2010: The Year of the Newspaper Comic Strip

Comics Alliances takes note that it has been a record setting year for launching daily comic strips in newspapers.

From the piece...

While recent Direct Market sales of comic books have many writers, artists (and bloggers!) checking the nerd want-ads, the syndicated comic strip business seems to be chugging along just fine. Really, better than fine, at least according to a post at The Daily Cartoonist. No fewer than seven new comic strip features have or are to be launched in 2010 from the major newspaper strip syndicates, four more than last year, and a record at that.

The similarities and differences between daily strips and periodical comic books are obvious and much documented, but it's interesting to look at what sort of sequential art material earns widespread and presumably lucrative distribution -- is it relevant? Profound? Or is it something our grandparents would find really hilarious? -- while even the best comic books wear the scarlet number of $3.99 and fight for their lives in the perilous Direct Market.