Has The Katzenjammer Kids ended its historic newspaper run?

D.D.Degg

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Nov 25, 2015, 10:04:23 PM11/25/15

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I'm hoping someone here, with better sources than me,
can find a newspaper currently running new Katzenjammer
Kids Sunday strips.

I have been under the possibly false assumption that
most, if not all, newspapers that have been running
Hy Eisman's The Katzenjammer Kids Sunday strips have
contracted it through King Features Weekly Service(KFWS).

But KFWS no longers offers The Katzenjammer Kids.
http://weekly.kingfeatures.com/?team=comics

Some recent history regarding King Features Weekly Service.

Last year KFWS surveyed their customers and made some changes.
"2. KFWS's comics selection seems dated. This is
true in some respects. We have rights from King to
re-use out of their comics archives. We derive the
comic panels Laff A Day, Mister Breger and Hubert.
While the gags may be evergreen, seeing people drive
'52 Buicks may be a little much.
ACTION: We'll drop some of the old cartoons
and look for fresher offerings."
http://weekly.kingfeatures.com/?p=3092

re: "We'll drop some of the old cartoons" -
Offered in 2014 (as far as I can determine)
but no longer being distributed by KFWS are
Mark Trail by Jack Elrod (Sunday reprints)
Mark Trail's Outdoor Tips by Ed Dodd (daily reprints)
Hubert by Dick Wingert (daily reprints)
Mr. Breger by Dave Breger (daily reprints)
and, amazingly,
The Katzenjammer Kids by Hy Eisman (new, Sunday format)

So...
Sometime in 2015 KFWS stopped offering
The Katz. Kids to its clients.

Their Feature Directory dated June 2015 lists their new lineup.
http://issuu.com/kfws/docs/2015_kfws_directory_aug-2015

And The Southside Messenger dated June 11(-17), 2015
shows the new features (no Katz. Kids):
http://www.etypeservices.synology.me/etypes/Southside1/Magazine89148/Publication/Magazine89148.pdf

The Southside Messenger dated May 28(-June 3) 2015
still has the old KFWS lineup (with Katz. Kids):
http://www.etypeservices.synology.me/etypes/Southside1/Magazine87787/Publication/Magazine87787.pdf

I'm not getting the June 4(-10), 2015 edition. Anyone?

So either May 28, 2015 or June 4, 2015 seems to be the
last week that KFWS offered The Katz. Kids to subscribers.

IS THAT THE LAST TIME THE KATZ KIDS RAN IN NEWSPAPERS?

The regular King Features Syndicate still offers the
Eisman Kids, but do they have any takers?
[As Rick Marschall related in the newest Hogan's Alley,
salesmmen were actively discouraging papers from
taking on the Katz. comic strip years ago.]

Can anyone find any newspaper running The Katzenjammer Kids
later in 2015 than May 28/June 4, 2015?

Or,
has The Katzenjammer Kids ended its historic newspaper run?

D.D.Degg

D.D.Degg

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Nov 26, 2015, 10:55:18 AM11/26/15

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> But KFWS no longers offers The Katzenjammer Kids.
> http://weekly.kingfeatures.com/?team=comics
>

> The regular King Features Syndicate still offers the
> Eisman Kids, but do they have any takers?

Now it seems that The Katzenjammer Kids strips
running every Sunday are reprints.

The 2015 KFS Directory's entry for The Katz. Kids:
"The Katzenjammer Kids by Hy Eisman.
The longest-running strip in history stars twin boys,
Hans and Fritz, who misbehave and rebel against
any sort of authority. Also available in Spanish.
Reprints only. S"

Notice the "reprints only".
Eisman's Popeye entry does not say reprints.
http://www.kingfeatures.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/2015_KFS_anniversary_directory.pdf

The 2013 KFS Directory's entry:
"The Katzenjammer Kids by Hy Eisman.
The longest-running strip in history stars twin boys,
Hans and Fritz, who misbehave and rebel against
any sort of authority. S"

No "reprint" in that description.
http://www.kingfeatures.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/2013_KFS_Directory.pdf

I'm not finding the 2014 Syndicate Directory.

So it seems that sometime between 2013 and 2015
King Features ceased buying new Hy Eisman work
for The Katzenjammer Kids and started running reprints.

But, in my reckoning, the end of new strips
would mean the end of the run.
(While I acknowledge that the syndicate would
say otherwise and continue to publicize it as
the world's longest running comic strip.)

