print syndication
Print syndication distributes news articles, columns, political cartoons, comic strips and other features to newspapers, magazines and websites. The syndicates offer reprint rights and grant permissions to other parties for republishing content o ...
service that distributed
comic strips
A comic strip is a Comics, sequence of drawings, often cartoons, arranged in interrelated panels to display brief humor or form a narrative, often Serial (literature), serialized, with text in Speech balloon, balloons and Glossary of comics ter ...
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
Edgar Stow Wheelan (1888–1966), who signed his work Ed Wheelan, was an American cartoonist best known for his comic strip ''Minute Movies'', satirizing silent films, and his comic book ''Fat and Slat'', published by EC Comics. He was one of the ...
,
Rube Goldberg
Reuben Garrett Lucius Goldberg (July 4, 1883 – December 7, 1970), known best as Rube Goldberg, was an American cartoonist, sculptor, author, engineer, and inventor.
Goldberg is best known for his popular cartoons depicting complicated gadge ...
,
Boody Rogers
Gordon G. Rogers (September 8, 1904, Hobart, Oklahoma – February 6, 1996), better known as Boody Rogers, was an American comic strip and comic book cartoonist who created the superhero parody ''Sparky Watts''.
Born in Hobart, Oklahoma, Rogers a ...
, and
Frank Borth
Frank M. Borth III (April 1, 1918 – August 9, 2009) was an American comic book artist.
Biography
Borth was born and raised in Cleveland, eventually graduating in 1940 from the Cleveland School of Art, where he majored in illustration."New Sea A ...
. The syndicate also provided material for the burgeoning
comic book
A comic book, also called comicbook, comic magazine or (in the United Kingdom and Ireland) simply comic, is a publication that consists of comics art in the form of sequential juxtaposed panels that represent individual scenes. Panels are of ...
industry, for companies like
Quality Comics
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.
Notable, long-running titles published by Qualit ...
and
Columbia Comics
Columbia Comics Corporation was a comic book publisher active in the 1940s whose best-known title was ''Big Shot Comics''. Comics creators who worked for Columbia included Fred Guardineer, on ''Marvelo, the Monarch of Magicians''; and Ogden Whitne ...
.
History
Founder Frank Jay Markey was originally an executive with the
McNaught Syndicate
The McNaught Syndicate was an American newspaper syndicate founded in 1922. It was established by Virgil Venice McNitt (who gave it his name) and Charles V. McAdam. Its best known contents were the columns by Will Rogers and O. O. McIntyre, the ' ...
; he formed the syndicate to distribute his own column, eventually adding comic strips as well. The company's first strip was
Rube Goldberg
Reuben Garrett Lucius Goldberg (July 4, 1883 – December 7, 1970), known best as Rube Goldberg, was an American cartoonist, sculptor, author, engineer, and inventor.
Goldberg is best known for his popular cartoons depicting complicated gadge ...
's ''Lala Palooza'', followed by Bill Walsh and
Ed Wheelan
Edgar Stow Wheelan (1888–1966), who signed his work Ed Wheelan, was an American cartoonist best known for his comic strip ''Minute Movies'', satirizing silent films, and his comic book ''Fat and Slat'', published by EC Comics. He was one of the ...
's ''Big Top''.
In 1937, the Markey syndicate partnered with two other syndicates, the
McNaught Syndicate
The McNaught Syndicate was an American newspaper syndicate founded in 1922. It was established by Virgil Venice McNitt (who gave it his name) and Charles V. McAdam. Its best known contents were the columns by Will Rogers and O. O. McIntyre, the ' ...
and the
Register and Tribune Syndicate
The Register and Tribune Syndicate was a Print syndication, 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 a ...
Feature Funnies
''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.
Publication history
T ...
''.Steranko, Jim (1972). ''The Steranko History of Comics 2''. Reading, Pennsylvania: Supergraphics. p. 92. . In 1939,
Cowles Media Company
Cowles Media Company ( ) (1935–1998) was a newspaper, magazine and information publishing company based in Minneapolis, Minnesota in the United States. The company operated Cowles Business Media, Cowles Creative Publishing, and Cowles Enth ...
(the Register and Tribune Syndicate's corporate owner) and Arnold bought out the McNaught and Markey interests.
In 1940, Markey and the McNaught Syndicate made a similar partnership with artist/editor
Columbia Comics
Columbia Comics Corporation was a comic book publisher active in the 1940s whose best-known title was ''Big Shot Comics''. Comics creators who worked for Columbia included Fred Guardineer, on ''Marvelo, the Monarch of Magicians''; and Ogden Whitne ...
.
The Markey syndicate made a bit of a splash in 1947 with
Frank Borth
Frank M. Borth III (April 1, 1918 – August 9, 2009) was an American comic book artist.
Biography
Borth was born and raised in Cleveland, eventually graduating in 1940 from the Cleveland School of Art, where he majored in illustration."New Sea A ...
's sea adventure daily strip ''Ken Stuart'' in 1947, but the strip was out of syndication a few years later, and with it went the syndicate.
Frank J. Markey Syndicate strips and panels
* ''Big Top'' by Bill Walsh and
Ed Wheelan
Edgar Stow Wheelan (1888–1966), who signed his work Ed Wheelan, was an American cartoonist best known for his comic strip ''Minute Movies'', satirizing silent films, and his comic book ''Fat and Slat'', published by EC Comics. He was one of the ...
(1937–1938)
* ''Bouford'' by
Frank Borth
Frank M. Borth III (April 1, 1918 – August 9, 2009) was an American comic book artist.
Biography
Borth was born and raised in Cleveland, eventually graduating in 1940 from the Cleveland School of Art, where he majored in illustration."New Sea A ...
(1949)Borth entry ''Who's Who of American Comic Book Artists, 1928–1999''. Accessed Jan. 5, 2018.
* ''Honey Dear'' by Johnny Devlin (December 6, 1937–August 27, 1938)
* ''Ken Stuart'' by
Frank Borth
Frank M. Borth III (April 1, 1918 – August 9, 2009) was an American comic book artist.
Biography
Borth was born and raised in Cleveland, eventually graduating in 1940 from the Cleveland School of Art, where he majored in illustration."New Sea A ...
(1947–1950)
* ''Lala Palooza'' by
Rube Goldberg
Reuben Garrett Lucius Goldberg (July 4, 1883 – December 7, 1970), known best as Rube Goldberg, was an American cartoonist, sculptor, author, engineer, and inventor.
Goldberg is best known for his popular cartoons depicting complicated gadge ...
(1936–c. 1939)
* ''Sparky Watts'' by
Boody Rogers
Gordon G. Rogers (September 8, 1904, Hobart, Oklahoma – February 6, 1996), better known as Boody Rogers, was an American comic strip and comic book cartoonist who created the superhero parody ''Sparky Watts''.
Born in Hobart, Oklahoma, Rogers a ...