Print Long Runners

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


The printed word (or character, pictogram, what-have-you) is one of the oldest forms of passing information or creating entertainment. This listing honors print media that has reached the state of Long Runner. Print media includes books (and e-books), Comic Books, Newspaper Comics, newspapers, and Manga. Long running is considered to be a print run of 20 years or more.

For book series that have been going for a long time see Long Running Book Series.

Examples of Print Long Runners include:

Hall of Fame

To honor those works that will probably remain in print as long as print exists.

  • Lewis Carroll's Alice stories (in print since 1865)
  • The Chronicles of Narnia (in print since 1950)
  • Frankenstein - Mary Shelley (1818–present)
  • Bram Stoker's Dracula (1897–present)
  • The Bible - Available in one readable form or another for more than 1,600 years.
    • The Gutenberg Bible (very first book printed on a press with movable type): 1455.
    • The King James Bible (continuously in print since 1611)
  • The Torah has been "in print" for so long that there is argument over how long. Probably at least 2,500 years, maybe more. Interestingly, the method of printing hasn't changed at all in the meantime; it's the only tome left still commonly printed on lambskin scrolls.
  • The Analects of Confucius, the Records of the Grand Historian, Laozi's Daodejing, and other fundamental Chinese writings, especially considering the Chinese invented the printing press long before Europeans did.
  • The Quran was first officially written down and standardized in 653. As far as printing goes the oldest surviving printing blocks are from the 10th century.
  • The Vedas, Upanishads and other major Hindu religious works.
  • The Lord of the Rings (in print since 1955)
  • On the Origin of Species - Charles Darwin (1859–present)
  • The Book of Mormon - In print continuously since 1830.
  • The works of:
  • The Epic of Gilgamesh deserves special mention even among epics as it's generally considered to be the first concrete "story" humans have to offer. The first versions were written approximately four thousand years ago (2150-2000 BCE) and the most familiar version was codified about a millennium later (1300-1000 BCE). Even the first modern translation was performed in 1873. Yeah, it's pretty old.
  • Robinson Crusoe: It's been published by various people in about 200 editions since 1719, nearly 300 years straight.
  • The Last of the Mohicans: in print since 1826, five or six film adaptations.
  • Zorro: The first Superhero (and America's only Swashbuckler), adapted into dozens of books, films, and TV shows. First appearance in 1919.
  • Moby Dick: America's first "epic novel", published 1851, in print since the 1920s.
  • The Pilgrims Progress: in print since 1678.
  • Gray's Anatomy of the Human Body: Since 1858, and the show namer for at least one teevee show.