D.D.Degg

D.D.Degg

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Nov 26, 2015, 11:28:24 AM11/26/15

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> Now it seems that The Katzenjammer Kids strips
> running every Sunday are reprints.
>

> The 2015 KFS Directory...

> http://www.kingfeatures.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/2015_KFS_anniversary_directory.pdf
>
> The 2013 KFS Directory

> http://www.kingfeatures.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/2013_KFS_Directory.pdf
>
> I'm not finding the 2014 Syndicate Directory.
>

> So it seems that sometime between 2013 and 2015...

Jerry Dumas' Sam and Silo strip has the same descriptions -
2015 = "reprint"; 2013 = no reprint in entry.
[Though the Flash Gordon 2013 entry does not say
reprint, which it has been since 2003.]

D Heine

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Nov 26, 2015, 1:59:40 PM11/26/15

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If the final Katzanjammer Kids first run strip was this year, then there would be 6 that ended in 2015 (With the others being Grin and Bear It, Home and Away, Kit 'n Carlyle, Apt. 3-G, and The Dinette Set; with Edge City due to end before 2015 is over or after 2016 starts; still nothing on an ending fate for Get Fuzzy as well).

Brian O

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Nov 26, 2015, 3:25:14 PM11/26/15

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I thought Flash Gordon has been running new Sunday strips (by Jim O'Keefe) after dropping reprints a while back?

D.D.Degg

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Nov 27, 2015, 5:48:44 AM11/27/15

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Brian O wrote:
> I thought Flash Gordon has been running new Sunday strips
> (by Jim O'Keefe) after dropping reprints a while back?

Nah, the same six year run, repeated over and over.
Jim Keefe has a page with the story index, including the reprints:
http://www.keefestudios.com/flashfile/keefe.html

D.D.Degg

D Heine

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Nov 27, 2015, 9:51:52 AM11/27/15

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So Flash Gordon is rerunning a 6 year arc of Jim Keefe strips? At least Jim Keefe is focusing on Sally Forth nowadays.

D.D.Degg

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Nov 30, 2015, 9:49:02 AM11/30/15

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> > But KFWS no longers offers The Katzenjammer Kids.
> > http://weekly.kingfeatures.com/?team=comics
> >
> > The regular King Features Syndicate still offers the
> > Eisman Kids, but do they have any takers?
>
> Now it seems that The Katzenjammer Kids strips
> running every Sunday are reprints.

Comic strip historian Allan Holtz
http://strippersguide.blogspot.com/
reports his contact
with King Features Weekly Service manager David Cohea:
"Yes, we did drop "Katzenjammer Kids" from the Weekly Service in May. Usage was almost nil. We began running Prince Valiant in its place. We re-used 'Katzenjammer Kids' from King. As far as I know, they haven't cancelled the strip. But their list must be pretty small. I can't confirm, but I only found one U.S. customer buying the strip."

And about the reprint question comes a reply from Jeffrey Lindenblatt
http://www.amazon.com/s?ie=UTF8&page=1&rh=n%3A283155%2Cp_27%3AJeffrey%20Lindenblatt
(this also comes by way of Allan Holtz):

"All of Katzenjammer Kids in 2015 are reruns.
January to September were from 2006.
October 4, 2015 - November 22, 2015 are reprints
of October 7, 2007 - November 25, 2007.
"In 2014 January 5-September 21 ran strips
from January 9-September 25 2005. I could not find out
at this time what year was the last three months.
"Going back to December 29, 2013 could not
figure if the strip is new or a rerun"

So it looks like there have been no new Eisman
Katzenjammer Kids strips since 2013 at the latest.
With all 2014 and 2015 strips being reprints.

The Katzenjammer Kids
by Rudolph Dirks
and Harold Knerr, Oscar Hitt, Doc Winner,
Joe Musial, Mike Senich, Angelo DeCesare,
Hy Eisman, and assorted ghosts.
December 12, 1897 - ??2013??

The world's longest running comic strip
stopped running new stuff at least a couple of years ago.

D.D.Degg

Joseph Nebus

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Nov 30, 2015, 2:50:21 PM11/30/15

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In <c911017c-b412-4e29...@googlegroups.com> "D.D.Degg" <ddde...@comcast.net> writes:

>The world's longest running comic strip
>stopped running new stuff at least a couple of years ago.

Well, that is shocking. I mean, running the strip at all makes
sense only as an act of sentiment. I don't know that I've ever seen it
in a real, live newspaper. But to give it up, and give it up without
mention, is shocking. At least when they stopped _Mutt and Jeff_ in
the early 80s it was good for some publicity features.

