This is only the second installment of Editor’s Dispatch, but why not cut right into the meat and address the ever-elusive question: “How do I get my comics picked up by King Features?”
At this moment in time, it’s tougher than ever. It’s becoming increasingly difficult to introduce new comics to newspapers, and the revenue potential of digital outlets hasn’t quite caught up to that of print for us, so we can’t solely rely on new media for new features. That said, we are taking out at least one, or maybe two new comics a year.
The first thing you should do is take a look at our submission guidelines. They’re simple but specific. For the most part, they answer the questions you need answered in order to submit your comic strip idea to King Features. Following those submission guidelines closely will immediately put you ahead of other submitters – seriously, we don’t like seeing binders with glitter on them. And although we laugh about it now, it was annoying the day a submission showed up with a toilet seat as the bookends of the submission itself.
This is all pretty obvious stuff, and following a set of guidelines is easy (you would think). But there are those who want to know more, and they say, “Okay, yeah, submission guidelines, but what are you really looking for in a new strip?”
If we knew that a certain execution or approach to making comics was guaranteed to bring success to a cartoonist and, by extension, King Features, we’d certainly point cartoonists in that direction. But it just isn’t that simple – the stars really need to align in an often unpredictable way. However, there are a few things that successful syndicated comic strips have in common, and there are some key things we look for. In the interest of simplifying this, I’ve distilled these things into three categories: Craft, Connection and Spirit.
Craft: It goes without saying that there are certain tenets to making good comics, and certain skills that require practice and discipline. Without going into specifics (because the landscape is vast and subjective), we do look for competence in clearly communicating with words and pictures.
Connection: Successful comic strips usually reflect our life and times, and our collective sensibilities in some way. A comic strip doesn’t have to have such a low common denominator that everyone on earth finds a connection, but readers do gravitate toward strips that say something they can relate to, and the more readers you can reach the more successful you will be. Even if a strip falls into a very specific niche, there are ways to tell universal truths through most niches.
Spirit: A comic strip really needs to be an extension of the cartoonist who creates it. You can’t just throw a bunch of premises against the wall and hope that one will capture the popular imagination. If a cartoonist isn’t drawing from a well that he/she knows intimately, the ideas will likely fizzle out, and it will become evident that there’s no soul behind the thing. Some of the best comics of all time – especially ones that have had a long lifespan – have been very emotionally close to the cartoonist who created them.
Okay, yeah, these are all fairly subjective things, but once again, there really is no specific execution or approach. There comes a time when you have to go with your gut. We’ve guessed incorrectly in some cases, but we’ve also helped introduce some wonderful and much-loved comics that have had a healthy lifespan.
*A note about this post: I actually wrote this explanation about craft, connection and spirit a few months back when my friend Tom Hart asked me to help him with a book he was writing. Incidentally, the book is very informative, and is specifically applicable to creating comic strips. It’s called The SAW Guide to Making Professional Comic Strips, and it was published in support of his cartooning school, the Sequential Artists Workshop.
Brendan, a bit of an OT question. Will the Daily Ink every include Vintage yesteryear strips from Judge Parker, Rex Morgan, Mary Worth, Apartment 3-G or even Steve Roper/Mike Nomad? Love the Vintage strips, but would like to see some of those features, when they were really in their heyday in the 50s/60s/70s.
I’d like to add They’ll do it Every Time, Tumbleweeds and Kudzu to thta list of possible vintage additions.
How about a toilet seat submission WITH glitter on it?
And NO “cereal killer” cartoons…
Great post, Brendan.
I never told anyone this but… I was the one who sent the toilet seat.
Since we’ve been running the vintage comic strips on DailyINK (a few years now), we’ve included a wide variety of titles. You can certainly expect to see some of the great “soap opera” strips of the 60s and 70s — maybe we’ll try to weave some of them into the mix in the near future.
i do not believe kudzu was syndicated by king features
I want to see the pictures of your reactions to the oddball submissions.
I want to see 2 Cows and a Chicken get syndicated! Steve Skelton has come up with a fantastic comic strip & I put it’s quality and creativity etc. right up there with Calvin & Hobbes. On top of that 2 Cows & a Chicken has such amazing color to it! It’s a top notch comic strip that deserve recognition on a grander scale.
