Universal Press Syndicate
Encyclopedia
Universal Press Syndicate, a subsidiary of Andrews McMeel Universal
, is the world's largest independent press syndicate
. It distributes lifestyle and opinion column
s, comic strip
s and other content. Popular columns include Dear Abby
, Ann Coulter
, Roger Ebert
and News of the Weird
. In July 2009, Universal Press Syndicate merged with Uclick
LLC to form Universal Uclick
.
Universal Press Syndicate was founded by John McMeel and Jim Andrews in 1970, two graduates of Notre Dame
. Their early syndication success came as a result of Andrews reading the Yale Daily News
. While clipping a column by a priest, he was distracted by Garry Trudeau
's Bull Tales comic strip on the facing page. When Trudeau's Doonesbury
debuted as a daily strip
in two dozen newspapers on October 26, 1970, it was the first strip from Universal Press Syndicate, and a Sunday strip
was launched March 21, 1971. Circulation of Doonesbury eventually expanded to more than 1,400 newspapers internationally.
Along with editorial cartoonists Ben Sargent
, Pat Oliphant
, Tom Toles
, Glenn McCoy
, Ted Rall
and Don "Bad Reporter" Asmussen
, UPS syndicates crossword puzzles and games edited by Timothy Parker. Universal Press Syndicate runs the GoComics
website. With more than 300 titles annually, Andrews McMeel Publishing is a leading publisher of calendars, cookbooks, gift books, humor titles and comic strip reprints.
Universal's international syndication arm, Atlantic Syndication, was founded in 1933 by Evening Post Publishing Company as Editors Press Service. In 2004, Universal acquired Editors Press Service from Evening Post Publishing Company and renamed it Atlantic Syndication.
Andrews McMeel Universal
Andrews McMeel Universal is an American corporation based in Kansas City, Missouri. It was founded in 1970 by Notre Dame alumni Jim Andrews and John McMeel as Universal Press Syndicate and was renamed in 1997 to AMU to reflect the diversification that had taken place since its founding...
, is the world's largest independent press syndicate
Print syndication
Print syndication distributes news articles, columns, comic strips and other features to newspapers, magazines and websites. They offer reprint rights and grant permissions to other parties for republishing content of which they own/represent copyrights....
. It distributes lifestyle and opinion column
Column
A column or pillar in architecture and structural engineering is a vertical structural element that transmits, through compression, the weight of the structure above to other structural elements below. For the purpose of wind or earthquake engineering, columns may be designed to resist lateral forces...
s, comic strip
Comic strip
A comic strip is a sequence of drawings arranged in interrelated panels to display brief humor or form a narrative, often serialized, with text in balloons and captions....
s and other content. Popular columns include Dear Abby
Dear Abby
Dear Abby is the name of the 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....
, Ann Coulter
Ann Coulter
Ann Hart Coulter is an American lawyer, conservative social and political commentator, author, and syndicated columnist. She frequently appears on television, radio, and as a speaker at public events and private events...
, Roger Ebert
Roger Ebert
Roger Joseph Ebert is an American film critic and screenwriter. He is the first film critic to win a Pulitzer Prize for Criticism.Ebert is known for his film review column and for the television programs Sneak Previews, At the Movies with Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert, and Siskel and Ebert and The...
and News of the Weird
News of the Weird
News of the Weird is a syndicated newspaper column 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 States and Canada. As of July 2008, the daily internet...
. In July 2009, Universal Press Syndicate merged with Uclick
Uclick
Uclick LLC was an American corporation selling "digital entertainment content" for the desktop, the web and mobile phones...
LLC to form Universal Uclick
Universal Uclick
Universal Uclick is an American entertainment company owned by Andrews McMeel Universal. Universal Uclick is the world's largest independent press syndicate and provides syndication in print, online and on mobile devices for a number of lifestyle and opinion columns, comic strips and cartoons and...
.
Universal Press Syndicate was founded by John McMeel and Jim Andrews in 1970, two graduates of Notre Dame
University of Notre Dame
The University of Notre Dame du Lac is a Catholic research university located in Notre Dame, an unincorporated community north of the city of South Bend, in St. Joseph County, Indiana, United States...
. Their early syndication success came as a result of Andrews reading the Yale Daily News
Yale Daily News
The Yale Daily News is an independent student newspaper published by Yale University students in New Haven, Connecticut since January 28, 1878...
. While clipping a column by a priest, he was distracted by Garry Trudeau
Garry Trudeau
Garretson Beekman "Garry" Trudeau is an American cartoonist, best known for the Doonesbury comic strip.-Background and education:...
's Bull Tales comic strip on the facing page. When Trudeau's Doonesbury
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 to the title character, Michael Doonesbury, who has progressed from a college...
debuted as a daily strip
Daily strip
A daily strip is a newspaper comic strip format, appearing on weekdays, Monday through Saturday, as contrasted with a Sunday strip, which typically only appears on Sundays....
in two dozen newspapers on October 26, 1970, it was the first strip from Universal Press Syndicate, and a Sunday strip
Sunday strip
A Sunday strip is a newspaper comic strip format, where comic strips are printed in the Sunday newspaper, usually in a special section called the Sunday comics, and virtually always in color. Some readers called these sections the Sunday funnies...
was launched March 21, 1971. Circulation of Doonesbury eventually expanded to more than 1,400 newspapers internationally.
