Register and Tribune Syndicate

Last updated
Register and Tribune Syndicate
Industry Print syndication
Founded1922;100 years ago (1922)
Founders John Cowles, Sr.
Defunct1986;36 years ago (1986)
FateAcquired by King Features Syndicate to become Cowles Symdicate affiliate
Headquarters715 Locust Street,
Des Moines, Iowa
,
U.S.
Key people
Henry Martin, Charles E. Lounsbury
ProductsComic strips, newspaper columns
Owners Cowles family (1922–1935)
Cowles Media Company (1935–1986)
Hearst Publications (1986-present)

The Register and Tribune Syndicate was a syndication service based in Des Moines, Iowa, that operated from 1922 to 1986, when it was acquired by King Features to become the Cowles Syndicate affiliate. At its peak, the Register and Tribune Syndicate offered newspapers some 60 to 75 features, including editorial cartoonist Herblock, comic strips, and commentaries by David Horowitz, Stanley Karnow, and others.

Contents

Throughout the 1940s the syndicate distributed the weekly "The Spirit Section," a 16-page tabloid-sized newsprint comic book supplement eventually sold to 20 Sunday newspapers with a combined circulation of as many as five million copies. The Register and Tribune Syndicate's most successful comics feature was The Family Circus (launched in 1960), eventually distributed to more than 1,000 newspapers; other long-running strips included Channel Chuckles , Jane Arden , The Better Half , and Tumbleweeds .

History

Origins

In 1922, The Des Moines Register publisher Gardner Cowles, Sr.' son John Cowles Sr. launched the Register and Tribune Syndicate (the family also owned the Des Moines Tribune ). The manager was Henry Martin, [1] who served in that capacity until 1960. [2]

Jane Arden was the syndicate's first breakout hit, launching in 1927 and eventually running until 1968.

Charles E. Lounsbury became the syndicate's chief editor in 1930, [1] serving in that capacity until his death at age 84 in 1952. [3]

Supplier to comic books

In 1937 the Register and Tribune Syndicate partnered with two other syndicates, the McNaught Syndicate and the Frank Jay Markey Syndicate, as well as with entrepreneur Everett M. "Busy" Arnold, to provide material to the burgeoning comic book industry; [4] many of the syndicate's strips found their way into Arnold's Feature Funnies . In 1939, Cowles Media Company (the syndicate's corporate owner, formed in 1935) and Arnold bought out the McNaught and Markey interests. [5]

The Spirit Section

In the 1940s, Will Eisner's The Spirit debuted as the main feature of a 16-page Sunday supplement known colloquially as "The Spirit Section". Launched June 2, 1940, this was a tabloid-sized newsprint comic book sold as part of eventually 20 Sunday newspapers with a combined circulation of as many as five million copies. In a 2004 interview, Eisner elaborated on the origins of the supplement:

"Busy" [Arnold] invited me up for lunch one day and introduced me to Henry Martin . . . [who] said, "The newspapers in this country, particularly the Sunday papers, are looking to compete with comic books, and they would like to get a comic-book insert into the newspapers." . . . Anyway, I agreed to do the Sunday comic book and we started discussing the deal [which] was that we'd be partners in the 'Comic Book Section,' as they called it at that time. [6]

The Spirit Section generally included two other, four-page strips (initially Mr. Mystic and Lady Luck ), plus filler material. Eisner was the editor, but also wrote and drew most entries — after the first few months, he had the uncredited assistance of writer Jules Feiffer and artists Jack Cole and Wally Wood, though Eisner's singular vision for the strip was a unifying factor. The Spirit Section continued until October 5, 1952. [7]

Later years

Bil Keane's television-themed panel Channel Chuckles was launched in 1954; he debuted The Family Circus in 1960. Bob Barnes' The Better Half debuted in 1956.

The Old West-themed Tumbleweeds launched in September 1965. That same year, the syndicate broke new ground when it picked up Morrie Turner's Wee Pals , the first comic strip syndicated in the United States to have a cast of diverse ethnicity, dubbed the "Rainbow Gang." [8]

Beginning in 1977, the syndicate was the unofficial home of Marvel Comics strips, including The Amazing Spider-Man (1977–1986; continued by King Features), Conan the Barbarian (1978-1982), Howard the Duck (1977–1978), and The Incredible Hulk (1978–1982).

In 1985, the syndicate was merged into its parent Cowles Media Company.[ citation needed ] In 1986, the syndicate was sold to Hearst Publications for $4.3 million, [9] becoming a division of King Features Syndicate.

