Issue Date: April 13, 2003
Comic relief
On sunday mornings my family used to bicker over whose turn it was to read the comic strips. Then we discovered the funnies online. Now I can even read some of my favorite old comics again -- even though my local daily doesn't carry them anymore.
Bloom County isn't in papers anymore -- but you can find it online right now.
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With newspaper space becoming more precious in recent years, syndicates have opted to deliver funnies directly to fans. This is cool not only because I can read classic, hard-to-find strips, but also because I can discover new artists who aren't in print.
By offering up a little personal info at uComics.com, Universal Press Syndicate's Web site, you can register to have strips e-mailed to you daily at no charge. The syndicate also offers Mycomicspage.com, a subscription service that lets you read an archive of comics, build a collection of favorites and create a personal funnies page from their 120 strips, many exclusive (such as Bloom County) and some animated, for a $9.95 annual fee. Click on "Email My Page to Me Daily," enter your address, and every morning your personal funnies page will show up, looking much like the one in the newspaper. (And you don't have to recycle it!)
Even with their vast selection, Universal Press Syndicate doesn't have every comic available. Tribune Media Services has lots, including Dick Tracy, at Comicspage.com. You can't sign up to have comics automatically sent from here, but you can read them online or e-mail them to a friend. Dilbert is master of his own domain (dilbert.com), as is Snoopy (Snoopy.com), but they're also at United Feature Media's Comics.com, with B.C., Andy Capp, Wizard of Id and many others. Click on "Get Comics by Email" and check off the ones you like. They'll show up in separate e-mails rather than on one nifty comic page, but they're free.
-- Christina Wood
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