King Features Syndicate, a print syndication company owned by The Hearst Corporation, distributes about 150 comic strips, newspaper columns, editorial cartoons, puzzles and games to nearly 5000 newspapers worldwide. King Features Syndicate is a unit of Hearst Holdings, Inc., which combines the Hearst Corporation's cable network partnerships, television programming and distribution activities and syndication companies. King Features' affiliate syndicates are North America Syndicate and Cowles Syndicate. Each week, Reed Brennan Media Associates, a unit of the Hearst Corporation, edits and distributes more than 200 features for King Features.^[1]

History[link]

William Randolph Hearst's newspapers began syndicating material in 1895 after receiving requests from other newspapers. In 1914, Hearst and his manager Moses Koenigsberg consolidated all of Hearst's syndication enterprises under one banner. Koenigsberg gave it his own name (koenig=king) when he launched King Features Syndicate. Production escalated in 1916 with King Features buying and selling its own staff-created feature material. A trade publication, Circulation, was published by King Features between 1916 and 1933. Syndication peaked in the mid-1930s with 130 syndicates offering 1,600 features to more than 13,700 newspapers.^[2]

In 1941, Koenigsberg wrote an autobiographical history of the company, King News. Hearst paid close attention to the comic strips, even in the last years of his life, as is evident in these 1945-46 correspondence excerpts, originally in Editor & Publisher (December 1946), about the creation of Dick's Adventures in Dreamland, a strip which debuted Sunday, January 12, 1947, written by former Daily News reporter Max Trell and illustrated by Neil O'Keefe (who also drew for King Features a strip based on Edgar Wallace's Inspector Wade of Scotland Yard):

Hearst to King Features president J. D. Gortatowsky (December 28, 1945): "I have had numerous suggestions for incorporating some American history of a vivid kind in the adventure strips of the comic section. The difficulty is to find something that will sufficiently interest the kids... Perhaps a title, Trained by Fate, would be general enough. Take Paul Revere and show him as a boy making as much of his boyhood life as possible, and culminate, of course, with his ride. Take Betsy Ross for a heroine, or Barbara Frietchie... for the girls."

King Features editor Ward Greene to Hearst: "There is another way to do it, which is somewhat fantastic, but which I submit for your consideration. That is to devise a new comic... a 'dream' idea revolving around a boy we might call Dick. Dick, or his equivalent, would go in his dream with Mad Anthony Wayne at the storming of Stony Point or with Decatur at Tripoli... [This would] provide a constant character... who would become known to the kids."

Hearst to Greene: "The dream idea for the American history series is splendid. It gives continuity and personal interest, and you can make more than one page of each series... You are right about the importance of the artist."

Greene to Hearst (enclosing samples): "We employed the dream device, building the comic around a small boy."

Hearst to Greene: "I think the drawing of Dick and His Dad is amazingly good. It is perfectly splendid. I am afraid, however, that similar beginning and conclusion of each page might give a deadly sameness to the series... Perhaps we could get the dream idea over by having only the conclusion on each page. I mean, do not show the boy going to sleep every time and then show him waking up, but let the waking up come as a termination to each page... Can you develop anything out of the idea of having Dick the son of the keeper of the Liberty Statue in New York Harbor? I do not suggest this, as it would probably add further complications, but it might give a spiritual tie to all the dreams. The main thing, however, is to get more realism."

Greene to Hearst: "We do not have to show the dream at the beginning and end of every page... If we simply call the comic something like Dreamer Dick, we would have more freedom... Some device other than the dream might be used... A simple method would be to have him curl up with a history book."

Hearst to Greene: "If we find [the first series] is not a success, of course we can brief it, but if it is a success it should be a long series."

Greene to Hearst: "I am sending you two sample pages of Dick's Adventures in Dreamland which start a series about Christopher Columbus."

Hearst to Greene: "In January, I am told, we are going to 16 pages regularly on Puck, the Comic Weekly. That would be a good time to introduce the Columbus series, don't you think so?"

