Comic Strips

Iconix, the world's second biggest licensing company, has acquired the licensing rights to E.W. Scripps (aka United Media's) comic strips, including Peanuts, Dilber, Get Fuzzy and many, many others, it was reported today. The price was $175 million. As we reported a few months ago, Scripps, had put its lucrative licensing business on the block, given the problems in their other segments, including the newspaper business. The deal will be a joint venture with the family of Charles Schulz continuing to get a share of the licensing income from a previous deal.

A single gag is recycled in various settings. "What is it about Garfield that makes it so infinitely mutable? Seriously. You can't do this so readily with, say, Beetle Bailey or Blondie or B.C.," the...

Fresh from Richard Thompson's blog, news that there are four more animated shorts based on the amazingly-super comic strip Cul de Sac.

With Salinger gone, you would have thought that Calvin and Hobbes cartoonist Bill Watterson was ready to assume the mantle of the literary world's most dedicated recluse, but he's gone and ruined everything by...

Google is doing one of its birthday tributes to E. C. Segar, creator of Popeye. It's the 115th anniversary of Segar's birth. The Guardian has a nice profile: Popeye the Sailor – who famously attributed...

The Chicago Humanities Festival this weekend presents the pen-ultimate panel, entitled "The Not-So-Funny Situation of Alternative Comix" and featuring Matt Groening, Lynda Barry, Jules Feiffer, and Chris Ware. Tickets are $5. We are likely living...

http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=7033559&server=vimeo.com&show_title=1&show_byline=1&show_portrait=0&color=&fullscreen=1Harvey Awards Animation from Monkey and Tiger on Vimeo. Written, voice acted, and BLAMIMATED by Kristofer Straub with art by Scott Kurtz. This video was played at the start of the 2009 Harvey Awards, and...

WYTV in Youngstown, Ohio, reportsthat students at Slippery Rock University, located in western Pennsylvania, are upset about a recent "K Chronicles" cartoon written and drawn by Keith Knight.  In the strip Knight satirizes the...

Well, then you can enter this contest! Kicking off a year-long series of events celebrating Peanuts’ 60th Anniversary in 2010, Peanuts announces the launch of its first-ever PEANUTS 60th Anniversary Photo Look-A-Like Contest (www.peanutsphotocontest.com), which...

Last night's big storm was followed by modem problems, meaning...a delayed Beat. Apologies to all. In the meantime, if you're in New York, come to the Bryant Park graphic novel panel this afternoon!

(The second part of a series on how not to spend Comic-Con week at Comic-Con) After spending most of the week in San Diego, but only one day...

Just received a galley of this. The fascinating life, work, and legacy of the reclusive creator behind the beloved Calvin and Hobbes comic strip For ten years, between 1985 and 1995, Calvin and Hobbes was...