Peanuts for Free

By John Freeman on November 7, 2008

(with thanks to Norman Boyd): Web site Drawn! reports United Features’ website has gone free to view, including 50 years of Peanuts.

Taking a nod from the webcomics world and in response to the declining sales of newspapers the syndicate has, like GoComics and ROK Comics, begun to offer all of its content (including years of archives) at comics.com online for free.

Drwan! also notes that not just that, but its RSS feeds which once only contained links, now contain the cartoons themselves.

Signing up for an account allows you to create your own custom RSS feed or homepage featuring whichever features you’d like. Drwan’s Olly Moss recommends strips such as Dave Coverly’s Speed Bump, Jerry Van Amerongen’s surreal Ballard Street, Darby Conley’s Get Fuzzy, and editorial cartoons by Pulitzer-winner Mike Luckovich.

John Freeman

The founder of downthetubes, which he established in 1998. John works as a comics and magazine editor, writer, and on promotional work for the Lakes International Comic Art Festival. He is currently editor of Star Trek Explorer, published by Titan – his third tour of duty on the title originally titled Star Trek Magazine.

Working in British comics publishing since the 1980s, his credits include editor of titles such as Doctor Who Magazine, Babylon 5 Magazine, and more. He also edited the comics anthology STRIP Magazine and edited several audio comics for ROK Comics. He has also edited several comic collections, including volumes of “Charley’s War” and “Dan Dare”.

He’s the writer of “Pilgrim: Secrets and Lies” for B7 Comics; “Crucible”, a creator-owned project with 2000AD artist Smuzz; and “Death Duty” and “Skow Dogs” with Dave Hailwood.