Going with the flow

by Jimmy Johnson

2001-09-17-cat-talk.giftodays-aj.jpg

You wouldn’t have known it by visiting this Web site, but last week was very eventful. There is more change coming in the world of newspaper comics. United Media, the organization that distributes A&J and many other comic strips, the umbrella organization that encompasses the two venerable syndicates United Feature Syndicate and Newspaper Enterprise Alliance (NEA), announced on Thursday that it will, in effect, close its doors.

We cartoonists, the “talent,” were notified Thursday in a letter from Syndicate Vice President Lisa Wilson that “EW Scripps has agreed to have Universal UClick provide syndication services for United Media’s 150 features and comics.” EW Scripps is the corporate parent of UM. Simultaneously, EW Scripps sent out a press release.

No, the comic strips will not go away. Newspaper readers should notice nothing. Even we cartoonists might experience little disruption, at least at first. I haven’t been told, but I think it’s a safe assumption that comics.com, the UM Web site, will be discontinued, and UM cartoons will migrate to the Universal UClick site. I do know the syndicate office on Madison Ave. in New York will be shuttered, and my friends and colleagues there who have suffered me for years and in the process have dependably passed my work along to you will be out of a job.

Now, you know about as much as I do. I will keep you posted.

Recent Posts

Moving on

Perhaps the nail gun and drywall phase of village reconstruction is over. Maybe soon we can move on to the fun stuff, like paint ...

Phoning it in

Good morning! I’m happy to announce modest success in the “responsiveness” department. You should be able to go to this website on your phone ...

Hello, Central?

I have not solved the problem of displaying this page properly on a phone. I do feel as if 90% of my ducks are ...

‘AJ phone home’

I know you don’t come to this blog every day to read about the blog, but that’s what you’re getting. I have tried to ...

…and we’re back!

After a brief break, I’m back behind the keyboard. I’ve already put in a few early-morning hours working on this site. Those are my ...

One Step Forward

There are two areas where I need to concentrate now, aside from the areas where I don’t yet know I need to concentrate. First, ...

37 responses to “Going with the flow”