Comic Books and Manga

  • Ah! My Goddess manga (1988–present)
  • Batman (1939–present)
  • Captain Tsubasa (1981–present)
  • Cerebus (1977-2004; longest-running English-language comic by a single writer and artist)
  • Dork Tower (1997–present. First published in Dragon magazine, but has since appeared as a four-panel comic, a webcomic, a bimonthly comic book, and one-page strips for Dragon, Shadis, Spyre, Comic Buyers Guide, Comic Shop News, and other publications.)
  • Elf Quest (1978–present)
  • Gold Digger (1991–present)
  • Fantastic Four (1961–present)
  • The Incredible Hulk (1962–present)
  • Glass Mask (1976–present, with a hiatus from 2004-2008)
  • Golgo 13 (1968–present)
  • JoJo's Bizarre Adventure (1987–present, 104 collected volumes as of now)
  • Kochikame (1976–2016, longest continuously published manga)
  • Spider Man (1962–present)
  • Supergirl (1959-present)
  • Superman (1938–present)
  • Tom Poes (1941-1986)
  • Wonder Woman (1942–present)
  • Archie Comics (1942–present)
  • Spirou and Fantasio (1938–present)
  • Asterix, technically a comic, but he follows a schedule more like a book series. 33 comic books in 50+ years, starting in 1959. All by the same two guys (later one guy).
  • Oishinbo, running since 1983, with over 100 volumes.
  • Diabolik, monthly since November 1962.
  • Walt Disney's Comics and Stories: 698 monthly issues since 1940, with breaks of varying lengths as the publishers of the title changed. The longest running Disney Comics title.
    • The Swedish Kalle Anka & Co, fittingly named after Donald Duck's Swedish name, has been ongoing since 1948 - and since 1959, it has been a weekly. It was bi-weekly between 1957 and and 1959, so at the moment of writing this, that means about 2700 issues, give or take a few double-issues during Christmas and the like.
    • Mickey Mouse comics have been around since 1930, first appearing as a daily newspaper comic strip and then being turned into its own comic book in 1939. Like Walt Disney's Comics and Stories, it's had its fair share of hiatuses and publisher changes. For a while only reprints were being released, but it's made a comeback since then. They were also being produced in other countries even while it was lying dormant in the US.
    • You want no hiatuses? The French Le Journal de Mickey has been publishing since early 1952 without hiatuses, although with some double-issues. It passed 3000 in December 2009 and it's weekly. The Dutch Donald Duck has been publishing since October 25, 1952 without any double-issues or hiatuses. It passed 3000 in April 2010. It had ONE extra count: the 10th issue of 1954 had an extra double. That one's also been counted. Also, the Brazilian, German, Danish, Norwegian and the Finnish (and probably the Spanish too) have published over 2500 issues, all starting 1948-1950. Archive Panic!
  • Detective Comics and Action Comics, with a new issue hitting newsstands almost every single month since 1937 and 1938 respectively, are the longest continuously published American comic-books. In September 2011, DC rebooted all their line of super-hero comics including Action and Detective wich ended with its 904th and 881st issues respectively (despite being a year younger, Action's issue count is higher due to spending about a year as a weekly series in the 80's.) Even then, hit the 900th issue is a feat never before attained by a superhero comic book, and a new 1st issue for both of them followed the next month (and it's a given DC will return both series to its old numeration sometime in the next years, probably in time to celebrate the 1000th published issue of Action).
    • In addition to this, they were the place of birth of Superman (Action #1, 1938) and Batman (Detective #37, 1939), two long runners on their own right who have been continuously appearing in these and lots of other publications (plus movies, television, video games and practically every other medium) since the late 1930s.
    • By extension, DC's Shared Universe has been running at least since 1940 (the birth of the Justice Society, the first superhero team) and arguably since Superman's debut two years earlier. Connecting every book in DC's main line into one huge, endless narrative, the DCU is one of the largest works of fiction in human history.
  • X-Men (1963–present)
  • The Avengers (1963–present)
  • Daredevil (1964–present)
  • Mortadelo Y Filemon (longest running Spanish comic series, written and drawn by the same guy since 1958)
  • The Phantom: It is the most popular comic book in Australia (the Australian edition began in 1948. It now has more than 2000 issues, with no end in sight)
  • Berserk (2010 marks the 20th anniversary of the manga, which has 35 volumes and is still being published monthly)
  • Tex, a western Italian comic still running monthly since 1948 with 590 issues.
  • Alan Ford, another Italian series (1969–present) that surpassed the mark of 500 issues.
  • Tintin: although Hergé, the author, died in 1983 and forbade in his will that anybody else publish new stories, it's always been in print since its debut in 1937, and probably should be considered Hall of Fame material- it'll obviously stay in print for a loooong time to come (in its original French version, anyway).
  • Bio-Booster Armor Guyver (1985–present, 27 volumes)
  • Blackhawk (27 years in its original run from 1941 to 1968, plus another 10-odd years in scattered revivals)
  • Sgt. Rock (30 years from 1958 to 1988, plus additional special projects.)
  • Patalliro! (1979–present, 84 volumes plus two spin-off series)
  • Asari-chan (1978–present, 94 volumes)
  • Dokaben (1972–present, 162 volumes spread over four story arcs)
  • Jarinko Chie (1978-1997, 67 volumes)
  • Ouke no Monshou (1976–present, 55 volumes)
  • Tsuribaka Nisshi (1979–present, 78 volumes)
  • Usagi Yojimbo (first appearance 1984; title is 1987–present)
  • PS Magazine (In continuous publication since 1951, 700+ issues so far)
  • Millie the Model (1945-1973)
  • Sazae-san (1946-1974)
  • Treasure Chest (1946-1972, 502 issues)
  • Suske en Wiske (1946–Present, 234 issues)
  • The Dandy (1937–Present, 3500 issues so far)
  • The Beano (1938–Present, 3600 issues so far)
  • The Beezer (1956-1993, 1809 issues)
  • The Topper (1953-1990, 1963 issues)
  • Whizzer and Chips (1969-1990, 1092 issues)
  • Buster (1960-2000, over 2000 issues)
  • Inspector Canardo (1979–present)
  • Watchmen (Comics first printed in 1987 - graphic novel form has never been out of print)

Newspapers and Magazines

Due to the exceptional shelf-life of many publications, long-runners in this category are those that reach 150 years in print.

