Thursday, May 13, 2010

LITTLE ORPHAN ANNIE Cancelled After 85 Years

Phil Rosenthal, in today's Chicago Tribune, writes that Annie will end her run on June 13, 2010.

"Through more than 85 years of hardships and challenges — spanning the Great Depression, a world war, foreign cabals, corruption at home, several kidnappings and, well, being an orphan — she somehow always found a way to triumph.

"In the changing media landscape, however, Little Orphan Annie has run into adversity not even she could overcome. The sun will come out tomorrow, but the tomorrow after June 13 will be the first in generations to dawn without 'Annie' appearing in a daily newspaper.

"The final Sunday panel of the strip, once seen in hundreds of papers but now run by fewer than 20, will end with Daddy Warbucks uncertain over what happened to Annie in her latest run-in with the Butcher of the Balkans. And, leaping lizards, what about her dog, Sandy? Arf."

Sad news, of course. And ending on a cliffhanger seems, well, ill-planned. Let Annie have an ending other than "Daddy" worrying about her. Let her be home safe, and Sandy too.

Related: IDW's great Library of American Comics ANNIE reprint books.

LITTLE ORPHAN ANNIE is written by Jay Maeder, and drawn by Ted Slampyak.

4 comments:

Scotty A said...

Wow, and I just started getting into Annie when I found it in a Droid app.
While I don't have much fondness for most of the zombie strips out there, I wouldn't mind Annie continuing on somewhere the web.

Brian Fies said...

Ted Slampyak was one of the first to welcome me warmly into the brotherhood/sisterhood of cartoonists (maybe even before you, Mike--we're talking dinosaur days), and couldn't have been nicer. As a strip, "Annie" had her ups and downs over the decades, but I thought Jay and Ted had a fresh, witty take that really reinvigorated her. Sorry to hear this for their sakes. Also, continued mourning for the last days of the great adventure-continuity strips in general.

Sherm said...

Sounds like a great opportunity for a relaunch. Only they'd probably mess it up.

When Superman got forgotten, DC did the John Byrne relaunch, and then many years later killed him off and resurrected him. Same for Green Lantern and The Flash, two recent resurrectees.

Hopefully Annie's legacy will be treated honorably. Thank heavens for the IDW reprints.

Anonymous said...

Wow! That ERA has certainly seen its last.