Curtis (comic strip)
Encyclopedia
Curtis is a nationally syndicated comic strip
written and illustrated by Ray Billingsley
. It began on October 3, 1988 and is syndicated by King Features.
The strip mostly involves the title character, Curtis, getting in trouble at home and school, trying in many attempts to make his father, Greg, quit smoking
(a storyline which earned Billingsley the American Lung Association
's President's Award in 2000), trying to win the heart of aspiring diva
singer Michelle, and stuffing his face.
Curtis will often fantasize at school (rather than paying attention to his teacher, Mrs. Nelson) about his favorite superhero
, "Supercaptaincoolman" (a superhero who is constantly defending the city against the insidious schemes of the evil "Doctor Horsehead").
Once a year, Ray will have Curtis and the gang take a hiatus one day after Christmas
(or first Monday after Christmas, if Christmas falls on a Saturday or Sunday) and focus on a special two-to-three week inspirational story to celebrate the Festival of Kwanzaa
. Also, around the Martin Luther King, Jr. Day holiday, the strip will discuss some aspect of Dr. King's life. The month of February is also dedicated to Black History Month
, in which Mrs. Nelson assigns her class to write about various African-American figures in history.
Curtis featured Dagwood of the Blondie
comic as part of the 75th anniversary celebration for Blondie. Unlike Dennis the Menace
, Hi and Lois
, B.C., Family Circus, or Baby Blues, the other comic strips that participated in the anniversary crossover, Curtis took an extended storyline lasting from August 29 to September 3, like Hägar the Horrible
. Also, Curtis was featured in the 75th Anniversary strip on September 4.
Comic strip
A comic strip is a sequence of drawings arranged in interrelated panels to display brief humor or form a narrative, often serialized, with text in balloons and captions....
written and illustrated by Ray Billingsley
Ray Billingsley
Ray Billingsley created the American comic strip Curtis, which is distributed by King Features Syndicate and printed in more than 250 newspapers nationwide.-Early life:...
. It began on October 3, 1988 and is syndicated by King Features.
The strip mostly involves the title character, Curtis, getting in trouble at home and school, trying in many attempts to make his father, Greg, quit smoking
Tobacco smoking
Tobacco smoking is the practice where tobacco is burned and the resulting smoke is inhaled. The practice may have begun as early as 5000–3000 BCE. Tobacco was introduced to Eurasia in the late 16th century where it followed common trade routes...
(a storyline which earned Billingsley the American Lung Association
American Lung Association
The American Lung Association is a voluntary health organization whose mission is to save lives by improving lung health and preventing lung disease.-History:...
's President's Award in 2000), trying to win the heart of aspiring diva
Diva
A diva is a celebrated female singer. The term is used to describe a woman of outstanding talent in the world of opera, and, by extension, in theatre, cinema and popular music. The meaning of diva is closely related to that of "prima donna"....
singer Michelle, and stuffing his face.
Curtis will often fantasize at school (rather than paying attention to his teacher, Mrs. Nelson) about his favorite superhero
Superhero
A superhero is a type of stock character, possessing "extraordinary or superhuman powers", dedicated to protecting the public. Since the debut of the prototypical superhero Superman in 1938, stories of superheroes — ranging from brief episodic adventures to continuing years-long sagas —...
, "Supercaptaincoolman" (a superhero who is constantly defending the city against the insidious schemes of the evil "Doctor Horsehead").
Once a year, Ray will have Curtis and the gang take a hiatus one day after Christmas
Christmas
Christmas or Christmas Day is an annual holiday generally celebrated on December 25 by billions of people around the world. It is a Christian feast that commemorates the birth of Jesus Christ, liturgically closing the Advent season and initiating the season of Christmastide, which lasts twelve days...
(or first Monday after Christmas, if Christmas falls on a Saturday or Sunday) and focus on a special two-to-three week inspirational story to celebrate the Festival of Kwanzaa
Kwanzaa
Kwanzaa is a week long celebration held in the United States honoring universal African-American heritage and culture, observed from December 26 to January 1 each year. It features activities such as lighting a candle holder with seven candles and culminates in a feast and gift giving...
. Also, around the Martin Luther King, Jr. Day holiday, the strip will discuss some aspect of Dr. King's life. The month of February is also dedicated to Black History Month
Black History Month
Black History Month is an observance of the history of the African diaspora in a number of countries outside of Africa. Since 1976, it is observed annually in the United States and Canada in February, while in the United Kingdom it is observed in October...
, in which Mrs. Nelson assigns her class to write about various African-American figures in history.
Curtis featured Dagwood of the Blondie
Blondie (comic strip)
Blondie is an American comic strip created by cartoonist Chic Young. Distributed by King Features Syndicate, the strip has been published in newspapers since September 8, 1930...
comic as part of the 75th anniversary celebration for Blondie. Unlike Dennis the Menace
Dennis the Menace (U.S.)