In the 1940s, Ward Greene (1893-1956) was King Features' editor, having worked his way up through the ranks. He was a reporter and war correspondent for the Atlanta Journal from 1913 to 1917, moving to the New York Tribune in 1917 and then the New York Journal as correspondent in France and Germany (1918–19). He joined King Features in 1921, became a writer and editor of the magazine section in 1925, advancing to executive editor and general manager. King Features vice president Bradley Kelly (1894-1969) was a King comics editor during the 1940s.

Sylvan Byck (1904-1982) was the head editor of the syndicate's comics features for several decades, from the 1950s until his retirement in 1978. A King Features employee for more than 40 years and comics editor for 33 years, Byck was 78 when he died July 8, 1982. Comic strip artist John Celardo (1918 – 2012) began as a King comics editor in 1973.

In 1973, Tom Pritchard (1928-1992) joined King Features, and he became executive editor in 1990, overseeing daily editorial operations and the development of political cartoons, syndicated columns and editorial services for King Features and North America Syndicate. Born in Bronxville, New York, Pritchard arrived at King Features after work as a reporter at The Record-Journal (Meriden, Connecticut), as feature writer with The Hartford Times, as editor-publisher of Connecticut's weekly Wethersfield Post and as executive editor of The Manchester Journal Inquirer in Connecticut. He died of a heart attack in December 1992 at his home in Norwalk, Connecticut.^[3]

In 1978, cartoonist Bill Yates (1921 – 2001) took over as King Features' comics editor. He had previously edited Dell Publishing's cartoon magazines (1000 Jokes, Ballyhoo, For Laughing Out Loud) and Dell's paperback cartoon collections. Yates resigned from King Features at the end of 1988 in order to spend full time on his cartooning, and he died March 26, 2001. In 1988, Yates was replaced by Jay Kennedy, author of The Official Underground & Newave Comix Price Guide (Norton Boatner, 1982). On March 15, 2007, Kennedy drowned in a riptide while vacationing in Costa Rica.

King Features appointed associate editor Brendan Burford to the position of comics editor on April 23, 2007. Burford, who attended the School of Visual Arts, was employed for a year as an editorial assistant at DC Comics before joining King Features as an editorial assistant in January 2000. Working closely with Jay Kennedy over a seven-year span, he was promoted from assistant editor to associate editor to editor.

In 2007, King Features donated its collection of comic strip proof sheets (two sets of over 60 years accumulation) to the Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum and the Michigan State University Comic Art Collection while retaining the collection in electronic form for reference purposes.^[4]

Strip submissions[link]

When asked to speak in public, Byck made a point of telling audiences that King Features received more than 1,000 strip proposals annually but chose only one each year. However, in Syd Hoff's The Art of Cartooning (Stravon, 1973), Byck offered some tips regarding strip submissions, including the creation of central characters with warmth and charm and the avoidance of "themes that are too confining", as he explained:

Although characterization is the most important element of a comic, the cartoonist also must cope with the problem of choosing a theme for his new strip. What will it be about? Actually, it is possible to do a successful comic strip about almost anything or anybody if the writing and drawing are exactly right for the chosen subject. In general, though, it is best to stay away from themes that are too confining. If you achieve your goal of syndication, you want your strip to last a long time. You don't want to run out of ideas after a few weeks or months. In humor strips, it is better to build around a character than around a job. For example, it is possible to do some very funny comic strip gags about a taxi driver. But a strip that is limited to taxi driver gags is bound to wear thin pretty fast. I'd rather see a strip about a warmly funny man who just happens to earn his living as a cabbie and whose job is only a minor facet of his potential for inspiring gags. Narrative strips can be and often are based on the central character's job. For example, the basis of a private eye strip is the work he does. But even here the strip will only be as successful as the characterization in it. The big question is: what kind of a man is this particular private eye?^[5]

Animation, comic books and licensing[link]

Many King characters were adapted to animation, both theatrical and television cartoons.^[6] Strips from King Features were often reprinted by comic book publishers. In 1967, King Features made an effort to publish comic books of its own by establishing King Comics. This short-lived comic book line showcased King's best-known characters in seven titles: Beetle Bailey, Blondie, Flash Gordon, Jungle Jim, Mandrake the Magician, The Phantom and Popeye. The comics imprint existed for a year-and-a-half, with titles cover-dated from August 1966 to December 1967. When it ended, the books were picked up and continued by Gold Key Comics, Harvey Comics and Charlton Comics.