So then ... I guess _Popeye_ or _Barney Google_ are the
longest-running comic strips still in new production, then?

--
Joseph Nebus
Math: Reading the Comics: Communication Edition http://wp.me/p1RYhY-TT
Humor: Walking Through Novel-Writing: The Next Step http://wp.me/p37lb5-13m
--------------------------------------------------------+---------------------

D.D.Degg

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Nov 30, 2015, 3:46:19 PM11/30/15

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Joseph Nebus wrote:
> So then ... I guess _Popeye_ or _Barney Google_ are the
> longest-running comic strips still in new production, then?

Gasoline Alley - November 24, 1918
Ripley's Believe It or Not - December 19, 1918
(as Champs and Chumps)
Barney Google - June 17, 1919
Thimble Theatre - December 19, 1919

D.D.Degg

D.D.Degg

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Dec 1, 2015, 2:18:30 AM12/1/15

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> > longest-running comic strips still in new production, then?

Here's the ten oldest still in new production:

Gasoline Alley - November 24, 1918

http://www.carsandracingstuff.com/library/g/gasolinealley_1918-11-24.jpg

Ripley's Believe It or Not - December 19, 1918
(as Champs and Chumps)

http://gocomics.typepad.com/.a/6a00d8341c5f3053ef01b8d0ed97f9970c-pi

Barney Google/Snuffy Smith - June 17, 1919
http://www.tcj.com/barney-google-and-snuffy-smith-billy-debeck-fred-lasswell-and-john-rose/barnsnuff0003/
(third strip from the top)

Thimble Theatre/Popeye - December 19, 1919
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-uiY4wIx9jWw/VXsF46YdP9I/AAAAAAAAFuY/qEUjEXp8N6A/s1600/FirstVersions_Popeye_daily-strip.png

Fritzi Ritz/Nancy - October 9, 1922
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/e/e5/Fritzi10-09-22.jpg

Blondie - September 8, 1930
http://cdn.comicartfans.com/Images/Category_12502/subcat_25898/firstblon.jpg

Dick Tracy - October 4, 1931
http://pdxretro.com/2011/10/dick-tracy-debuted-on-this-day-in-1931/

Alley Oop - December 5, 1932
---couldn't find this one online---

Apple Mary/Mary Worth - October 29, 1934
http://images-mediawiki-sites.thefullwiki.org/03/1/3/5/75785673849077727.jpg

The Phantom - February 17, 1936
https://phantomcomicsurvey.files.wordpress.com/2012/04/aust-womans-mirror-1st-phantom-strip-sept-1936026.jpg
(the first four strips)

Prince Valiant - February 13, 1937
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-y1Syh5_ZLo0/TzmERa0hnWI/AAAAAAAAAtU/5EXKm5JUksM/s1600/PV-2-13-37.jpg
(Okay that's eleven, but I wanted to get Prince Val in)

Here's the ten oldest RERUN strips still being syndicated:
The Katzenjammer Kids - 1897
Bringing Up Father - 1913
Tarzan - 1929
They'll Do It Every Time - 1929
Mickey Mouse - 1930
Henry - 1932
Flash Gordon - 1934
Mandrake the Magician - 1934
Donald Duck - 1938
Archie - 1946
(Peanuts -1950- would be #11)

D.D.Degg
corrections welcomed and appreciated

John W Kennedy

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Dec 1, 2015, 11:00:35 AM12/1/15

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And Skeezix is much older as a character (February 14, 1921)
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-TGs1bXZpCIc/VM5Li1dOEzI/AAAAAAAADOI/fSYiwT8oDRo/s1600/50.jpg

than Snuffy Smith (November 17, 1934)
(the only copy I can find seems to be behind a paywall)

or Popeye (January 17, 1929)
http://www.legacy.com/UserContent/ns/Photos/popeye_firstcartoon.gif

--
John W Kennedy
"Information is light. Information, in itself, about anything, is light."
-- Tom Stoppard. "Night and Day"

D.D.Degg

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Dec 1, 2015, 2:00:59 PM12/1/15

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John W Kennedy wrote:

> >>> longest-running comic strips still in new production, then?
> > Here's the ten oldest still in new production:

> And Skeezix is much older as a character (February 14, 1921)
> http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-TGs1bXZpCIc/VM5Li1dOEzI/AAAAAAAADOI/fSYiwT8oDRo/s1600/50.jpg
> than Snuffy Smith (November 17, 1934)
> (the only copy I can find seems to be behind a paywall)

