"Brenda Starr" is ending. Writer Mary Schmich and artist June Brigman say they are ending their work on the seven-day-a-week comic strip about an intrepid reporter.

ADVERTISEMENT

The strip was created by Dale Messick and had its trial run in a Chicago Tribune comic-book insert June 30, 1940. It will have its final appearance in newspapers Jan. 2, Tribune Media Services said Thursday.

The property's owner made the decision to end the feature's newspaper syndication when Schmich and Brigman determined they would finish their long stewardship of the feature.

"Mary and June have been instrumental in shaping Brenda's current character and have provided readers with sophisticated, adventurous, witty story lines and brilliant artwork," Mary Elson, managing editor for TMS, said in a statement Thursday.

"They have guided Brenda into the 21st century and made her the contemporary icon she is today. We're proud of the way they have cared for her and the strip's cast and storylines over the years while maintaining the values instilled by creator Dale Messick."

TMS said it has partnered with Hermes Press to publish a series of books called "Brenda Starr, Reporter by Dale Messick: The Collected Daily and Sunday Newspaper Strips." The first volume is to be published in June.