The cartoon franchises have been "the cornerstone of the business," Melville said. Among highlights were the publication in 2003 of The Complete Far Side by Gary Larson, a $150, two-volume book that has sold more than 200,000 copies, and two years later of The Complete Calvin & Hobbes by Bill Watterson, a $150, three-volume set that has sold nearly 300,000 copies. In fact, Andrews McMeel has done these and other comics titles so well that many cartoonists not syndicated by Universal Uclick (Universal Press and AMP's online component, Uclick, recently combined forces) have chosen Andrews McMeel to do their book collections. AMP just released, for example, Celebrating Peanuts: 60 Years, a $75 collection that marks the official 60th anniversary of the beginning of the iconic strip, after working with the Schulz family and the Charles M. Schulz Museum and Research Center. The company believes the book will strike a chord: "In these times of peril," Melville said, "nostalgia is an antidote to hard times."
Another example of a project with another entity is On the Money: The Economy in Cartoons, 1925-2009 by the New Yorker, with an introduction by Malcolm Gladwell, the second of a book-a-year, six-year deal between Andrews McMeel and the New Yorker. The first title was based on the Caption Contests that are featured in each issue of the magazine. Following the financial meltdown last year, a book of cartoons about the economy seemed an obvious choice. In fact, many of the cartoons are timeless--fashions and amounts are the only things that seem to change.
Like the New Yorker itself, Andrews McMeel is making an effort to establish direct ties with its fans, particularly with the many online communities that have grown up around the company's cartoonists. Melville noted, "There is an immediate connection between the comic artists and reader" in newspapers. As newspapers fade, "we're looking for other ways to connect readers to the storytelling inherent in the best comics."