  • The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle (c. 900-1150)
  • The Atlantic Monthly (1857-ongoing)
  • The Baltimore Sun (1837-ongoing)
  • Boston Herald (1846-ongoing)
  • Chicago Tribune (1847-ongoing; its parent company also owns other publications such as the Hartford Courant, below)
  • The Daily Telegraph (1820-ongoing)
  • Detroit Free Press (1831-ongoing)
  • The Economist (1843-ongoing)
  • Evening Standard (1827-ongoing)
  • The (Manchester) Guardian (1821-ongoing)
  • The Farmer's Almanac (1818-ongoing)
  • Le Figaro (1826-ongoing)
  • The Hansard, the record of the proceedings of the Parliament of Canada, published since 1868.
  • The British Hansard has been published continuously since 1802 (though they weren't called Hansard until 1829).
  • Haarlems Dagblad, a regional newspaper from the Netherlands, claims a founding date of 1656. The original newspaper that had been in print since 1656, Opregte Haarlemsche Courant, was forced to merge with the then bi-weekly Haarlems Dagblad by the occupying Germans in 1942. The merged publication assumed the younger newspaper's name but still claimed the older newspaper's publishing history.
  • Harper's (US) (1850-ongoing)
  • Hartford Courant (1764-ongoing; the self-proclaimed oldest newspaper in America)
  • The Irish Times (1859-ongoing; still considered the country's newspaper of record)
  • The Journal (Newcastle) (1832-ongoing)
  • The Lancet (1823-ongoing)
  • Liverpool Daily Post (1855-ongoing)
  • London Gazette (1665-ongoing)
  • El Mercurio de Valparaíso (1827-ongoing)
  • The Montreal Gazette (1778-ongoing)
  • The New Hampshire Gazette (on-and-off since 1756; also claims to be America's oldest paper)
  • New York Post (1801-ongoing; claims to be America's longest continuously-published newspaper)
  • The New York Times (1851-ongoing)
  • The News Letter (Belfast) (1737-ongoing; claims to be the world's oldest continuously published English-language daily newspaper.)
  • News of the World (1843-2011)
  • The Observer (1791-ongoing)
  • The Oregonian (1850-ongoing)
  • Philadelphia Inquirer (1829-ongoing)
  • The Plain Dealer (1842-ongoing)
  • Post & Inrikes Tidningar (1645-ongoing). This is the government newspaper of Sweden, and the oldest currently published newspaper in the world. It has basically been online-only since 2007, but one physical copy of each new issue is still printed, in order to maintain its status as a "print" publication.
  • The Providence Journal (1829-ongoing; Another claimant to the "oldest newspaper in the US" title. They claim to be the "oldest continuously published daily newspaper in the United States", as the Hartford Courant didn't become a daily until 1837, and a few strikes in the 1950's and 1970's have caused the New York Post not to publish a daily paper).
  • Punch (1841-2002)
  • Rocky Mountain News (1859-2009)
  • Scientific American (1845-ongoing) The oldest continuously published magazine in the United States.
  • The Sydney Morning Herald (1831 (when it was founded; changed its name to current 10 years later) - present) Longest running newspaper in Australia. In fact, it was founded 70 years before Australia even existed as a country.
  • The Times (1785-ongoing)
  • Victoria Times-Colonist - debatable. The "Colonist" bit has been going since 1854, when it was The British Colonist; it merged with the Victoria Daily Times in 1980.
  • Wiener Zeitung (1703-ongoing; official government newspaper of Austria)

Newspaper Comics tend to be either Print Long Runners or relatively short-lived.

