Day by Day (webcomic)
Day by Day (also Day by Day Cartoon) is an American political webcomic by Chris Muir. The humor usually centers on four principal characters who had initially been presented as co-workers at an unspecified firm until the firm went out of business on December 25, 2007. Romantic relationships among the principals resulted in marriages and children, with one of the couples opening a small bar in the unnamed Texas Rio Grande Valley ranchland in which the strip is now principally set. These characters, their friends, and their families remain the strip's focus. The strip has a conservative libertarian viewpoint, and often makes reference to political weblogs. It was a Yahoo! Pick in the "Comics and Animation" category in 2004. Format and history The strip is updated daily, including weekends. It usually follows a loose "strip story arc" throughout a given week. Except on Sundays, the strip is usually three colorized panels, comprising a combination of newly drawn art and a library of hand-drawn elements that Muir has digitized and reuses. As with many newspaper comics, the strips for Sundays are larger and have more panels. Muir has stated in interviews that by crafting the cartoons digitally, and using previously drawn faces, expressions, and body postures, he can react to breaking news by crafting a relevant comic and putting it up the next day, breaking or delaying the main storyline. Generally, the strip features a running commentary on political events with the characters interacting in a vaguely seen office setting. In addition, the author often shows a "Doonesbury-esque" White House strip with an unseen President talking to his staff. Muir has often used the same treatment to show goings-on at the United Nations and The New York Times. The home URL was written vertically on the leftmost edge of the strip, beginning on May 2, 2003, running until the site's redesign in 2006. The comic itself has run since November 1, 2002, with a hiatus from September 12, 2004 to November 30, 2004. The large-format Sunday strips started in 2005. In 2007 the strip controversially portrayed Hillary Clinton in blackface and as speaking Ebonics. Financial model Like many other web comics, Day by Day is supported by a combination of contributions from readers (via PayPal, Amazon and other payment vehicles), banner advertising, and merchandise. Originally it was published without the benefit of syndication. In 2005, the strip became available for print newspaper syndication and was carried by the Hemingford Ledger, the Knoxville News-Sentinel, the North County Times and The San Diego Union-Tribune. In October 2007, Day by Day discontinued service to newspapers. Also in October 2007, E-book compilations of Day by Day cartoons became available for free on WOWIO. It had a peak readership of more than 200,000 people a month. Characters Zedediah "Zed" Owens is a laconic, goateed product designer who is frequently worried that he may be over the hill. He was born in Gonzalez, Texas. It has been revealed that Zed is a former Special Operations sniper, who