Thanks, Brendan! Hope it was a new toilet seat
You list the guidelines for a good cartoon strip. Pity you don’t follow them. King Features really “missed the boat” on Steve Skelton and “2 Cows and a Chicken”! You mention Craft, Skill and Connection. Steve’s skill is exceptional, he is superb at this craft, and if you don’t think he connects to his audience, go over to your competitors, gocomics.com and read the comments for today and the past several days at “2 Cows and a Chicken!” That strip has a HUGE following and many many loyal fans. I hope you re-think your decision.
I love 2 COWS & A CHICKEN, and Steve knows I love it. Along with Steve’s great humor and art, and his well-rounded characters, 2C&AC’s greatest strength is its adventurous ongoing narrative. Sadly, however, newspapers simply won’t buy a new strip that has a running continuity to it. This upsets me greatly because I can think of a few great comics I would take out immediately if I knew they could realistically be supported by today’s newspapers. Grrr.
Adding my vote to pick up 2 Cows & A Chicken. Different and very funny!
I’m writing in support of a wonderful strip “2 Cows and a Chicken” by Steve Skelton. Here is an artist who has all the Craft you could ever want. Take a look at his beautifully rendered landscapes and compare them with mediocre strips like “Arctic Circle” or “Sherman’s Lagoon”. Steve can outdraw them with one arm tied behind his back. The Connection of “2 Cows and a Chicken” has resonated with many hundreds of fans on the Go Comics site. It is far more relevant than “Hazel” or “Zippy the Pinhead”. “2 Cows and a Chicken” embodies those great American values of 1) goodness and truth conquering greed and the mighty dollar, and 2) pulling together for a common cause, without losing your own identify. And it’s all wrapped up in the charm and simplicity of a family comic strip that anyone can love. And as for Spirit, it is very clear that Steve Skelton believes in his characters and is tied to them very closely. I think Steve enbodies a little bit of Chicken’s tenacious character as well as the Cows innocence. This is what helps him make the characters believable. What more could you be looking for? If you don’t think this strip is popular, I would ask you to go to the Go Comics website and read the 370 comments that have been posted since August 21. Now there is a real fan base! And here is a comic strip that is ready for the national stage. The world is waiting….
Steve Skelton’s strip, ‘Two Cows and a Chicken’, has a very loyal following. His recent hiatus announcement generated 370 comments. I’ll wager that is a record for a strip of non-controversial content. What does that tell you about its “Craft, Skill, and Connection”? Readers identify with his characters. They have become our friends.
Do yourself a favor. Take a long look at it.
You can also add me to the list of people who fell in love with the characters of 2 Cows and a Chicken. In a very short period of time, it became my favorite strip, shotting past long time favorites, such as B.C., Blondie, Beetle Baily etc. I identify with the characters more than any strip. What I love about the strip is the fact it does have a continuity to it.
Check again at gocomics.com, KING FEATURES! Steve’s FANS are getting “psyched and ready” for his return! LIKE I SAID in my earlier post, YOU GUYS REALLY MISSED THE BOAT ON THIS ONE!
2 Cows & a Chicken is an amusing strip, but the fact the artist has has already taken a ‘hiatus” and is only coming back to a three-day a week schedule would be a concern to any editor who expected six dailies and a Sunday every week for a number of years.
If the artist has other commitments (and good for him if he does in this economy!), he’s not available for the grind of a daily strip.
If it’s a creative “dry spell”, while such things happen, professionals keep going, knowing they have a deadline to meet, and the best way to beat such a problem is to “work thru it”.
Brendan-
I’m partial to a webcomic called “Hello, Cleveland!” because it’s executed well, it’s funny, it’s consistent, it has heart and well…..basically it’s my strip. Last Labor day weekend, the strip got 168,000 hits, so it’s reaching some kind of core audience. If you have a minute, it’s at http://www.hellocleveland.biz
Thanks
Charles Bogle
Hi Brendan! Nice blog you have here!
Charles, I looked at your strip and I thought it was funny. Good luck with it.
@ Atomic Kommie: I had to laugh at your post. I have been drawing 2 Cows and a Chicken every day for about 4 years. Full color dailies and Sundays, the whole works. I had to maintain this schedule because I appeared in one newspaper. You might say I am the hardest working unsyndicated cartoonist out there. Before that, I drew another comic that I self syndicated for about 7 years called “Loose Nuts”. I won the Fine Toon Fellowship in 2004 with another comic called “Stressman”. If you were to take all the time I have devoted to working on comic strips, it would probably be about 7 or 8 solid years of my life. I have drawing 2CAAC for four years daily, taking about 25 hours per week and my pay rate is about $1.30 per hour.
