Alan Gardner blogs about the newspaper comic space and is a good read if you’re interested in that business and those comics. Recently he posted his "review of 2007" which is a nice snapshot of the big stories of 2007 in that area. The Comics Reporter also posted an interview it did with Gardner which is an interesting read. One quote from that interview that is highly relevant to the comics on the web in 2008:
SPURGEON: Do you feel there’s still work to be done to prepare comic syndication for the increasingly on-line presence of daily newspapers?
GARDNER: In some regards, I wonder what work has been done. The big three syndicates have their own online presence with subscription services, but why they have product offerings to compete with newspapers instead of support them, I haven’t figured that one out. I don’t know when they will launch, but I know two of the syndicates, Universal and United both have significant upgrades to their web sites that will roll out in 2008. I’ve seen Universal’s and it has more community features like tagging and commenting. Again, the syndicates are investing to in make their own sites destination spots, but how that helps their cartoonists get into more papers or online papers where they make money, we’ll just have to see.
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