Andrews McMeel Syndication (formerly Universal Uclick) is an American content syndicate which provides syndication in print, online and on

mobile devices A mobile device (or handheld computer) is a computer small enough to hold and operate in the hand. Mobile devices typically have a flat LCD or OLED screen, a touchscreen interface, and digital or physical buttons. They may also have a physical ...

for a number of lifestyle and opinion

columns A column or pillar in architecture and structural engineering is a structural element that transmits, through compression, the weight of the structure above to other structural elements below. In other words, a column is a compression membe ...

comic strip A comic strip is a sequence of drawings, often cartoons, arranged in interrelated panels to display brief humor or form a narrative, often serialized, with text in balloons and captions. Traditionally, throughout the 20th and into the 21st ...

s and

cartoon A cartoon is a type of visual art that is typically drawn, frequently animated, in an unrealistic or semi-realistic style. The specific meaning has evolved over time, but the modern usage usually refers to either: an image or series of images ...

s and various other content. Some of its best-known products include ''

Dear Abby Dear Abby is an American advice column founded in 1956 by Pauline Phillips under the pen name "Abigail Van Buren" and carried on today by her daughter, Jeanne Phillips, who now owns the legal rights to the pen name. History According to Pauline ...

'', ''

Doonesbury ''Doonesbury'' is a comic strip by American cartoonist Garry Trudeau that chronicles the adventures and lives of an array of characters of various ages, professions, and backgrounds, from the President of the United States The president ...

'', ''

Ziggy Ziggy is a masculine given name, often a diminutive form (hypocorism) of Zigmunt and other names. It is also a nickname. Notable people with the name include: Nickname or hypocorism * Ezekiel Ansah (born 1989), National Football League pla ...

'', ''

Garfield ''Garfield'' is an American comic strip created by Jim Davis. Originally published locally as ''Jon'' in 1976, then in nationwide syndication from 1978 as ''Garfield'', it chronicles the life of the title character Garfield the cat, his human ...

'', ''

Ann Coulter Ann Hart Coulter (; born December 8, 1961) is an American conservative media pundit, author, syndicated columnist, and lawyer. She became known as a media pundit in the late 1990s, appearing in print and on cable news as an outspoken critic of ...

'', ''

Richard Roeper Richard E. Roeper (born October 17, 1959) is an American columnist and film critic for the ''Chicago Sun-Times''. He co-hosted the television series '' At the Movies'' with Roger Ebert from 2000 to 2008, serving as the late Gene Siskel's success ...

'' and ''

News of the Weird News of the Weird is a syndicated newspaper column once edited by Chuck Shepherd that collects bizarre news stories. It was created in 1988. , it is syndicated by Universal Press Syndicate and published in more than 250 newspapers in the United S ...

''. A subsidiary of

Andrews McMeel Universal Andrews McMeel Universal (AMU) is an American media corporation based in Kansas City, Missouri. It was founded in 1970 by Jim Andrews and John McMeel as Universal Press Syndicate and was renamed in 1997 to AMU to reflect the diversification th ...

, it is headquartered in

Kansas City, Missouri Kansas City (abbreviated KC or KCMO) is the largest city in Missouri by population and area. As of the 2020 census, the city had a population of 508,090 in 2020, making it the 36th most-populous city in the United States. It is the central ...

. It was formed in 2009 and was given its current name in January 2017.

History

Universal Press Syndicate Universal Press Syndicate (UPS), a subsidiary of Andrews McMeel Universal, was an independent press syndicate. It distributed lifestyle and opinion columns, comic strips and other content. Popular columns include Dear Abby, Ann Coulter, Roger Ebe ...

(UPS) was founded in 1970 by Jim Andrews and John McMeel. The company began syndicating

Garry Trudeau Garretson Beekman Trudeau (born July 21, 1948) is an American cartoonist, best known for creating the '' Doonesbury'' comic strip. Trudeau is also the creator and executive producer of the Amazon Studios political comedy series ''Alpha House'' ...