In addition to extensive merchandising and licensing of such iconic characters as Betty Boop and Popeye, King Features has diversified to handle popular animation and TV characters (from Kukla, Fran and Ollie to Howdy Doody, Mr. Bill and Mr. Magoo), plus publicly displayed, life-size art sculptures—CowParade, Guitarmania and The Trail of the Painted Ponies. King Features also represents David & Goliath, an apparel and accessories line popular with teenagers.

As a sales tool, the King Features design team created colorful strip sample folders resembling movie press kits. With rising paper costs and the downsizing of newspapers, the comic strip arena became increasingly competitive, and by 2002 King salespeople were making in-person pitches to 1,550 daily newspapers across America. King was then receiving more than 6,000 strip submissions each year, yet it accepted only two or three annually. Interviewed in 2002 by Catherine Donaldson-Evans of Fox News, Kennedy commented:

It is difficult for cartoonists to break into syndication, but contrary to popular understanding, there's more new product being pitched now than 30 years ago. In that regard, there are more opportunities for new cartoonists. There's a finite amount of space to run comic strips—less now than 50 years ago. There are fewer two-paper cities and a lot of papers have shrunk their page size. New strips can succeed. The new cartoonists just have to be that much better.^[7]

King's DailyINK online[link]

Confronted by newspaper cutbacks, King Features has explored new venues, such as placing comic strips on mobile phones. In 2006, it launched DailyINK, an online service which initially billed subscribers $15 annually. A subscription showed up as a charge from Reed Brennan Media Associates, the online merchant for DailyINK. On a web page and via email, the DailyINK service made available more than 90 vintage and current comic strips, puzzles and editorial cartoons.^[8] The vintage strips included Bringing Up Father, Buz Sawyer, Flash Gordon, Krazy Kat, The Little King, The Phantom and Rip Kirby. Jay Kennedy introduced the service early in 2006, commenting:

Comics are consistently ranked among the most popular sections by newspaper readers. However, because of space, newspapers are not able to offer as vast a selection as many readers would like, and therefore millions of comic lovers are often not exposed to some of the most creative strips. In creating DailyINK, we wanted to ensure that fans had a destination where they could experience our complete line-up of award-winning comic artists and writers. DailyINK really sets the standard for comics online. By offering all of our current favorites updated daily, along with access to our archives of beloved characters as well as political humor and games, we have designed DailyINK.com as a destination fans will want to visit every day for something new.

With 11,000 subscribers by June 2010, more vintage strips were added to DailyINK, including Barney Google, Beetle Bailey, Big Ben Bolt, Brick Bradford, The Heart of Juliet Jones, Jackys Diary, The Katzenjammer Kids, Little Iodine, Mandrake the Magician, Office Hours, Quincy and Radio Patrol. On November 15, 2010, a subscription rate increase to $19.99 was announced, effective December 15, 2010, with applications available on iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch, plus a "new and improved" DailyINK in 2011. Added features included a forum and a blog, mostly promotional but also with "Ask the Archivist" posts exploring comic strip history. The redesign was by Blenderbox.^[9]

Awards[link]

On January 13, 2012, the DailyINK app was voted as the People’s Champ in the Funny category in the 2011 Pixel Awards. Established in 2006, the Pixel Awards honor sites and apps displaying excellence in web design and development. Other nominees in the Funny category: JibJab Media Inc, Threaded, Snowball of Duty:White Opps and SoBe Staring Contest.^[10]

A la Carte Online Comics[link]

King's A la Carte Online Comics offers syndication of specific strips aimed at "precisely defined audiences" of specialized websites. These are available in such categories as Animals, Environmental, Military and Technology.^[11]

