3 – 173 (Down 9)
Top 4 – 153 (Down 4)
Top 5 – 124 (Same)
Top 6 – 101 (Up 13)
Top 7 – 87 (Up 16)
Top 8 – 70 (Up 7)
Top 9 – 57 (Up 1)
Top 10 – 44 (Down 4)
Top 11 – 23 (Down 10)
Top 12 – 14 (Down 9)
Top 13 – 11 (Up 4)
Top 14 – 4 (Down 2)
Top 15 – 4 (Same)
Top 16 – 4 (Up 1)
Top 17 – 1 (Down 1)
Top 18 – 1 (Same)
    

Here are the rest of the strips that made this year’s survey:

42 – Crankshaft (+5), Mary Worth (0)

39 – Luann (+7)

36 – Funky Winkerbean (+4)

35 – Herman (0), Rex Morgan (-2)

34 – Barney Google and Snuffy Smith (-2), Mutts (+1)

32 – Lockhorns (0)

30 – Alley Oop (+2), Pickles (+5)

28 – Curtis (0)

25 – Grizzwells (0), Kit N Carlyle (0)

23 – Boondocks (R)

22 – In The Bleachers (-2), Marvin (-2)

20 – Geech (-1)

19 – Eek and Meek (0), Judge Parker (0), Real Life Adventures (-4)

18 – One Big Happy (0), Robotman (0), Rubes (-7)

16 – Andy Capp (-9), Gasoline Alley (-1), Overboard (-1)

15 – Bizarro (-2), Crabby Road (-1), Sherman’s Lagoon (+3)

14 – Big Nate (0), Grand Avenue (R), Pluggers (+1)

13 – Adam (0), Betty (+1), Drabble (0), Get Fuzzy (R), Rugrats (-6), Stone Soup (-1), Tank McNarama (-3)

12 – Fred Basset (0), Heathcliff (+1), Mark Trail (0), Piranha Club (-2)

11 – Buckles (0), Phantom (0), Tiger (0)

10 – Berry’s World (0), Hocus-Focus (-1), Lola (R), Nancy (0), Speed Bump (0), Sylvia (0)

9 – Agnes (R), Dunagin’s People (-1), Middletons (0)

8 – Apartment 3-G (0), Gil Thorp (0), Herb and Jamaal (+2), Mr. Boffo (-2), Rhymes with Orange (+1), Zippy (0)

7 – Amazing Spider-Man (-2), Brenda Starr (0), Dick Tracy (-1), Duplex (0), Heart of the City (+5)

6 – Against The Grain (-1), Buckets (0), Committed (+1), I Need Help (-1), Off the Mark (-1), They’ll Do It Every Time (-1)

5 – Archie (0), Ben (0), Bound  & Gagged (-4), Citizen Dog (-1), Dinette Set (+2), Fusco Brothers (0), Grin and Bear It (0), Kuduz (-1), 9 Chickweed Lane (+1), Our Fascinating Earth (+1), Safe Havens (0), Strange Brew (+1), Tumbleweeds (0)

4 – Crock, Horrorscope, Mixed Media, Momma, Ralph, That’s Life, Twins

3 – Ballard Street, Comic For Kids, Cornered, Donald Duck, Liberty Meadows, Love Is, Reality Check, That’s Jake, Willy N Ethel

2 – Animal Crackers, Better Half, Between Friends, Bobo’s Progress, Broom Hilda, Chubb & Chauncey, Clarie & Webber, Fair Game, Meg!, Mickey Mouse, New Breed, Norm, On The Fastrack, Over The Hedge, Quigmans, Redeye, Ripley’s Believe It Or Not, Second Chances, Steve Roper and Mike Nomad, Tarzan, Warped

1 – Best Years, Big Picture, Bottom Liners, Cats With Hands, Do Not Distrub, Ffram.com, Flight Deck, Good Life, Graffiti, Laffbreak, Little Orphan Annie, Loose Parts, Mandrake The Magician, Meehan Streak, Meet Mr. Lucky, Modesty Blaise, Nest Hands, Offline, Out of Bounds, Pooch Café, Raising Hector, Top Secret, Trudy, Tundra, Tuttle, Two Toes, Zorro