The last part (missing the first panel) of that strip:
http://www.tcj.com/barney-google-and-snuffy-smith-billy-debeck-fred-lasswell-and-john-rose/barnsnuff0005/

> or Popeye (January 17, 1929)
> http://www.legacy.com/UserContent/ns/Photos/popeye_firstcartoon.gif

January 2, 1933 - the first appearance of Nancy:
http://nancyishappy.tumblr.com/post/25436548493/first-appearance-of-nancy-on-january-2-1933-in-the
(again, only part of the strip)

D.D.Degg

D.D.Degg

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Dec 1, 2015, 2:04:58 PM12/1/15

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More from Allan Holtz about the Katzenjammer Kids:
"David Cohea contacted Brendan Burford about the Katzies,
and Burford said that he didn't think Katzies had any US
clients left up at the main syndicate.
So it looks like the Katzies is truly dead,
at least in the US and in terms of new material.
I asked Cohea a few more questions about the circumstances,
will get back with you if I hear anything juicy."

D Heine

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Dec 1, 2015, 4:28:18 PM12/1/15

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I guess the Katzenjammer Kids created by Rudolph Dirks owned by King Features are now in comic strip heaven and meeting their United Features clones The Captain and The Kids (created by Rudolph's brother John?).

John W Kennedy

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Dec 1, 2015, 5:33:44 PM12/1/15

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It was Dirks, himself. Like the Yellow Kid, some years earlier, the
strip was cloned when a judge ruled that, under the then law, only the
individual strips could be copyrighted, not the strip-as-a-whole, and
that therefore both the syndicate and the creator had the right to
create new strips, though the syndicate got to keep the original title.

--
John W Kennedy
"Only an idiot fights a war on two fronts. Only the heir to the throne
of the kingdom of idiots would fight a war on twelve fronts"
-- J. Michael Straczynski. "Babylon 5", "Ceremonies of Light and Dark"

D.D.Degg

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Dec 3, 2015, 5:57:58 AM12/3/15

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Now, from Michael Tisserand,
http://www.tcj.com/author/michael-tisserand/
comes this message:
"I spoke with Mr. Heisman, who told me that, indeed,
the last Katzenjammer Kid strip by his hand was in 2006."

Nine years ago!

That led me to a google search for
"katzenjammer kids 1897 - 2006"
which, surprisingly led to the recent King Features'
newspaper insert celebrating their 100th anniversary,
where, on page 2, they acknowledge those years as
the time The Katzenjammer Kids ran.

See the text beneath The Katzenjammer Kids image at:
http://comicskingdom.com/celebrate-king-features-100th-anniversary

Now we need to find a source that ran
The Katzenjammer Kids as supplied by
the King Features Weekly Service in 2006.

I believe that the last new Katz. Kids strip
and the first rerun Katz. Kids strip will
have two different copyright dates.

As seen in this 2008 Katz. Kids strip
from the Pahrump Mirror which carries
a 2004 copyright notice:
http://pah.stparchive.com/Archive/PAH/PAH12182008p022.php

Unfortunately I'm not finding a source
for 2006 newspapers carrying the Katz. Kids.

D.D.Degg

D.D.Degg

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Aug 9, 2017, 10:48:57 PM8/9/17

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D.D.Degg wrote:
> So either May 28, 2015 or June 4, 2015 seems to be the
> last week that KFWS offered The Katz. Kids to subscribers.
>

> Can anyone find any newspaper running The Katzenjammer Kids
> later in 2015 than May 28/June 4, 2015?
>
> Or,
> has The Katzenjammer Kids ended its historic newspaper run?

I'm not sure if it ever was established that May 28, 2015
WAS the last Katz Kids distributed by King Features Weekly Service.

Here's the May 28, 2015 edition of The New York Eagle News
http://nyeaglenews.com/archive_eaglenews/2015-05-28-EagleNews.pdf#page=27

On June 6, 2015 the first Prince Valiant strip offered by
KFWS takes the spot (and the first "The Cashier" appears)
http://nyeaglenews.com/archive_eaglenews/2015-06-04-EagleNews.pdf#page=27

N. Y. Eagle News archive page at
http://nyeaglenews.com/archive.html

I'm still unsure if The Katzenjammer Kids strip appeared
in any U. S. newspapers after the May 28, 2015 issue.
That MAY have been the Katz Kids strip in the U.S.

Those KFWS Katz KIds strips were, of course, reruns.

Still don't know the exact 2006 date of when
the last NEW Katzenjammer Kids strip appeared.