Register and Tribune Syndicate strips and panels

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Will Eisner</span> American cartoonist

William Erwin Eisner was an American cartoonist, writer, and entrepreneur. He was one of the earliest cartoonists to work in the American comic book industry, and his series The Spirit (1940–1952) was noted for its experiments in content and form. In 1978, he popularized the term "graphic novel" with the publication of his book A Contract with God. He was an early contributor to formal comics studies with his book Comics and Sequential Art (1985). The Eisner Award was named in his honor and is given to recognize achievements each year in the comics medium; he was one of the three inaugural inductees to the Will Eisner Comic Book Hall of Fame.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Quality Comics</span> 1937–1956 American comic book publisher

Quality Comics was an American comic book publishing company which operated from 1937 to 1956 and was a creative, influential force in what historians and fans call the Golden Age of Comic Books.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Spirit (comics character)</span> Fictional character

The Spirit is a fictional masked crimefighter created by cartoonist Will Eisner. He first appeared June 2, 1940, as the main feature of a 16-page, tabloid-sized, newsprint comic book insert distributed in the Sunday edition of Register and Tribune Syndicate newspapers; it was ultimately carried by 20 Sunday newspapers, with a combined circulation of five million copies during the 1940s. "The Spirit Section", as the insert was popularly known, continued until October 5, 1952. It generally included two other four-page strips, plus filler material. Eisner, the overall editor, wrote and drew most Spirit entries, with the uncredited assistance of his studio of assistants and collaborators, though with Eisner's singular vision a unifying factor.

<i>The Des Moines Register</i> Daily newspaper in Des Moines, Iowa, United States

The Des Moines Register is the daily morning newspaper of Des Moines, Iowa.

<i>Jane Arden</i> (comics)

Jane Arden was an internationally syndicated daily newspaper comic strip which ran from November 26, 1928 to January 20, 1968. The title character was the original "spunky girl reporter", actively seeking to infiltrate and expose criminal activity rather than just report on its consequences and served as a prototype for later characters such as Superman supporting character Lois Lane and fellow comic strip heroine Brenda Starr, Reporter. Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist Mary McGrory credited Jane Arden with instilling her interest in journalism.

United Feature Syndicate (UFS) is a large American editorial column and comic strip newspaper syndication service based in the United States and established in 1919. Originally part of E. W. Scripps Company, it was part of United Media from 1978 to 2011, and is now a division of Andrews McMeel Syndication. United Features has syndicated many notable comic strips, including Peanuts, Garfield, Li'l Abner, Dilbert, Nancy, and Marmaduke.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sunday comics</span>

The Sunday comics or Sunday strip is the comic strip section carried in most western newspapers, almost always in color. Many newspaper readers called this section the Sunday funnies, the funny papers or simply the funnies.

Fox Feature Syndicate was a comic book publisher from early in the period known to fans and historians as the Golden Age of Comic Books. Founded by entrepreneur Victor S. Fox, it produced such titles as Blue Beetle, Fantastic Comics and Mystery Men Comics.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jerry Iger</span> American cartoonist and art-studio entrepreneur

Samuel Maxwell "Jerry" Iger was an American cartoonist and art-studio entrepreneur. With business partner Will Eisner, he co-founded Eisner & Iger, a comic book packager that produced comics on demand for new publishers during the late-1930s and 1940s period known to fans and historians as the Golden Age of Comic Books.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lady Luck (comics)</span>

Lady Luck is an American comic-strip and comic book crime fighter and adventuress created and designed in 1940 by Will Eisner with artist Chuck Mazoujian. She starred in a namesake, four-page weekly feature published in a Sunday newspaper comics insert colloquially called "The Spirit Section", which ran from June 2, 1940, to November 3, 1946. Her adventures were reprinted in comic books published by Quality Comics. A revamped version of the character debuted in 2013 in DC Comics's Phantom Stranger comic.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Everett M. "Busy" Arnold</span>

Everett M. Arnold, also known as Busy Arnold, was an American publisher and an early comic-book entrepreneur whose company Quality Comics published during the 1930s and 1940s period fans and historians call the Golden Age of Comic Books. He was also instrumental in the publishing arrangement that led to Will Eisner's newspaper Sunday-supplement comics series The Spirit.

<i>Feature Comics</i>

Feature Comics, originally Feature Funnies, was an American comic book anthology series published by Quality Comics from 1939 until 1950, that featured short stories in the humor genre and later the superhero genre.

<i>Mr. Mystic</i>

Mr. Mystic is a comics series featuring a magician crime-fighter, created by Will Eisner and initially drawn by Bob Powell. The strip featured in four-page backup feature a Sunday-newspaper comic-book insert, known colloquially as "The Spirit Section". It first appeared in 1940, distributed by the Register and Tribune Syndicate.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tribune Content Agency</span>

Tribune Content Agency (TCA) is a syndication company owned by Tribune Publishing. TCA had previously been known as the Chicago Tribune Syndicate, the Chicago Tribune New York News Syndicate (CTNYNS), Tribune Company Syndicate, and Tribune Media Services. TCA is headquartered in Chicago, and had offices in various American cities, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, and Hong Kong.

A comic strip syndicate functions as an agent for cartoonists and comic strip creators, placing the cartoons and strips in as many newspapers as possible on behalf of the artist. A syndicate can annually receive thousands of submissions, from which only two or three might be selected for representation. In some cases, the work will be owned by the syndicate as opposed to the creator. The Guinness World Record for the world's most syndicated strip belongs to Jim Davis' Garfield, which at that point (2002) appeared in 2,570 newspapers, with 263 million readers worldwide.

