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Newspaper Comic Strip

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The newspaper comics strip has been one of the daily sources of entertainment in any newspaper.  It has provided readers with short snatches of humor with some extending to serialized and syndicated forms, creating loyal following in the process.  The familiar black and white strips found in daily newspaper as well as its full-page versions on Sunday newspapers are definitely hard to miss.

 

Comic strips are typically humorous presentations of a story shown as a sequence of interrelated panels featuring artists or cartoonists’ drawings with texts in balloons.  The Yellow Kid is acknowledged as the first comics strip to appear in any North American newspaper although its original form was not exactly similar to present-day cartoon strips.  It was  a “weapon” used in a historic newspaper circulation war which signaled the seriousness of what is commonly dismissed as a minor feature of newspapers.

The longest-running comic strip in the history of US newspapers is Katzenjammer Kids which first saw the light of day in the year 1897.  Other noteworthy comic strips by virtue of their staying power include Gasoline Alley as well as Barney Google and Snuffy Smith, which started in 1918 and 1919, respectively.  Who can forget Popeye and Little Orphan Annie?

Just like entities frozen in time, most comic strip characters do not age.  Their creators continue to present them in their original ages no matter how long the comic strip has been running.  This is probably due to the fact that comic strips are primarily intended for entertainment and allowing the characters to have a perpetual look benefits the familiarity factor. There are some exceptions though such as the characters in Gasoline Alley.

Comic strips do not only feature human characters.  This is where we will find animals or inanimate things interacting with people as if they had the human attributes of thinking, conversing, dancing, and singing, among others.  Judging from the long history of early cartoon strips, we can still expect to follow the life of our favorite cartoon strip characters for a long, long time.

 

The Headline Story

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The most effective headline is said to be able to catch the attention of the reader and tell the gist of the story in one single line. Newspaper editors slave over this part of their job on a daily basis because it can make or break newspaper sales for the day. An engaging headline encourages readers to want to learn more while a boring one should make them want to head for another newspaper.

Newspapers are in a competitive business. The competition not only consists of other broadsheet counterparts but also online news and social media platforms. There is more reason to come up with just the exact words that will work because the attention of the public can be stolen by a single to-the-point headline.

Many writers are tempted to allow their witty side to come out in their headlines. It would be alright if such witty words can perform its intended task of catching attention. Otherwise, it would be wise to reserve the wittiness for the content.

In a way, the headline and its accompanying story carries the brunt of the responsibility of making sure that a newspaper establishes instant reader appeal. It has the job of getting readers’ attention who haven’t had the opportunity to determine the relevance of the offered content. There are many cases that a headline effectively gets the public attention without any substantial information related to the title. This should be avoided at all cost since a newspaper can easily get the reputation of baiting readers without having anything to offer.

The headline and its story should work together in consonance. Of course, many so-called newspapers have cemented their popularity through sensational headlines but in the end, it would be the story that would matter. The most in demand newspapers get reader’s attention and sustain it.

Looking Into the Continuing Relevance of Newspapers

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With the influx of many other communication choices to bring news, it would appear that printed newspapers have somewhat suffered a diminished stature in human priorities.  Whereas before, reading a newspaper typically starts and ends a person’s day, most would probably start and end theirs glued in a social networking site.  With almost anything under the sun being openly discussed in such sites including the current news, who needs a newspaper to get the news?

Surprise, surprise!  There are still those who prefer to get their news through the “old-fashioned” feel of real newspapers.  When we say real newspaper, these are the ones printed on paper which we would usually get from our favorite newsstands.   Of course, many major dailies have already made their online presence felt.  Obviously to some, online reading cannot approximate the satisfaction they obtain from the physical interaction with the newspaper. 

The newspaper has and always will be an important source of information, views, opinions, and trends.  In business establishments, doctor’s office, and beauty salons, we still see newspapers and magazines being read by waiting customers.  In school assignments, newspaper and magazine clippings are still commonly needed. 

It is clear that even if a newspaper is classified by some as an “old-fashioned” thing that can be replaced by other forms of media; it has retained its use and relevance to many people.  If there is anything that should be exempted from the “paperless” trend, it would be the newspaper.  To totally eliminate printed newspaper is to eliminate the essence of what a newspaper is.  A newspaper is meant to be appreciated not merely by the sense of sight but also of the sense of touch which completes the experience.

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