Dennis the Menace is a daily syndicated newspaper comic strip originally created, written and illustrated by Hank Ketcham. It debuted on March 12, 1951 in 16 newspapers and was originally distributed by Post-Hall Syndicate...
, Hi and Lois
Hi and Lois
Hi and Lois is a comic strip about a suburban family. Created by Mort Walker and illustrated by Dik Browne, it debuted on October 18, 1954, distributed by King Features Syndicate.-Characters:...
, B.C., Family Circus, or Baby Blues, the other comic strips that participated in the anniversary crossover, Curtis took an extended storyline lasting from August 29 to September 3, like Hägar the Horrible
Hägar the Horrible
Hägar the Horrible is the title and main character of an American comic strip created by cartoonist Dik Browne , and syndicated by King Features Syndicate. It first appeared in February 1973, and was an immediate success. Since Browne's retirement in 1988 , his son Chris Browne has continued the...
. Also, Curtis was featured in the 75th Anniversary strip on September 4.
Characters
- Curtis Wesley WilkinsCurtis WilkinsCurtis Wilkins is star character of the comic strip Curtis created by Ray Billingsley.-Profile:Curtis Wesley Wilkins is an 11-year old boy who lives in the inner city with his parents, Greg and Diane, and his younger brother Barry, whom Curtis regards as a brat although others regard Barry as a...
- Main character, an 11-year old boy. A rap fan with a huge crushLimerenceLimerence is a term coined c. 1977 by the psychologist Dorothy Tennov to describe an involuntary state of mind which seems to result from a romantic attraction to another person combined with an overwhelming, obsessive need to have one's feelings reciprocated...
on a girl named Michelle. He has a huge appetite and a talent for getting himself into trouble. Always wears an odd type of green hat any way but forward (according to the storyline, he got it at birth from his father). Also received a slaveSlaverySlavery is a system under which people are treated as property to be bought and sold, and are forced to work. Slaves can be held against their will from the time of their capture, purchase or birth, and deprived of the right to leave, to refuse to work, or to demand compensation...
ledger from a mysterious homelessHomelessnessHomelessness describes the condition of people without a regular dwelling. People who are homeless are unable or unwilling to acquire and maintain regular, safe, and adequate housing, or lack "fixed, regular, and adequate night-time residence." The legal definition of "homeless" varies from country...
man (who gave it to him in exchange for part of Curtis's enormous sandwich), which is later shown at school and sold to the history society for money so that the school can get new computers and books.
- Barry Wilkins - Curtis's younger brother. Often likes to annoy and outsmart Curtis. Their parents consider Barry to be more trustworthy, while Curtis usually sees him as a brat. He whines when he has to eat his vegetables and has no qualms about mashing Curtis to a pulp when called on to do it. Also gets merit awards, which makes Curtis jealous. Has an imaginary friendImaginary friendImaginary friends and imaginary companions are a psychological and social phenomenon where a friendship or other interpersonal relationship takes place in the imagination rather than external physical reality. Imaginary friends are fictional characters created for improvisational role-playing. They...
named Oogie, who is green, has one eye, is about Barry's size, and likes to eat vegetables. Has shown effeminate qualities.
- Greg Wilkins - Curtis's father. Works at the DMVDMVThe initials DMV can stand for either:*Department of Motor Vehicles or Division of Motor Vehicles, the US state-level agency*Deserted medieval village*Deutsche Mathematiker-Vereinigung, the German Mathematical Society...
and hates his job. He gained the habit of smoking when he was a teenager, and Curtis tries regularly (unsuccessfully) to get him to quit. He and Curtis are also regularly at odds over their tastes in music (Curtis likes rap and hip-hop, and Greg can't stand it, preferring Motown).
- Diane Wilkins - Curtis's mother. A housewife, she tends to get irritated by Curtis's antics, but is always supportive of him when he has a problem. Recently, she got a new hair style, which made Derrick and "Onion" think that Greg was having an affair. Diane and Greg met when they were featured dancers on Soul TrainSoul TrainSoul Train is an American musical variety show that aired in syndication from October 1971 to March 2006. In its 35-year history, the show primarily featured performances by R&B, soul, and hip hop artists, although funk, jazz, disco, and gospel artists have also appeared.As a nod to Soul Trains...
.
- Mrs. Nelson - A middle-aged, overweight teacher. Since Curtis is the class joker, she doesn't get along very well with him. He does however do well when he makes an effort and when he thanks her for giving him a good grade, she tells him he earned it. She also tells his mother good things about him at the parent-teacher conferences.
