Claude E. Toles sheet from International Syndicate of Baltimore, MD

A few years back (ok, a decade ago), we looked at Randy Liebermann's Claude E. Toles exhibit at the Cosmos Club. Randy recently provided the syndicate sheet from June 17, 1900 after a discussion of scrapbooks from the Syndicate.

 International Syndicate scrapbook (1908-1909)

International Syndicate Scrapbook (1909)

International Syndicate Scrapbook (1914-1915)

Joe Sutliff's Dunderman comic strip

From back in the day... the 1980s that is. A superhero parody comic strip. 

Self-published, Joe gave me his last copy. I scanned it and will give the original to the Library of Congress.  But you can read it here at the Internet Archive.

Who is Dunderman?

Rocketed to earth as a baby when his planet explodes .. . no, that's not it. Deep in a cave beneath stately Wayne manor... nope, not that either. Bitten by a radioactive ...?

The truth is that Dunderman represents the classic everyman, frustrated with the injustices of life and feeling powerless to make a change. His excuse, he tells himself, is that he is no one special. When chance events give him tremendous power, however, it becomes clear that he is as ineffectual as ever. It is the desire and ability to do great things, coupled with total ignorance as to how to go about it, that is the basis for Dunderman.

6/25/25 update: Joe told me more about the background of the strip last month, and it turns out the booklet is one of ten that he created as a pitch for syndicating the strip. In his own words"

This strip, incidentally, holds the world record for fastest rejection.

After the sweat and labor of creating the strips, I made 10 copies in

booklet form (the standard in those days) and delivered one by hand to

Al Leeds at the Washington Post writers group (too poor to afford a

courier and didn't want to trust the Post Office.) So I went down to the

front desk of the old WP Building but they wouldn't let me go upstairs

to drop it off. The desk guy said I should take it to the delivery

entrance but that I should hurry, since they only made two distribution

rounds each day and the last one would be going any minute.

So I hustled out and around and up the back alley to deliveries, and got

it on the cart just as they were loading it up. This was around 2:30 -

then I got back on Metro and went home. The next morning, I checked the

mail (it came around 10 am) I had an envelope with the enclosed message,

which I have framed over my desk. I envision it thus: It comes to his

desk around 3. He opens it, looks through them, and stops everything,

writing the note, getting it in an envelope and then going down to the

mail desk and saying "I don't CARE if the afternoon mail has already

left - this must be delivered as soon as possible!"

DD Degg memorializes the Washington Post Writers Group (WPWG)

WPWG Comics Division *poof*

D. D. Degg

https://www.dailycartoonist.com/index.php/2024/11/10/wpwg-comics-division-poof/

 

As of today the comics division of the Washington Post Writers Group (WPWG) no longer exists. The distribution of the last Fort Knox comic strip for November 10, 2024 effectively shutters the comics and cartoon division of the WPWG that began in 1979...

Cavna on the late Lee Salem

The legendary editor who discovered 'Cathy' and 'The Boondocks'
— and guided 'Doonesbury'

By Michael Cavna

Washington Post September 4 2019

https://www.washingtonpost.com/arts-entertainment/2019/09/04/legendary-editor-who-discovered-cathy-boondocks-guided-doonesbury/

Comic Riffs talks to Matt Wuerker on syndication

Politico's MATT WUERKER reacts to his new Universal UClick deal
By Michael Cavna
Washington Post Comic Riffs blog March 25 2011
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/comic-riffs/post/politicos-matt-wuerker-reacts-to-his-new-universal-uclick-deal/2011/03/26/AFHteoZB_blog.html

Matt Wuerker gets syndicated

Matt Wuerker is going to by syndicated by Universal Uclick, they announced today, in which we were scooped by Alan Gardner's Daily Cartoonist.

Donna Lewis' Reply All comic strip launches

Washington continues to be an incubator for comics strips, and they're not coming from the University of Maryland's Diamondback (Liberty Meadows, Boondocks, Watch Your Head) all the time now.

Local cartoonist Donna Lewis' Reply All comic strip will launch soon from the Washington Post Writer's Group. The strip is described as "Reply All is about those moments in today's information-overloaded environment when you forget your adult-self and toss the megaphone to your fifth-grade inner child. The strip explores the value of honesty, the power of knowledge and the impact of a bad-hair day on one's self-perception." It launches on February 28. Donna recently told me that she's reworking her earlier webcomics because she thinks her art has improved.

Congratulations, Donna! My interview with her quoted in the PR is here.

Brave New Comic Strips panel at SPX audio is online

I had a good time doing this, and I think everyone was happy with it, so here's my recording for those who couldn't make it.

Brave New Comic Strips (September 12, 2010)


Small Press Expo panel from September 12, 2010.

The newspaper industry, long the home of American comics first popular dedicated format, faces an existential crisis presented by the emergence and proliferation of digital media. Against all odds, artists interested in the daily strip format continue to produce work with an eye for print. Mike Rhode will discuss the present and the future of the newspaper comic strip with Marguerite Dabaie, Keith Knight, and Richard Thompson.