My old comic strip, "Tree" (Patreon)

For years I tried to get a comic strip syndicated in newspapers. In the early to mid-2000s, editors weren’t as interested in syndicating single panel comics because they’re harder to sell. (I had tried a few times to sell my single panel feature, but there were no bites.) There were already several highly successful single panel comics in newspapers. The market was saturated for that kind of feature. 

So I created a couple comic strip pitches to syndicates. One was called “Tree” and it was about a talking, dim-witted pine tree who was trying to make it in a human’s world. One syndicate editor asked me for a bunch of samples, and we corresponded for a while, but ultimately it didn’t pan out. Two other syndicate editors said they liked the strip, but they both turned me down for the same reason: it’s too weird. They didn’t use those exact words—I think one of them used the word “unconventional”—but the bottom line was a talking pine tree wouldn’t play well in newspapers. It was disappointing to hear, but they were right.  

After I gave up on Tree, a good friend of mine made a book with 100 Tree comics and gave it to me as a gift. I’d forgotten about the book until my kids found it on the shelf recently. They’ve been enjoying the comics a lot. 

Even though “Tree” never made it into newspapers, my kids love it, which is nice. Above are a couple photos from the book.