Re: Why are second-tier comics so bad?

> OK, I actually don't disagree with this, but isn't the implication that
> a really good new strip could quickly and easily find a significant
> portion of the market, despite the constant presence of the perennials?

I don't get the impression that there's anything quick or easy about the
syndication business. But I do think quality rises, and top quality work
tends to get recognized and rise pretty quickly.

> And doesn't that form a counter-argument to the claim that the dead
> old-timers should move aside to make room for the new young guns?
>

Possibly, but at least I'm consistent; I don't think the "dead old-timer"
strips should feel any particular obligation to move aside. As long as
someone wants to buy them, why should they? A young gun who wants to take
their place only has to create a better (or more appealing, which isn't
always the same thing) strip. In theory.

In a nearby post Ted Nolan wrote:

> I saw Dilbert when it previewed in CBG, but it was years before it
> broke out. In fact, the first couple of Dilbert books don't even
> bother to collect the strip, but are original material. (And _Office
> Supplies_ is still the funniest thing Adams has ever written). When
> it did break out, it seemed like an overnight success, but really
> had spent its time in the minors.

Good counter-example, but I think it's also worth noting that until Scott
Adams hit on the office-drone formula, "Dilbert" wasn't (in my opinion) a
particularly strong or good strip. Once he tapped into the near-universal
motherlode of boss-hating soul-eating corporate weaseldom, the quality of
writing, humor and charaterization took off (again in my opinion) and
booming circulation soon followed. Until then, it was a very different
strip.

As for "Frazz," I like it and mean no reflection on its quality when I say I
don't see any signs of it breaking into the top tier of comic strips. A
better counter-example may be "Pearls Before Swine," which is very popular
among those who read it and sells a lot of books, but has a surprisingly
small roster of newspapers (United Media says 200, though that may be old
information). I'm not sure how "Get Fuzzy" is doing, but it might be another
strip that has put in some years and is on the verge of breaking big. Or
not.

I still don't think the success or failure of any of those strips has much
to do with the Estates of Chic Young or Charles Schulz volunteering to get
out of their way, though. If editors think "Frazz" will serve their
readership better than "Peanuts," "Blondie," "Mary Worth," "Andy Capp," or
Junior Word Scramble--bearing in mind that editors try to balance their
features to meet a multitude of interests--then they'll cancel an old strip
and buy a new one.

Brian
www.momscancer.com


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