Throughout the time that King Features Syndicate has been distributing comic strips, coming up to 110 years, they’ve introduced readers to many classic characters. These have included the likes of Popeye, The Phantom, Flash Gordon, and many others, who have graced hundreds of newspapers and other media.
The 21st century has seen a shift in the distribution of newspaper comic strips. As the newspaper landscape changes, due closure of mastheads or they deciding to no longer carry comics, there are fewer publications for strips to be published. King Features Syndicate has adapted to these changes through digital solutions, launching the Comics Kingdom website in 2008. The site has gone through various iterations over the years, with the latest iteration launching in March 2024.
Is Comics Kingdom a worthwhile solution to reading newspaper strips? Read on to find out about this reading service, including the subscription options, benefits, catalogue, and heaps more.
What is Comics Kingdom?
Comics Kingdom is the online solution for reading King Features Syndicate’s beloved comic strips. The site offers free and paid subscriptions, allowing you to read the latest strips and ones from their vast archives.
Which comic strips can I read on Comics Kingdom?
Comics Kingdom features comic strips that are circulated by the King Features Syndicate. This includes several classic long-running strips including, but not limited to:
- Popeye
- Flash Gordon
- The Phantom
- Mutts
- Blondie
- Hagar the Horrible
- Mark Trail
- Mary Worth
- Mandrake the Magician
- The Family Circus
- Beetle Bailey
- Zippy the Pinhead
- Dennis the Menace
- Prince Valiant
- Between Friends
- Katenjammer Kids
- Zits
Most of these strips have been running for decades. Some have a classic feel, with the original creator still working on the series. Others get handed down to different creators, sometimes being reinvented while still capturing the essence of what makes them great. A recent example of this is the terrific Flash Gordon run by Dan Schkade.
Comics Kingdom also has many vintage strips available to read. These include series Krazy Kat, Apartment 3-G, and Bringing Up Father. Legacy series that are still that are still running today – such as The Phantom (Daily and Sundays), Flash Gordon (Daily and Sundays), and Prince Valiant (Sundays) – also have their own separate circulations. These allow readers to follow both the current storylines and ones from decades past. It’s also gives King Features Syndicate an opportunity to bring out older material from the archives.
I also want to make sure it’s clear that Comics Kingdom, as a service owned and operated by King Features Syndicate, only features comic strips that are circulated by that syndicate. As a result, you won’t be able to read strips like Garfield, Peanuts, Calvin and Hobbes, or Heart of the City. Other companies syndicate these strips and are found on the GoComics service.
Comics Kingdom price
Comics Kingdom is free to use in a limited capacity. Free users have a monthly allowance of free strips to read at no charge. You’ll need to subscribe if you want to read more than the allowance.
A paid subscription opens up more features for readers, with two tiers available. The Single-Comic Subscription allows you to get early and unlimited access for a single comic strip series for $2.99 (USD) a month. The Premium Subscription opens you up the entire Comics Kingdom archive for $4.99 (USD) per month.
Once subscribed, there are options to renew your subscription for a year in advance at a discounted rate.
Subscription features
A paid Comics Kingdom subscription opens up a number of other features for readers that makes reading their strips even better.
Unlimited reading
As mentioned earlier, the paid subscriptions offer unlimited reading.
The first tier, the Single-Comic Subscription, allows unlimited reading for a specific strip. This means not just recent strips, but deep into the archives and early access to new strips too. This is perfect for fans if you’re only interested in reading one strip.
With the Premium Subscription, you can access all the strips on the site. There is no monthly limit, which allows you to binge read long-running adventures series and enjoy plenty of laughs. It also unlocks the vintage strips, which allow you to read comics from the early days of King Features Syndicate’s circulation.
This is perfect or those who are voracious readers who want to enjoy several comics on the regular. It’s also great for binging long-running adventure strips like The Phantom or Flash Gordon, where storylines span over many weeks or months.
No ads
Comics Kingdom features a handful of banner ads on every page. A paid subscription will remove these ads, which means you can focus on reading comics. It also has the extra benefit of less scrolling and faster page loading.
Favourite series
A handy feature of a paid subscription is the ability to “favourite” a series. This allows you to access the latest strip of a chosen series on a dedicated page, meaning you don’t need to navigate to each series. It’s kind of like having your own personal funny page. This is open to the free and paid subscription levels.
Save comics
You also can save individual strips. All of your saved strips are found on a dedicated page, allowing you to find them at a later date. Beyond using the feature for saving strips you found funny, it comes in handy as a bookmarking feature if you are reading strips deep in the archive and want to pick up where you left off. This is open to the free and paid subscription levels.
Daily email
Paid subscription levels allow you to receive all your favourite strips in your inbox. This daily email newsletter features all the series you love and is a handy way to keep up-to-date with them on the go or while at your desk.
Political cartoons
Comics Kingdom also includes a handful of political cartoonists. These creators cover different points of the political spectrum, varying points of view. Some of the cartoonist that call Comics Kingdom home include:
Your mileage may vary on these cartoonists if you live outside of the United States. Most of the cartoons I’ve seen are based on US politics, events happening in the US, or world politics from a US perspective.
Is there a Comics Kingdom app?
No. Comics Kingdom doesn’t have an app. Instead, the reading service has opted for a mobile-optimised website. I know some people have an app-or-nothing attitude. However, this isn’t a deal-breaker, as I don’t think that an app would add anything new to the user experience that isn’t already covered on the site.
Comics Kingdom has made reading strips on mobile easy by allowing you to slide the strip from left to right to read the entire thing. It’s a good approach to the mobile experience, as shrinking a strip down to fit the width of a mobile screen would make it hard to read. With the current method, strips are displayed quite large, making it is easy to read and doesn’t lose any detail.
If you don’t like the idea of horizontal scrolling, the other option is to use the auto-rotate feature of your phone and switch it to landscape mode. This will allow the strip to fill up more real estate on your device, making it larger to read.
Is Comics Kingdom worth it?
Services like Comics Kingdom become valuable to readers looking to get their fix of their favourite strips – especially when many newspapers no longer carry them. The free tier might be too limiting to many readers, with a finite number of strips allowed. However, a few bucks a month opens up a treasure trove of comics for binge readers and those who want to keep up-to-date with dozens of strips.
Have your say
Have you used Comics Kingdom? Share your thoughts in the comments below or via Facebook, X (formally Twitter), or Mastodon. You can also subscribe to the How To Love Comics newsletter.
I have been a “dues paying” member of Comics Kingdom for a couple of years with no problems. A recent change was made on their end and there has been a continual problem since with their system, e.g., Jungle Jim was delivered but now is MIA. (Yes, I’m aware that it is a Sunday only comic.) Continuing in the same way, there are 9 missing comics for today (7/29.) I have written to them in the past and again today but the problem still continues. I am not sure if I’d recommend for anyone to put money down for a membership.