King Features Weekly Planet[link]

King Features Weekly Planet was created as an online newspaper of King's columns, comics and puzzles.^[12]

Comics Kingdom[link]

In November 2008, King Features introduced Comics Kingdom, a digital platform that newspapers can embed on their sites. Comics Kingdom makes it possible to display at least 60 strips next to local and national ads on newspaper-owned properties, along with animated videos. King Features President T.R. "Rocky" Shepard commented, "On the print side in daily newspapers, the comics are so tight you don't see a lot of advertising adjacencies. Comics Kingdom is a solution to some of the challenges that newspaper companies are facing today." According to Shepard, Comics Kingdom was planned to break even a year after its launch by splitting ad revenue with newspapers carrying the feature; those papers make local sales, while King handles national sales. During the 30-day period strips are made available on the newspaper sites, readers could post comments on local community forums.^[13]

Newspaper sites running Comics Kingdom:

Albany Times Union

Denver Post

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

New York Daily News

Oklahoman/NewsOK

San Antonio Express-News

Seattle Post-Intelligencer

Tulsa World

King Features strips and panels[link]

Editorial cartoonists[link]

• Jim Borgman
• Ed Gamble
• Jeff Koterba
• Jimmy Margulies
• Jim Morin
• Mike Peters
• Mike Shelton
• Mike Smith

Columnists[link]

Commentary[link]

• Stanley Crouch
• Amy Goodman, "Breaking the Sound Barrier"
• David Hackworth, "Defending America"
• Roger Hernandez
• Rich Lowry
• Marianne Means
• Dan Rather
• Charley Reese
• Maria Elena Salinas
• Mark Vasto, "A Sporting View"

Lifestyle and advice[link]

• Dana Block and Cindy Elavsky, "Daytime Dial"
• John Bonne et al., "The Wine Chronicle"
• Helen Bottel, "Helen Help Us!"
• Tad Burness, "Auto Album"
• Jack Canfield and Mark Victor Hansen, "Chicken Soup for the Soul"
• Al and Kelly Carell, "Super Handyman"
• Harlan Cohen, "Help Me, Harlan!"
• Peggy Gisler and Marge Eberts, "Dear Teacher"
• Ken Hoffman, "The Drive-Thru Gourmet"
• Arthur Frommer, "Arthur Frommer's Travel Column"
• Heloise, "Hints from Heloise"
• Rheta Grimsley Johnson
• Jeanne Jones, "Cook It Light"
• Ralph and Terry Kovel, "Kovels: Antiques and Collecting"
• Tom and Ray Magliozzi from Car Talk, "Click and Clack Talk Cars"
• Tom McMahon, "Kid Tips: Practical Solutions for Everyday Parenting"
• Seventeen, "Dear Seventeen"
• Debbie Travis, "House to Home"
• Barbara Wallraff from Atlantic Monthly, "Word Court"
• Allan Wernick, "Immigration and Citizenship"
• Terry Stickels, "Wit and Wisdom", "Stickelers" column
• Phil Erwin, "The Card Corner"
• Eric Tyson, "Investors' Guide

Sources[link]

• Koenigsberg, Moses. King News: An Autobiography. New York: F.A. Stokes Company, 1941.

See also[link]

• List of newspaper comic strips

Affiliated syndicates[link]

• Torstar Syndication Services (King's distribution partner in Canada)

Competing syndicates[link]

• AP Newsfeatures
• Creators Syndicate
• McClure Newspaper Syndicate
• McNaught Syndicate
• Publishers-Hall Syndicate
• Tribune Media Services
• Uclick (GoComics)
• United Feature Syndicate
• Universal Press Syndicate
• The Washington Post Writers Group
• Wheeler Syndicate

References[link]

External links[link]

• King Features official site
• King Features comic strips
• Toonopedia: King Features
• King Features Weekly Service
• Brendan Burford interviewed by Tom Spurgeon

Little Annie Bandez (also known as Annie Anxiety or Little Annie Anxiety Bandez) is an American singer, songwriter, painter, and stage actor. She has recorded extensively with vanguard figures of twentieth century underground rock, such as rock musician Kid Congo Powers, dub stalwart Adrian Sherwood, punk/experimental band Crass, experimental/electronica band Coil, and Nurse with Wound. She has released several solo albums since the 1980s.