’s ''Doonesbury'' comic strip in October 1970. Trudeau won the

Pulitzer Prize The Pulitzer Prize () is an award for achievements in newspaper, magazine, online journalism, literature, and musical composition within the United States. It was established in 1917 by provisions in the will of Joseph Pulitzer, who had made h ...

for

editorial cartooning An editorial cartoonist, also known as a political cartoonist, is an artist who draws editorial cartoons that contain some level of political or social commentary. Their cartoons are used to convey and question an aspect of daily news or curren ...

in 1975 for his work on ''Doonesbury'', and the strip is now syndicated in more than 1,400 newspapers worldwide. Over the following decades, the syndicate added other well-known comic strips including ''

'', ''

Cathy ''Cathy'' is an American gag-a-day comic strip, drawn by Cathy Guisewite from 1976 until 2010. The comic follows Cathy, a woman who struggles through the "four basic guilt groups" of life—food, love, family, and work. The strip gently pokes f ...

'', '' For Better or For Worse'', ''

Calvin and Hobbes ''Calvin and Hobbes'' is a daily American comic strip created by cartoonist Bill Watterson that was syndicated from November 18, 1985, to December 31, 1995. Commonly cited as "the last great newspaper comic", ''Calvin and Hobbes'' has enjoyed ...

'', ''

The Far Side ''The Far Side'' is a single-panel comic created by Gary Larson and syndicated by Chronicle Features and then Universal Press Syndicate, which ran from December 31, 1979, to January 1, 1995 (when Larson retired as a cartoonist). Its surrealist ...

'', ''

FoxTrot The foxtrot is a smooth, progressive dance characterized by long, continuous flowing movements across the dance floor. It is danced to big band (usually vocal) music. The dance is similar in its look to waltz, although the rhythm is in a tim ...

'', '' Baldo'', ''

The Boondocks Boondocks are remote, usually brushy areas. Boondocks may also refer to: * The Boondocks (band), an Estonian rock band * ''The Boondocks'' (comic strip), a comic strip by Aaron McGruder ** ''The Boondocks'' (2005 TV series), the television ser ...

'', ''

In the Bleachers ''In the Bleachers'' is a comic strip that comments on, and lampoons, sports. It was created in 1985 by American cartoonist/filmmaker Steve Moore and is currently syndicated internationally by Andrews McMeel Syndication. Publication history The ...

'', '' Non Sequitur'', '' Stone Soup'', '' Real Life Adventures'', '' Cornered'', ''

Liō ''Liō'' is a daily comic strip created by American artist Mark Tatulli and distributed by Universal Press Syndicate/Universal Uclick/Andrews McMeel Syndication since May 15, 2006. As a pantomime strip, it has an international appeal. In 2008, t ...

'', ''

Cul De Sac A dead end, also known as a cul-de-sac (, from French for 'bag-bottom'), no through road or no exit road, is a street with only one inlet or outlet. The term "dead end" is understood in all varieties of English, but the official terminology ...

'', '' Thatababy'', ''

Wumo ''WUMO'', formerly ''Wulffmorgenthaler'', is a webcomic and newspaper comic strip created by Denmark, Danish writer/comics artist, artist duo Mikael Wulff and Anders Morgenthaler. The name of the strip is a portmanteau created from the pair's sur ...

'', editorial cartoonists and columnists. Universal Uclick was formed in July 2009 following the merger of Universal Press Syndicate with Andrews McMeel's digital entertainment company

Uclick Uclick LLC was an American corporation (a division of Andrews McMeel Universal) selling "digital entertainment content" for the desktop, the web and mobile phones. Uclick operated several consumer websites, including the comic strip and editoria ...

. In late December 2010, it was announced that ''

Dilbert ''Dilbert'' is an American comic strip written and illustrated by Scott Adams, first published on April 16, 1989. It is known for its satirical office humor about a white-collar, micromanaged office with engineer Dilbert as the title characte ...

'' would move from

United Feature Syndicate United Feature Syndicate (UFS) is a large American editorial column and comic strip newspaper syndication service based in the United States and established in 1919. Originally part of E. W. Scripps Company, it was part of United Media (along wit ...

to Universal Uclick beginning in June 2011. ''Dilbert'' has been with Universal Uclick/Andrews McMeel Syndication ever since. On February 24, 2011, Universal Uclick signed a deal with

E. W. Scripps Company The E. W. Scripps Company is an American broadcasting company founded in 1878 as a chain of daily newspapers by Edward Willis "E. W." Scripps and his sister, Ellen Browning Scripps. It was also formerly a media conglomerate. The company is he ...

