Spotlight on newspaper strip layout
Newspapers - layout
In 1934 the size of newspapers in the United States were about 381 × 578 mm. And where each page was divided into eight[footnotes 1] columns. Ihe first Mandrake story was offered by KFS to the newspapers in a format spanning 6 columbs.
By 1935 the strips were offered in two variants, spanning 5 or 6 columbs, and by 1942 a 4 columbs variant was added. In 1946 the Mandrake stripes were reduced in size, now spanning 3, 4 or 5 columns, From 1954 KFS only offered the 4 columns variant.
Newspaper page | |||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
column 1 | column 2 | column 3 | column 4 | column 5 | column 6 | column 7 | column 8 |
Mandrake the Magician | column 7 | column 8 | |||||
Mandrake the Magician | column 6 | column 7 | column 8 | ||||
Mandrake the Magician | column 5 | column 6 | column 7 | column 8 | |||
Mandrake the Magician | column 4 | column 5 | column 6 | column 7 | column 8 |
Comparing the size ratio between the 6 column strip and original art by Phil Davis, one find that the strips printed in the newspapers are slightly higher then the original art (fig. 1) in 1934. Comparing the 5 and 6 column variants of the Mandrake strip in 1935, one find that the 5 column variant is closest to the original art drawn by Phil Davis. The 6-column variant is stretched in height, as seen in the illustration below (fig. 2).
By the end of 1938 it looks like the 5 and 6 columns strips size ratio are identically, but compared to the original they seem significantly stretched in height (fig. 3).
By the end of 1942 the 4 and 5 columns variant are identically with the the original art, but the 4 columns are is slightly stretched in height, while the 5 columns variant are compressed in height (fig. 4).
In 1946 the 4 columns are slightly stretched in height compared with the original art. The 5 columns variant now are reduced in height by cutting away the lower parts of the original art (fig. 5). The size of the column (where a column is about 1.83 inches (46 mm) wide) variants was in 1946 stated to:
- 3c = 4 3/4 inch (= about 138 x 120,65 mm)
- 4c = 2 7/16 inch (= about 184 x 61,91 mm)
- 5c = 2 1/4 inch (= about 230 x 57,15 mm)
KFS proof sheets
KFS distributed the strips in a form of proofs, with one week (Monday to Saturday) of run on each sheet. Each strip the same size as how it appeared in the newspapers.
1936: The Phantom
6 columns[footnotes 2]
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Note
- ↑ 9 columns at pages with small ads
- ↑ *picture from PhantomRayMoore
Sources
- information for the size and years of the Mandrake strips from "Editor and Publisher", Annual directory og features: years 1934-1942 and 1945-1976.