Over 86 years, the spunky (and forever young) orphan has endured hundreds of curly hair-raising adventures, not to mention homelessness, poverty and other Dickensian hardships. She's even survived the death of the man whose pen and imagination turned her into a comic-strip heroine. Annie, the character, may be indomitable. But Annie, the comic strip, is not. Facing a shifting media landscape -- the closing or shrinking of newspapers, a dwindling audience for comic adventures and an explosion of new forms of entertainment -- Tribune Media Services has determined there will be no more newspaper tomorrows for Annie. After Sunday's strip, Annie, her father figure and frequent rescuer, Daddy Warbucks, and her beloved pooch, Sandy, will disappear from the funny pages. They will have a future, but for now, where that will be is unknown. "Annie is not dying, she's moving into new channels," says Steve Tippie, vice president of licensing and new markets development at Tribune Media, which owns the license to the character. Annie, he says, has "huge awareness" and possibilities include graphic novels, film, TV, games - maybe even a home on a mobile phone.