United Media United Media was a large Column (periodical), editorial column and comic strip newspaper print syndication, syndication service based in the United States, owned by the E. W. Scripps Company, that operated from 1978 to 2011. It syndicated 150 comi ...

to handle syndication of the latter company's 150 comic strip and news features (under the banners

and the

Newspaper Enterprise Association The Newspaper Enterprise Association (NEA) is an editorial column and comic strip newspaper syndication service based in the United States and established in 1902. The oldest syndicate still in operation, the NEA was originally a secondary news ...

) beginning on June 1 of that year. The United Media deal brought over such long-running comic strips as ''

Alley Oop ''Alley Oop'' is a syndicated comic strip created December 5, 1932, by American cartoonist V. T. Hamlin, who wrote and drew the strip through four decades for Newspaper Enterprise Association. Hamlin introduced a cast of colorful characters an ...

'', ''

Marmaduke ''Marmaduke'' is a newspaper comic strip revolving around the Winslow family and their Great Dane, Marmaduke, drawn by Brad Anderson from June 1954 to 2015. Publication history The strip was created by Anderson, and sold to the John F. Dille ...

'', '' Nancy'', and ''

Tarzan Tarzan (John Clayton II, Viscount Greystoke) is a fictional character, an archetypal feral child raised in the African jungle by the Mangani great apes; he later experiences civilization, only to reject it and return to the wild as a heroic adv ...

''. As a result of this acquisition, Universal Uclick became one of the largest print syndicators in the United States, as United Media — along with

King Features Syndicate King Features Syndicate, Inc. is a American content distribution and animation studio, consumer product licensing and print syndication company owned by Hearst Communications that distributes about 150 comic strips, newspaper columns, editoria ...

and

Creators Syndicate Creators Syndicate (also known as Creators) is an American independent distributor of comic strips and syndicated columns to daily newspapers, websites, and other digital outlets. When founded in 1987, Creators Syndicate became one of the few suc ...

— was one of Andrews McMeel's main competitors in the industry.

Comic strips and panels

Well-known comics currently or formerly syndicated by Andrews McMeel Syndication include ''

'', '' For Better or For Worse'', ''

'', ''

Pooch Cafe The dog (''Canis familiaris'' or ''Canis lupus familiaris'') is a domesticated descendant of the wolf. Also called the domestic dog, it is derived from the extinct Pleistocene wolf, and the modern wolf is the dog's nearest living relative. D ...

'', '' Baldo'', '' What the Duck'', '' Ink Pen'', ''

'', ''

Cul de Sac A dead end, also known as a cul-de-sac (, from French for 'bag-bottom'), no through road or no exit road, is a street with only one inlet or outlet. The term "dead end" is understood in all varieties of English, but the official terminology ...

'', ''

Tom the Dancing Bug ''Tom the Dancing Bug'' is a weekly satirical comic strip by cartoonist and political commentator Ruben Bolling that covers mostly US current events from a liberal point of view. Tom the Dancing Bug won the 2002, 2003, 2007, 2008,Gardner, Ala ...

'', ''

'' and ''

Peanuts ''Peanuts'' is a print syndication, syndicated daily strip, daily and Sunday strip, Sunday American comic strip written and illustrated by Charles M. Schulz. The strip's original run extended from 1950 to 2000, continuing in reruns afterward. ' ...

'' (since February 27, 2011) in newspapers, calendars and books. Andrews McMeel Syndication also owns and operates GoComics.com, a comics aggregate website featuring comic strips currently syndicated in print, online and on mobile devices by Andrews McMeel Syndication, as well as discontinued titles such as ''Calvin and Hobbes'', ''The Boondocks'' and ''

Bloom County ''Bloom County'' is an American comic strip by Berkeley Breathed which originally ran from December 8, 1980, until August 6, 1989. It examined events in politics and culture through the viewpoint of a fanciful small town in Middle America, wh ...

'', webcomics such as '' Pibgorn'' and '' Kliban'', plus a selection of syndicated comic strips from

and

Tribune Content Agency Tribune Content Agency (TCA) is a syndication company owned by Tribune Publishing. TCA had previously been known as the Chicago Tribune Syndicate, the Chicago Tribune New York News Syndicate (CTNYNS), Tribune Company Syndicate, and Tribune Media Se ...