Two Cows and a Chicken has got to be the dumbest strip there is. Not funny and stupid. Quit spamming this site, just shows you how pathetic they are at Two Cows & Chicken to spam this site.
Dear Bob,
You are a stroke.
Well Bob, that’s just your opinion. It’s easy to criticize. Now, tell me, again, what strip do you draw?
I’m enjoying this blog & all the comments. So here’s MY opinion, for whatever it’s worth.
I admire anyone who puts forth the effort to do a well created / thought out strip. Now that said, I’m not a huge fan of Cow & Chicken…just not my cup of tea, I guess. And I do think / feel that, if after 4-5 years of doing a strip, it’s not being considered seriously for syndication; then there is something definitely wrong w/ said strip. And perhaps the artist / strip creator should either overhaul the strip or let it go and develop a different strip. (Again just my opinion, as a comic-strip creator, myself).
I, myself, AM, getting ready to send in my strips’ samples too King Features…so we’ll see if a strip that is actually new in concept, while not being too much of an ‘oddball’ – can actually get syndicated by King. My strip will fall into a certain niche, But it will also have with it’s gaglines, relate-able content too to people outside my selected niche base. Now what might work against me is that I come from an animation & comic book creating background – which means my artwork style is more what you would find in ether a comic book or a Disney movie; it’s not a style looking like Cow & Chicken, or Cathy, or Blondie…
So hopefully, King Features will take a look at my strip; and see it as something fresh, in it’s artistic style as well as in it’s spirit. (If not, I have also developed 6 other comic-strips – each w/ it’s completely different thrusts to them, and different art style, in their execution. One of them is even in a semi-manga style; kind of like the strip called: “MythTickle”).
In conclusion, my opinion is that I think the syndicate should make better effort(s) to convince the newspapers that they should not be afraid to try out fresh, new, strips in their papers! And that the newspapers should add more pages to their comics sections, as well as raising the size of the strips on the pages too. It would promote better drawn strips and more creativity, in the strips overall, which would help sell more newspapers.
Good luck to Cow & Chicken creator….see ya’all in the funny papers….soon hopefully.
~Wolvercat
Wolvercat, I guess we all have different tastes, and I wish you luck, on your syndication. Myth Tickle isn’t my cup of tea, so if your strip is along those lines, I would give you a chance, but doubt I would follow it on a regular basis. But I know the BEAUTIFUL artwork of Steve’s designs, and the gentle humor of his strips. Brings a smile to my face, and many other loyal fans, every day we see 2 Cows and a Chicken. And I do agree with you about what newspapers should be doing with the comic strips. I remember growing up, I was born in 1953, my parents bought the Sunday paper STRICTLY for the COMIC STRIPS! That was the first thing they read, the rest of it was later in the evening. No wonder the newspapers are dying. It’s just not the fault of the Internet. I would gladly buy the newspaper if it had more in it. I still get my local daily paper, but it has dwindled down to almost nothing, I still subscribe out of loyalty to a small town newspaper.
Well said, Dry. Unfortunately for my more recent local homes, I dropped my paper long ago. All the comics I get are from the internet and most of the news is as well.
No comics again today. When do you suppose you are going to work the bugs out of your transmissions? This is starting to look to me as though there is a lack of skill someplace. Could you send me an explanation for this lack of service to my e-mail address?
Wolvercat,
I appreciate your comment, and I wish you well with your submission. True, after four years of drawing a strip without a syndication offer, it would appear that it is time to move on. Actually, since my first submission to the syndicates was in 1986, I probably should have moved on long ago. And that is precisely why I have gone on hiatus with 2 Cows and a Chicken. Hiatus, because I couldn’t quite admit to myself that I was through with cartooning for good. I don’t intend to ever do another strip, this was my last and the best that I could do.
However, syndicates really don’t have a very good batting average lately, and due to the overwhelming support I have experienced (over 800 emails, letters to the editor, calls to the Times call and comments on my page at gocomics), I want to believe I have something pretty special going with 2CAAC. Many recent launches by the syndicates have failed miserably, so part of the issue is actually the state of the industry. I think only 1 in 5 comics actually make it through their first 5 years of syndication. So, in the end, the editors at the syndicates are just guessing at what might work based upon past business experiences. And often they are wrong. Plus, the new paradigm for this medium is the internet, and the syndicates really have no clue as to how to harness that potential.
