I'm still incredulous, but 2008 wasn't a bad year for me, business-wise -- by the low standards that apply to self-syndicated altweekly cartoonists, that is. Hell, I made more money than Merrill Lynch, Lehman Brothers, and Bear Stearns combined!

This year, however, is starting out on a semi-sucktacular note. As you may have heard if you read other cartoonist blogs, the Village Voice Media / New Times chain of newspapers is putting all their syndicated cartoons on hiatus for the first quarter of '09 at least. This affects me less than some other people -- I only ran in the Voice, and somewhat sporadically at that. I also recently learned that The Satellite in Gainesville, FL will be shutting its doors soon.

Now, cartoons are cheap content that keep a certain number of readers habitually picking up the paper week after week. Those readers might not take the time to write the editor if they disappear; they'll just stop picking up the paper. Or they'll write us to complain. I do understand that low ad revenue means low page counts, which means space is at a premium. (Space is a mysteriously complex issue even in "normal" times.) But it seems to me that the few crumbs -- and I do mean crumbs -- these papers save by axing cartoons is self-defeating. Heaven help us if the cost of cartoons makes or breaks the industry.

I'm actually not as pessimistic as some people about the fate of altweeklies. I think the web blows as an advertising vehicle for local businesses -- who doesn't tune out the ads on a cluttered web page? If I owned a restaurant, I would rather put my money in a print ad. I actually look at the more interesting print ads. Altweeklies are community, and advertising in one makes you part of that community. If the papers can hang on through Great Depression II: Revenge of the Credit Default Swaps, I think they'll do okay when the economy improves. At least, the ones that aren't leveraged up the ass.