. In October 2008, Uclick launched a GoComics gadget for

iGoogle iGoogle (formerly Google Personalized Homepage) was a customizable Ajax-based start page or personal web portal launched by Google in May 2005. It was discontinued on November 1, 2013,Google SupportiGoogle's Decommission/ref> because the compan ...

which allows users to read comic strips on their iGoogle pages. As of 2016, the company syndicated more than 80 comic strips to over 2,000 newspapers worldwide.Dwyer, Ed
"CULTURE: The Funny Papers: Newspapers may be in trouble, but the comic strip is alive and well — and flourishing online,"
''Saturday Evening Post'' (November 7, 2016).

Editorial cartoons

Andrews McMeel Syndication syndicates the editorial cartoonists

Don Asmussen Donald Asmussen (October 31, 1962 – December 9, 2021) was an American cartoonist working for the ''San Francisco Chronicle'' and Universal Press Syndicate. Career Asmussen was born in Rhode Island. Early in his career, he published collages a ...

Tony Auth William Anthony Auth Jr. (May 7, 1942 – September 14, 2014) was an American editorial cartoonist and children's book illustrator. Auth is best known for his syndicated work originally drawn for ''The Philadelphia Inquirer,'' for whom he worked ...

, Stuart Carlson,

Lalo Alcaraz Lalo Alcaraz (born April 19, 1964) is an American cartoonist most known for being the author of the comic ''La Cucaracha'', the first nationally syndicated, politically themed Latino daily comic strip. Launched in 2002, ''La Cucaracha'' has becom ...

Glenn McCoy Glenn McCoy (born 1965) is a conservative American cartoonist, whose work includes the comic strip '' The Duplex'' and the daily panel he does with his brother Gary entitled ''The Flying McCoys''. McCoy previously produced editorial cartoons u ...

Pat Oliphant Patrick Bruce "Pat" Oliphant (born 24 July 1935) is an Australian-born American artist whose career spanned more than sixty years. His body of work as a whole focuses mostly on American and global politics, culture, and corruption; he is particu ...

Ted Rall Frederick Theodore Rall III (born August 26, 1963) is an American columnist, syndicated editorial cartoonist, and author. His political cartoons often appear in a multi-panel comic strip, comic-strip format and frequently blend comic-strip and e ...

Rob Rogers (cartoonist) Rob Rogers (born May 23, 1959) is an editorial cartoonist. His cartoons appeared in ''The Pittsburgh Press'' from 1984 to 1993, and the ''Pittsburgh Post-Gazette'' from 1993 to 2018.

Ben Sargent Ben Sargent (born November 26, 1948) is a retired American editorial cartoonist. He began drawing editorial cartoons for the '' Austin American-Statesman'' in 1974 and retired in 2009. His cartoons are also distributed nationally by Universal P ...

Tom Toles Thomas Gregory Toles (born October 22, 1951) is a retired American political cartoonist. He is the winner of the 1990 Pulitzer Prize for editorial cartooning. His cartoons typically presented progressive viewpoints. Similar to Oliphant's us ...

, Matt Davies, Matt Bors,

Matt Wuerker Matt Wuerker () is a Pulitzer Prize-winning American political cartoonist and founding staff member of ''Politico''. Career Wuerker graduated from Lewis & Clark College with a BA in 1979. While there, he served as the chief editorial cartoonist ...

Ruben Bolling Ruben Bolling (born c. 1963 in New Jersey) is a pseudonym for Ken Fisher, an American cartoonist, the author of '' Tom the Dancing Bug'' and ''Super-Fun-Pak Comix''. His work started out apolitical, instead featuring absurdist humor, parodying c ...

and Kerry Waghorn.

Puzzles and games

Andrews McMeel Syndication distributes daily puzzles and games in newspapers and other print media. The company also distributes puzzles and casual games online through consumer and news web portals as well as through its own puzzle and game portals, PuzzleSociety.com and UclickGames.com. Andrews McMeel Syndication products include crossword puzzles and games edited by

David Steinberg David Steinberg (born August 9, 1942) is a Canadian comedian, actor, writer, director, and author. At the height of his popularity, during the late 1960s and mid 1970s, he was one of the best-known comics in the United States. He appeared on ...

and

Pat Sajak Pat Sajak ( , born Patrick Leonard ; born October 26, 1946) is an American television personality and game show host. He is best known as the host of the American television game show ''Wheel of Fortune'', a position he has held since 1981. Fo ...