D.D.Degg

cbru...@gmail.com

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Aug 10, 2017, 11:21:12 PM8/10/17

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This blog post claims that January 1, 2006 was the final new Katzies - https://nebushumor.wordpress.com/2015/12/12/oh-yeah-the-katzenjammer-kids-ended-nine-years-ago-and-nobody-noticed-until-now/

Thoughts?

So basically, the only US papers carrying Katzies were those weekly papers that got it through KFWS?

D Heine

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Aug 11, 2017, 8:23:15 AM8/11/17

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I have no reason why the Arlington, IL Daily Herald in its Sunday comics would still carry Sundays the rerun abused in the paper since its 2008 ending Redeye comic strip if it is or isn't via KFWS.

D.D.Degg

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Aug 11, 2017, 1:22:29 PM8/11/17

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> This blog post claims that January 1, 2006 was the final new Katzies - https://nebushumor.wordpress.com/2015/12/12/oh-yeah-the-katzenjammer-kids-ended-nine-years-ago-and-nobody-noticed-until-now/

In the caption under the image Joseph notes that
that January 1, 2006 strip is "the last new New Year’s" Katzenjammers,
not THE last strip. And even though we had Eisman saying he drew
the last strip in 2006 and KFS acknowledging the strip ended in 2006,
Joseph still qualified that statement with a preceding "Probably".

> Thoughts?

But maybe that is where the Katz Kids Wikipedia page got their
unqualified assertation: "End date January 1, 2006"
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Katzenjammer_Kids
The claimed source for that is the KFS supplement that goes no
further than announcing "The Katzenjammer Kids (1897 – 2006)".
Nowhere do they report January 1, 2006 as an end date.

So I'm still unsure of the date of the final Katzenjammer Kids.

> So basically, the only US papers carrying Katzies
> were those weekly papers that got it through KFWS?

From a couple of years ago (up thread):
"David Cohea [of the Weekly Service] contacted
Brendan Burford [of King Features Synd] about the Katzies,

and Burford said that he didn't think Katzies had any US
clients left up at the main syndicate."

So, though not an out-and-out proclamation, I infer,
from what the King Features' editors above say, that
in 2015 PROBABLY the only papers in the U.S. that
carried the Katzenjammer Kids strip were papers getting
it through the Weekly Service. When rerun strip was last
offered by KFWS on May 28, 2015, that PROBABLY was the
end of the strip being distributed in the U.S. (PROBABLY).

Notice, as Joseph above, I am throwing in qualifiers.
Nothing has yet been chiseled in stone.
I once posed the question of the last Katzies to the
KFS Archivist but that column was shut down before
I ever got a reply, and as far as I know Mark Johnson
has never chimed in elsewhere with an answer.

And...
Does the strip still appear overseas in a paper or two?

D.D.Degg

D.D.Degg

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Aug 11, 2017, 1:32:36 PM8/11/17

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D.D.Degg wrote:
>
> So I'm still unsure of the date of the final Katzenjammer Kids.

read: So I'm still unsure of the date of the final NEW Katzenjammer Kids.

I'm fairly sure of the end date of the rerun Katz Kids.

D.D.Degg

Joseph Nebus

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Aug 26, 2017, 1:55:08 AM8/26/17

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In <a7277aca-0c5e-4787...@googlegroups.com> cbru...@gmail.com writes:

>On Wednesday, August 9, 2017 at 9:48:57 PM UTC-5, D.D.Degg wrote:
>> D.D.Degg wrote:
>> Still don't know the exact 2006 date of when
>> the last NEW Katzenjammer Kids strip appeared.

>This blog post claims that January 1, 2006 was the final new Katzies - https://nebushumor.wordpress.com/2015/12/12/oh-yeah-the-katzenjammer-kids-ended-nine-years-ago-and-nobody-noticed-until-now/

>Thoughts?

>So basically, the only US papers carrying Katzies were those weekly papers that got it through KFWS?

I'm sorry to have been unclear in that post. The strip for
New Year's Day 2006 was only meant to be (probably) the last New Year's
Day strip for the comic. Hy Eisman said he stopped drawing the comic
in 2006, and King Features says the strip ended new-strip production in
2006, but that might have been any week in the year for all we know.

--
Joseph Nebus
Math: The Summer 2017 A To Z: L-function http://wp.me/p1RYhY-1fG
Humor: Thanking You For Listening http://wp.me/p37lb5-1Lx
--------------------------------------------------------+---------------------