Whether this takes hold or not… well, we’ll see. Lynn Johnston is doing this instead of completely retiring the strip as was previously planned for this coming September.

If you’re a “For Better or For Worse” fan, check out Lynn Johnston’s page on how a comic strip is drawn and written from start to finish.

#4 – Dilbert 2007 Day-to-Day Calendar

This year’s calendar is “This Week I Achieved Unprecedented Levels of Unverifiable Productivity“. It picks up right where the 2006 calendar left off, and that’s in the move that Asok is attempting to organize. Dilbert is a must see comic for anyone that works in an office.

#3 – FoxTrot 2007 Day-to-Day Calendar

The FoxTrot Calendar is a must have, because there aren’t any daily strips anymore. You read the announcement about FoxTrot discontinuing the daily strip didn’t you? FoxTrot has always been a great comic, and this is the only way to get your daily dose. Fortunately, the strip will be continued on Sunday, so you’ll still get a new color comic every week.

#2 – Get Fuzzy 2007 Day-to-Day Calendar (Quality Time).

“Get Fuzzy” is an excellent comic strip. You’d think that the “Guy and Dog and Cat” comic strip has been done to death by “Garfield”, but “Get Fuzzy” throws it into a whole new dimension. Rob,
Satchel and Bucky…. Not to be missed!

#1 – The Far Side Gallery 2007 Off The Wall Page-a-Day Calendar

Well, I have to say that my jaw hit the floor when I found out that Gary Larson came out with a calendar for 2007, after not having any for the last few years. Welcome back all the cows, scientists, cave men, and just plan weirdness that is “The Far Side”. The author’s proceeds are going to a charity (Conservation International).

Bill Amended and Universal Press Syndicate announced that FoxTrot will be going to Sunday’s only. FoxTrot is one of my favorite strips, and I get the FoxTrot Calendar every year (although they didn’t publish one a couple of years ago.

I’ll miss the dailies.

The first, and my favorite is Your Career in The Comics. The author, Lee Nordling, interviewed many people from the industry. Not only cartoonists, but also people that work in the syndicates that distribute comics, newspaper editors and even agents. The book has is broken down in to three main areas: “The Players”, “The Process” and “The Product”. Just about everything is covered, from the submission process, to how comics are actually sold, what contracts are like, and a lot more.

How each person in the process views themselves, and each other are pretty interesting. For example, agents consider themselves pretty important, while the cartoonists see them as cutting into the bottom line (and most recommend NOT to use an agent, since you don’t really need them).

I was pretty surprised about a couple of things. First, to see how little newspapers pay for comics each week ($7-$15), and that the weekly rate is generally the rate for the Sunday comic alone. (Which may explain why Opus only runs on Sundays). I was also surprised to find out that when a syndicate says that a comic is carried in “500 papers”, they count the dailies and the Sunday comic seperately. So, if you read Peanuts in your paper Monday-Saturday, and on Sunday, that counts as two newspapers.

Your Career in The Comics is well worth getting if you’re interested in becoming syndicated, or if you have an interest in the comics business itself.

Successful Syndication: A Guide for Writers and Cartoonists deals much more with the syndication process itself. Perhaps the best thing about this book is that it has a very detailed explanation of a sample syndication contract in one of the appendices. It covers the things in the contract that the syndicate would be likely to be flexible about, and what they probably wouldn’t budge on. It also gave tips on how to make some very vague clauses in the contract become more percise and helpful to the cartoonist.

Both books are well worth reading.