, number placement puzzles like

Sudoku Sudoku (; ja, 数独, sūdoku, digit-single; originally called Number Place) is a logic-based, combinatorial number-placement puzzle. In classic Sudoku, the objective is to fill a 9 × 9 grid with digits so that each column, each row ...

and

Kakuro Kakuro or Kakkuro or Kakoro ( ja, カックロ) is a kind of logic puzzle that is often referred to as a mathematical transliteration of the crossword. Kakuro puzzles are regular features in many math-and-logic puzzle publications across the worl ...

, jigsaw puzzles and other casual games. Andrews McMeel Syndication distributes the daily Jumble online (but not in print, where Tribune Media Services distributes the puzzles).

Syndicated columns and text features

Andrews McMeel Syndication syndicated columns and text features are distributed in newspapers and other print media worldwide and online through consumer and news web portals, as well as through the Andrews McMeel Syndication syndicated column and text feature consumer site, uExpress.com. Popular Andrews McMeel Syndication columns and text features include the advice columns

and

Miss Manners Judith Martin (née Perlman; born September 13, 1938), better known by the pen name Miss Manners, is an American columnist, author, and etiquette authority. Early life and career Martin is the daughter of Helen and Jacob Perlman. Her father w ...

, conservative columnist

, film critic

Roger Ebert Roger Joseph Ebert (; June 18, 1942 – April 4, 2013) was an American film critic, film historian, journalist, screenwriter, and author. He was a film critic for the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, Ebert beca ...

, and News of the Weird.

Comic books and manga

In 2006, Universal Uclick launched the United States’ first comic book reader application for mobile phones. The introductory line of titles included ''

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles ''Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles'' is an American media franchise created by the comic book artists Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird. It follows Leonardo (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles), Leonardo, Michelangelo (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles), Miche ...

'', ''

The Five Fists of Science ''The Five Fists of Science'' is a steampunk graphic novel created by writer Matt Fraction and artist Steven Sanders. It was published in 2006 by Image Comics. Plot Nikola Tesla, Mark Twain and Bertha von Suttner combine forces to try to br ...

'', ''Godland'', '' PvP'' and ''

Too Much Coffee Man Too Much Coffee Man (TMCM) is an American satirical superhero created by cartoonist Shannon Wheeler. Too Much Coffee Man wears what appears to be a spandex version of old-fashioned red " long johns" with a large mug attached atop his head. He ...

''. Andrews McMeel Syndication has also published mobile versions and iPhone applications featuring comic book titles from

Devil's Due Publishing Devil's Due Publishing (often abbreviated as DDP) is an independent comic book publisher in the United States. Based in Chicago, Illinois, DDP is best known for its wide selection of genres, including licensed and original creator-owned proper ...

Image Comics Image Comics is an American comic book publisher and is the third largest comic book and graphic novel publisher in the industry in both unit and market share. It was founded in 1992 by several high-profile illustrators as a venue for creator-ow ...

IDW Publishing IDW Publishing is an American publisher of comic books, graphic novels, art books, and comic strip collections. It was founded in 1999 as the publishing division of Idea and Design Works, LLC (IDW), itself formed in 1999, and is regularly recog ...

and Jeff Smith's ''

Bone A bone is a Stiffness, rigid Organ (biology), organ that constitutes part of the skeleton in most vertebrate animals. Bones protect the various other organs of the body, produce red blood cell, red and white blood cells, store minerals, provid ...

'' series.Twiddy, David. "Comic books turn up on mobile phones"
''USA Today'', September 6, 2007.

References

External links

*
uExpress.comGoComics.comPuzzleSociety.comUclickGames.comAndrews McMeel Universal corporate site
{{Andrews McMeel Universal Comic strip syndicates American entertainment websites 2009 establishments in Missouri

History

Comic strips and panels

Editorial cartoons

Puzzles and games

Syndicated columns and text features

Comic books and manga

See also

References

External links