Yeah, Steve! Well said, and you are correct sir! You have a HUGE FOLLOWING! We all LOVE 2 C & C, for the humor, the warmth, the absolute BEAUTIFUL ARTWORK. There are some good cartoonists and strips out there, but you have them ALL BEAT, for whatever my opinion is worth with the “big shots!”
Thanks, Dry!
The irony to me is that after all these years of developing my style and trying to find my voice, I made a conscious decision to create a strip with depth and a really good story that unfolds over time. I have heard from locals that it is one of the reason they renew their newspaper subscription, and yet it is the very reason King gave me for passing on it.
Steve, if King Features knows how to run a business, they will re-think their decision. If they don’t, look elsewhere, like Universal or McMeel. Or Creators Syndicate.
I didn’t realize this blog and its comments section would turn into a place where campaigns would be waged to get me to sign up a comic. Well, I guess, welcome to the blogoshpere, Brendan.
I’m a little reluctant to throw any wood on the fire that is this discussion, and part of me feels it’s in poor taste to make a specific example of a comic in a public forum like this, but I suppose it’s been invited. So let me clear up a few things:
1) I believe TWO COWS & A CHICKEN is a very good comic strip. Subjective as that may be, I say it with absolute sincerity. There’s little dispute over the quality of Steve’s work. Unfortunately, so much more goes into these decisions.
2) Many factors are considered when choosing whether or not to syndicate a comic strip. This blog post was designed to introduce the most basic qualities that we look for — beyond those three basic attributes, we’ve got to look much deeper and consider not just the comic strip, but a multitude of contributing factors. Timing a launch is a huge consideration alone.
3) I agonize over the fact that we can’t effectively introduce new continuity strips to daily newspapers, but it’s just a simple, crummy reality. Editors at newspapers are reluctant to make any changes to their comic section, and they’re armed with a hundred reasons why not to take the new thing we’re offering. One thing they repeatedly remind us in that they don’t feel they can introduce something new to their readers if it requires having been along for the ride the whole time. It’s frustrating.
4) It’s an amazing testament to a comic strip when it receives the sort of support online that 2C&AC has received. But it’s one factor of many that needs to be considered. The web offers real enthusiasts a way to voice their support for something they love. Those testimonials are a great place for us to start building a marketing plan, but our ultimate challenge is to reach many millions of readers in print and all other media.
5) In response to the statement, “syndicates really don’t have a very good batting average lately,” I offer this: King Features recently placed Steve Kelley and Jeff Parker’s DUSTIN in over 300 newspapers in spite of an extremely difficult print market. Mostly because it’s a terrific comic strip on every level, and it really resonates with a great many people.
6) Further to statement five, just because a comic strip doesn’t make it to hundreds of newspapers, doesn’t mean it isn’t a wonderful comic. We’ve taken out some extremely strong comic strips recently. And wait’ll you see our new one, GIL by Norm Feuti — it’s a gem.
I think that covers most of the comments that have been contributed. I look forward to further discussions — it’s invigorating.
Brendan,
I don’t really want this to be about my strip. I don’t want this blog to become a sounding board for frustrated cartoonists. I just wanted to share some of my thoughts and experiences on trying to get syndicated. And I have no sour grapes, though probably some of my frustration is coming through. It’s great to hear from a syndicate editor such as yourself, and I want to compliment you on Dustin. It’s a great strip!
Newspaper Editors are dough heads. Case in point the one at the Philadelphia Inquirer who booted a whole bunch of comics and then hide behind “journalistic integrity and putting the resources towards that”.
No, dude. You are cutting your nose off to spite your face.
And, Brendan, I feel your pain on the lack of interestin in continuity strips. Real shame.
Brendan, Just catching up with My Daily Ink, so I hope you see this. I quote you here: “Editors at newspapers are reluctant to make any changes to their comic section, and they’re armed with a hundred reasons why not to take the new thing we’re offering. One thing they repeatedly remind us in that they don’t feel they can introduce something new to their readers if it requires having been along for the ride the whole time.” Those editors sound like my County Commissioners, and that is not a compliment! They are afraid to take a chance on ANYTHING NEW OR DIFFERENT! And they decide what’s best for the people. That’s why my area is in such a mess right now. Let’s just keep the status quo, it’s safer that way. When newspapers totally die out, the editors can blame themselves for their narrow minded ideas.
And Dustin is a good strip. However, out of all the strips I love and read, if I were allowed one and only one comic strip that I could read, it would be 2 COWS AND A CHICKEN. That being said, I’ll go out the back door now!
Time to face the music armed with this great inomfraiton.