Spotlight on newspaper strip layout

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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

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. The difference between the 5 and 6 columns varianst was the size of the strips on the sheet.


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The pre WWII Years

In the early years Phil Davis drew the daily strips on large Bristol board (22.5 x 28.5 inches - about 572 x 724 mm), where the art for one strip covered about 20.5 x 4.5 inches (521 x 114 mm).

The daily strip were printed in newspapers with 8 columns a page, and with the Mandrake strip spanning 5 or 6[footnotes 3] columns. Newspapers were printed in different sizes and the columns therefore had different widths. But, a five columns wide newspaper strip was roughly 10 and 1/4 x 3 inches (260 x 762 mm). - Roughly half of the original art by Phil Davis, and about the width of a standard modern comic book (10 and 1/8 inches).

In addition the strips were printed with the title[footnotes 4] was typeset (in all upper case letters) and positioned to the right in the white space area above that strip, with the byline[footnotes 5] on the right. An episode subtitle[footnotes 6] (in upper and lower case) was centered between the title and the byline.

original vs 6 and 5 colomns


The WWII Years

In 1942 newspapers began cutting back on the number of comics they printed due to shortages of materials (including newsprint and ink). KFS responded by offering comics in reduced sized. Phil Davis started to draw the Mandrake strip in about 17 x 4.5 inches (433 x 114) so the strips could fit a 4-column width. To accommodate the newspapers who continued to print the strip spanning 5 columns as well, the Mandrake strip was from October 12 available in two different variants: 4 and 5 columns width.

As seen in the fifth week of Baron Kord the original panels in the strip were enlarged on the sides with extra ink to make a 5 columns strip. From the sixth week this was done by cutting away the lower part of the strip.

October 12, 1942 extra ink
October 19, 1942 cut away




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Note

  1. 9 columns at pages with small ads
  2. *picture from PhantomRayMoore
  3. The strips spanning 6 columns are identical to those spanning 5 columns
  4. MANDRAKE THE MAGICIAN
  5. By LEE FALK and PHIL DAVIS
  6. a small text related to the strip