Comic strips
Past and present UPS strips include:- BaldoBaldoBaldo is an American comic strip written by Hector Cantú and illustrated by Carlos Castellanos. It was launched in April 2000, and is widely billed as the first comic strip featuring Latino characters and themes to be marketed to a mainstream audience....
- The Boondocks
- BrainwavesBrainwaves (comic strip)Brainwaves is a syndicated single-panel cartoon series by Betsy Streeter, distributed by the Universal Press Syndicate and collected in books where it has been described as "a single-panel stream of consciousness about the infinite absurdity of everyday life".Streeter says her cartoons are about...
- Calvin and HobbesCalvin and HobbesCalvin and Hobbes is a syndicated daily comic strip that was written and illustrated by American cartoonist Bill Watterson, and syndicated from November 18, 1985, to December 31, 1995. It follows the humorous antics of Calvin, a precocious and adventurous six-year-old boy, and Hobbes, his...
- CathyCathy (comic strip)Cathy was a comic strip drawn by Cathy Guisewite. It featured a woman who struggled through the "four basic guilt groups" of life — food, love, mom, and work — the strip gently poked fun at the lives and foibles of modern women. Cathy's characteristics and issues both made fun of and...
- Cul de SacCul de Sac (comic strip)Cul de Sac is a comic strip created by Richard Thompson and distributed by Universal Press Syndicate to 150 worldwide newspapers.The central character is four-year-old Alice Otterloop, and the strip depicts her daily life at pre-school and at home...
- DoonesburyDoonesburyDoonesbury 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 to the title character, Michael Doonesbury, who has progressed from a college...
- The Far SideThe Far SideThe Far Side is a popular single-panel comic created by Gary Larson and syndicated by Universal Press Syndicate, which ran from January 1, 1980, to January 1, 1995. Its surrealistic humor is often based on uncomfortable social situations, improbable events, an anthropomorphic view of the world,...
- For Better or For WorseFor Better or For WorseFor Better or For Worse is a comic strip by Lynn Johnston that ran for 30 years, chronicling the lives of a Canadian family, The Pattersons, and their friends. The story is set in the fictitious Toronto-area suburban town of Milborough, Ontario. Johnston's strip began in September 1979, and ended...
- FoxTrot
- GarfieldGarfieldGarfield is a comic strip created by Jim Davis. Published since June 19, 1978, it chronicles the life of the title character, the cat Garfield ; his owner, Jon Arbuckle; and Arbuckle's dog, Odie...
- Ink PenInk PenInk Pen is a daily comic strip by Phil Dunlap that started in 2005 and is syndicated by Universal Press Syndicate.This comic strip is about an employment agency for out-of-work cartoon characters...
- LiōLioLio is a singer and actress who was a pop icon in France and Belgium during the 1980s.- Biography :...
- Pooch CafePooch CaféPooch Café is a Canadian and American comic strip written and illustrated by Paul Gilligan.- Overview :Pooch Café is a comic strip that follows the humorous antics of a self-serving, squirrel-fearing, food-obsessed, toilet-drinking mutt named Poncho....
- Tom the Dancing BugTom the Dancing BugTom the Dancing Bug is a weekly satirical comic strip by cartoonist and political commentator Ruben Bolling that covers current events from a liberal point of view. The strip appears in mainstream and alternative weekly newspapers, as well as on the Boing Boing website. Tom the Dancing Bug won...
. - What the DuckWhat the DuckWhat the Duck is a comic strip by Aaron Johnson. It started as a webcomic, with the first strip posted in July 2006. The strip has appeared as print in numerous photography magazines including Amateur Photographer. It was picked up for syndication in 2008 by Universal Press Syndicate under the name...
- Ziggy
Along with editorial cartoonists Ben Sargent
Ben Sargent
Ben Sargent is an 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 Press Syndicate....
, Pat Oliphant
Pat Oliphant
Patrick Bruce "Pat" Oliphant is the most widely syndicated political cartoonist in the world, described by the New York Times as "the most influential cartoonist now working"...
, Tom Toles
Tom Toles
Thomas Gregory Toles is an American political cartoonist. He is the winner of the 1990 Pulitzer Prize for editorial cartooning...
, Glenn McCoy
Glenn McCoy
Glenn McCoy is an American conservative cartoonist, whose work includes popular comic strip The Duplex and the daily panel he does with his brother Gary entitled The Flying McCoys. Glenn also produces editorial cartoons...
, Ted Rall
Ted Rall
Ted Rall is an American columnist, syndicated editorial cartoonist, and author. His political cartoons often appear in a multi-panel comic-strip format and frequently blend comic-strip and editorial-cartoon conventions. The cartoons appear in approximately 100 newspapers around the United States...
and Don "Bad Reporter" Asmussen
Don Asmussen
Don Asmussen is an American cartoonist working for the San Francisco Chronicle and Universal Press Syndicate.He was born in Rhode Island...
, UPS syndicates crossword puzzles and games edited by Timothy Parker. Universal Press Syndicate runs the GoComics
GoComics
GoComics is a website launched in 2005 by the digital entertainment provider Uclick. It was originally created as a distribution portal for comic strips on mobile phones, but in 2006, the site was redesigned and expanded to include online strips and cartoons...
website. With more than 300 titles annually, Andrews McMeel Publishing is a leading publisher of calendars, cookbooks, gift books, humor titles and comic strip reprints.
Universal's international syndication arm, Atlantic Syndication, was founded in 1933 by Evening Post Publishing Company as Editors Press Service. In 2004, Universal acquired Editors Press Service from Evening Post Publishing Company and renamed it Atlantic Syndication.