In 2006 she released Songs from the Coalmine Canary on the Durtro / Jnana label.

Little Annie has performed on stage with Marc Almond, supporting him in 2007 in several appearances at Wliton's Music Hall, where she performed with pianist Paul Wallfisch.

In 2008 she and Wallfisch recorded the album When Good Things Happen to Bad Pianos, which includes a cover of U2's song "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For".

In 2010 Annie and Paul released their second album, Genderful through Southern Records.

Bands[link]

Little Annie began her musical career at Max's Kansas City, with Annie and the Asexuals. Upon moving to the UK, she began working with Penny Rimbaud and Crass.

Paintings[link]

Little Annie is a painter and exhibits regularly. Her naive style is figurative, metaphorical and surrealistic, with a strong emphasis on color; often combining tortuous, expressionistic cityscapes with Biblical imagery. One series of her paintings, "God and Science", was inspired by the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the United States.^[1]

[edit] Songs from the Coalmine Canary

Little Annie's album Songs from the Coalmine Canary was co-produced by Antony Hegarty, of Antony and the Johnsons, and Joe Budenholzer of Backworld. Hegarty also played piano, sang backup vocals and co-wrote several songs on the album.^[2] The song "Strangelove", co-written by Little Annie and Hegarty, was used as the soundtrack for Levi's "Dangerous Liaisons" advertising campaign in 2007, garnering several awards, including the Cannes Lions – International Advertising Festival, 2007 (Bronze Lion ) for "Best Use of Music".^[3]

Discography[link]

• 1981 – Annie Anxiety – "Barbed Wire Halo" 7" (Crass Records, 321984/3)
• 1984 – Annie Anxiety – Soul Possession LP (Corpus Christi Records, Christ It's 10) – UK Indie Chart #7
• 1987 - Annie Anxiety Bandez - Jackamo LP/CD (One Little Indian, TPLP 4)
• 1992 – Little Annie – Short and Sweet LP (On-U Sound Records, ON-U LP60 CD16)
• 1992 - Little Annie - "Blessed those" 10" (On-U Sound Records, ON-U DP 26)
• 2007 - Little Annie - Songs from the Coalmine Canary (Durtro Jnana)
• 2008 - Little Annie and Paul Wallfisch - When Good Things Happen to Bad Pianos (Durtro Jnana)
• 2010 - Little Annie and Paul Wallfisch - Genderful (Southern Records)

Compilation appearances[link]

• "I Think Of You" (alternate vocal take, alternate mix) on Pay It All Back Volume Three (On-U Sound Records, ON-U LP53) (1991)
• "13 Things I Did Today" on Interiors (1998)
• "Baby I'll Make You A Man" on Brainwaves (2006)

List of musical collaborations[link]

This biographical section of an article needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding reliable sources. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately, especially if potentially libelous or harmful. (September 2010)

• Paul Wallfisch
• Missing Brazilians
• Finitribe
• Crass
• Jackamo
• Keith Leblanc
• Coil - Love's Secret Domain
• The Wolfgang Press ("The Birdie Song", from Queer, 1991)
• Paul Oakenfold
• Kid Congo Powers
• Nurse with Wound
• Bim Sherman
• Joe Buedenholzer
• Can Oral
• Christian Jendreiko
• Christoph Heemann
• The Legally Jammin
• Rubella Ballet
• Disco Hospital
• Into a Circle
• Current 93

References[link]

External links[link]

• http://www.brainwashed.com/annie
• http://www.skysaw.org/onu/artists/littleannieanxiety.html
• http://www.skysaw.org/onu/discography/littleannieanxietydiscog.html
• http://www.myspace.com/littleannieakaannieanxietybandez