Klaus Nordling was an American writer-artist for American comic books. He is best known for his work on the 1940s masked-crimefighter feature "Lady Luck", and as co-creator of the Marvel Comics superhero the Thin Man. Some of the early Nordling's pen names are Fred Nordley, F. Klaus, Ed Norris, and Clyde North.

<i>Crack Comics</i>

Crack Comics was an anthology comic book series published by Quality Comics during the Golden Age of Comic Books. It featured such characters as The Clock, Black Condor, Captain Triumph, Alias the Spider, Madame Fatal, Jane Arden, Molly the Model, and Red Torpedo. The title "crack" referred to "being at the top of one's form", like a "crack sharpshooter".

Eisner & Iger was a comic book "packager" that produced comics on demand for publishers entering the new medium during the late-1930s and 1940s period fans and historians call the Golden Age of Comic Books. Many of comic books' most significant creators, including Jack Kirby, entered the field through its doors.

The Bell Syndicate, launched in 1916 by editor-publisher John Neville Wheeler, was an American syndicate that distributed columns, fiction, feature articles and comic strips to newspapers for decades. It was located in New York City at 247 West 43rd Street and later at 229 West 43rd Street. It also reprinted comic strips in book form.

The Frank Jay Markey Syndicate was a small print syndication service that distributed comic strips and columns from the mid-1930s to c. 1950. Although small in size, the syndicate distributed strips by a number of notable cartoonists, including Ed Wheelan, Rube Goldberg, Boody Rogers, and Frank Borth. The syndicate also provided material for the burgeoning comic book industry, for companies like Quality Comics and Columbia Comics.

References

  1. 1 2 "Who's Who Among Leading U.S. Syndicate Executives," Editor and Publisher (September 7, 1946). Archived at "News of Yore 1946: Syndicate Executives Profiled," Stripper's Guide (July 21, 2010).
  2. ↑ "Henry Martin Retires," The Des Moines Register (November 24, 1959): effective January 1, 1960.
  3. ↑ "C. E. LOUNSBURY, EDITOR, IS DEAD," The Des Moines Register (November 2, 1952), p. 13.
  4. ↑ Steranko, Jim (1972). The Steranko History of Comics 2. Reading, Pennsylvania: Supergraphics. p. 92. ISBN   0-517-50188-0.
  5. ↑ "Quality Comic Group: A Brief History". Connecticut Historical Society. Archived from the original on September 27, 2007.
  6. ↑ Will Eisner interview, Alter Ego No. 48 (May 2005), p. 10
  7. ↑ Spirit, The (Register and Tribune Syndicate, 1940 Series) at the Grand Comics Database
  8. ↑ "Wee Pals" at Don Markstein's Toonopedia. Accessed January 27, 2014. Archived from the original on January 12, 2015.
  9. ↑ Strentz, Herb. "John Cowles," Cowles Family Publishing Legacy: Drake University, Cowles Library. Accessed Jan. 3, 2018.
  10. ↑ Maley, Don. "New Panel Pokes Fun at Suburban Housewife," Editor & Publisher (August 9, 1969). Archived at "News of Yore 1969," Stripper's Guide (December 3, 2013).
  11. ↑ Markstein, Don. "AMERICA’S BEST BUY: THE LOUISIANA PURCHASE," Don Markstein's Toonpedia. Accessed Jan. 4, 2018.
  12. ↑ Gary Dowell, Greg Holman, Don Mangus, James L. Halperin (editor). HCA Comics Dallas Auction Catalog #824. Heritage Capital Corporation. p. 268 (link). ISBN   978-1-59967-133-8.{{cite book}}: |author= has generic name (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  13. ↑ Strickler, Dave. Syndicated Comic Strips and Artists, 1924–1995: The Complete Index. Cambria, California: Comics Access, 1995. ISBN   0-9700077-0-1
  14. ↑ "ASK THE ARCHIVIST: BOB BARNES CENTENNIAL," Comics Kingdom (November 27, 2013).
  15. 1 2 3 Schoenke profile, Who's Who of American Comic Book Artists, 1928–1999. Accessed Jan. 5, 2018.
  16. ↑ Holtz, Allan (January 27, 2010). "Obscurity of the Day: Howard the Duck". Stripper's Guide. Archived from the original on March 9, 2012. Retrieved June 4, 2012. The newspaper strip version began on June 6, 1977 at the height of Howard-mania. At first Steve Gerber and Gene Colan, the creative team on the comic book, handled the strip as well. Colan, however, dropped out after just five months, and his job was taken over by Val Mayerik, who was occasionally spelling Colan on the comic book.
  17. ↑ Holtz, Allan. American Newspaper Comics: An Encyclopedic Reference Guide (University of Michigan Press, 2012).
  18. ↑ Markstein, Don. "The Red Knight," Don Markstein's Toonpedia. Accessed Jan. 4, 2018.
  19. ↑ Celardo profile, Who's Who of American Comic Books, 1928–1999. Accessed Jan. 5, 2018.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.