Full page
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Full page is a format of newspaper comic strips. American Newspapers are usually published in one of two sizes, the standard size, roughly 20 inches high and 14 inches wide and the tabloid size, roughly 14 inches high and 10 inches wide. The New York Times is standard size, the New York Daily News is a tabloid. When Sunday strips first appeared in newspapers, near the beginning of the Twentieth Century, they were usually in the full page size. Early full page Sundays included Thimble Theater, Little Orphan Annie, Dick Tracy, and Bringing Up Father. Many full page comic strips had a topper, a small strip that ran above or occasionally below the main strip, usually by the same artist. The topper on Thimble Theater was Sappo, the topper on Little Orphan Annie was Maw Green and ran at the bottom of the full page. Dick Tracy never had a topper while it was still a full page, but much later had a topper, which ran at the bottom of the tabloid page, titled Sawdust.
During World War II, paper rationing led to fewer pages in the Sunday Comics, and many strips were reduced in size from full pages to half page or third (comic strip) pages, usually by dropping or cropping panels. Only a few strips, notably Prince Valiant, were still published in full page format after the war.
In the mid-Nineteen-Fifties, there were a few attempts to revive the full page Sunday, notably Lance (comic strip) and Johnny Reb and Billy Yank. These were an artistic but not a commercial success, and were reduced to half page format after a short full page run.
The last full page Sunday strip was Prince Valiant, which continued in full page format in some newspapers until 1970. New Prince Valiant stories still appear in newspapers today, but in half page or smaller format.
Two and only two books have been published reprinting full page Sunday strips in their original size, The Golden Age of Tarzan and Prince Valiant — An American Epic.
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