American newspaper comics

Still running:

  • Alley Oop (1932–present)
  • Animal Crackers (1967–present)
  • Apartment 3-G (1961–present)
  • Archie (1947–present) His very first comic book appearance (as a filler story) was in 1941. The newspaper strip was not started until 1947
  • Arlo and Janis (1985–present)
  • B.C. (1958–present)
  • Barney Google and Snuffy Smith (1919–present)
  • Beetle Bailey (1950–present)
  • The Better Half (1956–present)
  • Blondie (1930–present)
  • The Born Loser (1965–present)
  • Broom-Hilda (1970–present)
  • Crock (1975–present)
  • Curtis (1988–present)
  • Dennis the Menace US (1951–present)
  • Dick Tracy (1931–present)
  • Dilbert (1989–present)
  • Doonesbury (1970–present)
  • Drabble (1979–present)
  • Dykes to Watch Out For (1983-2008)
  • The Family Circus (1960–present)
  • FoxTrot (1988–present; dailies until 2006, Sundays only 2007-)
  • Frank and Ernest (1972–present)
  • Funky Winkerbean (1972–present)
  • Garfield (1978–present)
  • Gasoline Alley (1918–present)
  • Gil Thorp (1958–present)
  • Grin and Bear It (1932–40, 1942–present)
  • Hagar the Horrible (1973–present)
  • Hazel (1943–present) Appeared weekly in The Saturday Evening Post until 1969, then in daily newspaper syndication. Has been in reprints since 1993.
  • Heathcliff (1973–present)
  • Herman (1975–present, although it's mostly been in reruns since 1992.)
  • Hi and Lois (1954–present)
  • Judge Parker (1952–present)
  • The Katzenjammer Kids (1897–2006) is the Ur Example of a Newspaper Comics Long Runner, an astonishing 108 years of continuous production from December 12, 1897 to January 1, 2006 (at which point it went into reruns).
    • When creator Rudolph Dirks left the strip in 1914 owing to a dispute with newspaper publisher William Randolph Hearst, he created a competing strip featuring the same characters (The Captain and the Kids), which itself ran for more than 60 years (1915-1979).
  • The Lockhorns (1968–present)
  • Love Is... (1970–present)
  • Luann (1985–present)
  • Mandrake the Magician (1934–present)
  • Mark Trail (1946–present)
  • Marmaduke (1954–present)
  • Marvin (1982–present)
  • Mary Worth (1932–present)
  • Momma (1970–present)
  • Mother Goose and Grimm (1984–present)
  • Nancy (1938–present)
  • On the Fastrack (1984–present)
  • One Big Happy (1988–present)
  • The Phantom (1936–present)
  • Popeye (1929–present)
  • Prince Valiant (1937–present)
  • Rex Morgan MD (1948–present)
  • Safe Havens (1988–present)
  • |Sally Forth (1982–present)
  • Shoe (1977–present)
  • Tank McNamara (1974–present)
  • The Wizard of Id (1964–present)
  • Ziggy (1968–present) First appearance in book collection, in newspapers since 1971.
  • Zippy the Pinhead (1971–present) First appearance in underground comix. Nationally syndicated since 1976, first as a weekly and then as a daily King Features newspaper strip starting in 1986.

Defunct:

  • Brenda Starr (71 years, 1940-2011)
  • Bringing Up Father (87 years, 1913-2000) (also commonly called "Maggie and Jiggs")
  • Buz Sawyer (46 years, 1943-1989)
  • Calvin and Hobbes (only 10 years, 1985–95, but 3,000 strips and numerous book collections place it well under here)
  • Cathy (34 years, 1976-2010)
  • Dondi (31 years, 1955-1986)
  • Eek & Meek (35 years, 1965-2000)
  • Freckles and His Friends (54 years, 1915-1971)
  • Gordo (44 years, 1941-1985)
  • The Heart of Juliet Jones (48 years, 1953-2001)
  • Henry (73 years, daily 1932-1979, Sunday until 2005)
  • Joe Palooka (54 years, 1930-1984)
  • Kerry Drake (40 years, 1943-1983)
  • Lil Abner (43 years, 1934-1977)
  • The Little King (41 years, 1934-1975)
  • Life in Hell (1977–2012)
  • Little Orphan Annie (86 years, 1924-2010)
  • Mickey Finn (40 years, 1936-1976)
  • Miss Peach (45 years, 1957-2002)
  • Moon Mullins (68 years, 1923-1991)
  • Mutt and Jeff (75 years, 1907-1982)
  • Our Boarding House (63 years, 1921-1984) (also commonly called "Major Hoople")
  • Out Our Way (55 years, 1922-1977)
  • Peanuts (just short of 50 years, 1950-2000)
  • Pogo (27 years, 1948-1975) A Revival strip ran from 1989-92.
  • Steve Canyon (41 years, 1947-1988) Can be read on the web at Steve Canyon, [dead link] through a agreement with the estate of Milt Caniff.
  • Terry and the Pirates (39 years, 1934-1973)
  • They'll Do It Every Time (79 years, 1929-2008)
  • Tiger (40 years, 1965-2005)
  • Tumbleweeds (42 years, 1965-2007)
  • Wash Tubbs/Captain Easy (64 years, 1924-1988) This one is kind of complicated. The Wash Tubbs strip started in 1924 as a daily. The character of Captain Easy was introduced in it in 1929 as a sidekick to Tubbs. In 1933 Captain Easy got a Sunday strip with Tubbs making occasional appearances, while Tubbs kept the daily strip and Easy made occasional appearances. In 1949, the two strips were combined and syndicated as Captain Easy, and continued under that name until 1988.
  • Winnie Winkle (76 years, 1920-1996)
  • Winthrop (37 years, 1956-1993) (originally titled "Morty Meekle")

British comic strips

  • Andy Capp (1957–present)
  • Bristow (1961–present)
  • The Broons (1936–present)
  • Desperate Dan (1937–present) (in The Dandy)
  • Fred Basset (1963–present)
  • Garth (53 years, 1943-1997)
  • Korky the Cat (1937–present) (in The Dandy)
  • Modesty Blaise (39 years, 1963-2002)
  • Oor Wullie (1936–present)
  • The Perishers (47 years, 1959-2006)
  • Rupert Bear (1920–present)
  • Beryl the Peril (1953-2007, in The Topper until 1993, then in The Dandy)
  • The Beano (anthology comic, 1938–present), contains these long-running strips:
    • The Bash Street Kids (1954–present)
    • Dennis the Menace UK (1951–present)
    • Lord Snooty (1938–49; 1950–90, intermittently until 2000, then again as Lord Snooty the Third 2008–Present)
    • Minnie the Minx (1953–present)
    • Roger the Dodger (1953–present)
    • Billy Whizz (1964–present)
    • Calamity James (1985–present)
    • Ball Boy (1975–present)
    • The Numskulls (1962-1993 in The Beezer, then 1993–present in The Beano)
    • Ivy the Terrible (1985–present)
    • Biffo the Bear (1948-1986)
    • Pansy Potter (1938-1947, 1949-1955, 1958, 1989-1993)
    • Little Plum (1953-1986, 1998, 2002-2007, 2011-Present)
    • The Three Bears (1959-1985, 1988-1995, 1999-2007, 2010-2011)

Other comic strips

  • Ferd'nand (1937–present), Danish
  • For Better or For Worse (29 years, 1979-2008) Canadian, with a heavy circulation in the US.
  • Ginger Meggs (1921–present), Australian
  • Suske en Wiske (1945–present), Flemish
  • Piet Pienter en Bert Bibber (1950-1995), Flemish
  • Jommeke (1955–present), Flemish
  • Nero (1947-2002), Flemish. Author Marc Sleen even got his name in the Guinness Book Of World Records in 1992, because he drew "Nero" singlehandedly without any aid of assistants and non-stop from 1947 to 1992. Until 1965 he even had several other gag comic series running as well!!
  • Agent 327 (1967-1983) (2000- ), Dutch
  • De Kiekeboes (1977–present), Flemish.
  • Urbanus (1982–present), Flemish
  • Asterix (1959–present), French
  • Tom Poes, (1938 or 1941–present), Dutch. The ambiguity over how old this strip is, is due to the fact that it made its very first appearance in Argentina and Czechoslovakia as a weekly gag strip in 1938. In 1941, it replaced Mickey Mouse as a daily in the newspaper De Telegraaf.

Web Publication

  • The Global Guardians (1994 to 2006. Most web-based text games last months. A couple make it to a year. One or two make it to three years. The Global Guardians lasted twelve years, a feat that has yet to be equalled by any other non-commercial online shared world.)
  • Undocumented Features (1991–present)
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