- Michelle Grant - A girl who Curtis likes, even though she is two years older. Considered self-centered (and egotistical) by most of the other characters, she only likes Curtis as a friend and discourages his attempts to date her (though she did finally agree to do so in a June–July 2007 series). She is an excellent singer and hopes to become a famous star, currently starring in energy drink commercials. In a weeklong series of strips starting November 30, 2009 she tells Curtis she was in a Super Fiber Chux cereal commercial at age three, and that her first role in a TV series would have been on "The Muppet ShowThe Muppet ShowThe Muppet Show is a British television programme produced by American puppeteer Jim Henson and featuring Muppets. After two pilot episodes were produced in 1974 and 1975, the show premiered on 5 September 1976 and five series were produced until 15 March 1981, lasting 120 episodes...
" had Miss PiggyMiss PiggyMiss Piggy is a Muppet character who was primarily played by Frank Oz on The Muppet Show. In 2001, Eric Jacobson began performing the role, although Oz did not officially retire until 2002....
not felt threatened by her. In the October 10, 2007 strip, it is revealed that Michelle has a mother who has been admitted to rehab for treatment due to her problems with drug addiction.
- Chutney - A girl who likes Curtis. Curtis only sees her as a friend, while he chases after Michelle.
- Gunk - Curtis's cross-eyed CaucasianCaucasian raceThe term Caucasian race has been used to denote the general physical type of some or all of the populations of Europe, North Africa, the Horn of Africa, Western Asia , Central Asia and South Asia...
best friend. A native of the fictional Flyspeck Island, Gunk (an initialism for Gladimus Umfred Nostradamus Klaustauviwicke) often gives some bizarre item to Curtis, with disastrous results (most often a chameleonChameleonChameleons are a distinctive and highly specialized clade of lizards. They are distinguished by their parrot-like zygodactylous feet, their separately mobile and stereoscopic eyes, their very long, highly modified, and rapidly extrudable tongues, their swaying gait, the possession by many of a...
). One of his quirks is his refusal to fight anybody, but he also is cat-like in his moves to avoid his nemesis's punches, because as he says afterwards, "Just because I won't fight you doesn't mean I'm going to let you hit me."
- Gunther - The local barberBarberA barber is someone whose occupation is to cut any type of hair, and to shave or trim the beards of men. The place of work of a barber is generally called a barbershop....
, who never gets Curtis' name right (but at least every attempt either starts with a "C" or a hard "C" sound), and who claims to know nearly every famous person (and who has photos – but always with a thumb covering the famous person).
- Rose Petal, niece of Gunther, who enjoys singing, but she gets fired from every gig she enters, because she has a foul mouth and a really bad attitude. She refuses to work for money she needs to "pay for her rent" (although it is revealed that she really needs the money to party), and ultimately, Gunther throws her out of his shop, demonstrating "tough loveTough loveTough love is an expression used when someone treats another person harshly or sternly with the intent to help them in the long run. The phrase was evidently coined by Bill Milliken when he wrote the book Tough Love in 1968 and has been used by numerous authors since then.In most uses, there must...
". She responds with profanity. According to Curtis, she thinks the world owes her.
- Derrick - A bully. He and his friend, "Onion", make fun of Curtis by calling him "Wimpkins" and using "yo momma jokesYour MomA maternal insult is a reference to a person's mother through the use of phrases such as "your mother" or other regional variants, frequently used to insult the target by way of their mother. Used as an insult, "your mother..." preys on widespread sentiments of filial piety, making the insult...
", and on occasion physically harass him (in one series, they attempted to falsely accuse him of criminal activity). Curtis attempts to avoid them as much as possible. Gunk, Chutney and others have helped Curtis against the bullying of Derrick and "Onion". In a late 2010 strip, Derrick has a girlfriend named Veranda, who has a attitude like him and "Onion".
- "Onion" - Derrick's friend and fellow bully to Curtis. His real name is Norman, but is self-nicknamed "Onion" for being able to "bring tears to a sucker's eyes", although Curtis once exclaimed that it was "probably because he stunk".
- "Ms. Honeystump" - Curtis's summer-school teacher. The gag is that she's attractive, and therefore distracting to the students. However, possibly because of outcry from readers, the blond Caucasian teacher was retroactively made African American in colorized versions of the strip. A fellow student, Venus, who may have a crush on Curtis, also went from white to black.
Recurring gags
- Barry is almost always listening in on either phone or live conversations between Curtis and Michelle. He then, after saying something offensive about Michelle, runs off to Diane with Curtis chasing him, claiming Curtis is trying to hit him "for no good reason". Curtis would try to warn Diane not to fall for Barry's seemingly innocent whining but, usually Diane falls for it and treats Barry to a heaping bowl of ice creamIce creamIce cream is a frozen dessert usually made from dairy products, such as milk and cream, and often combined with fruits or other ingredients and flavours. Most varieties contain sugar, although some are made with other sweeteners...
while she sends Curtis to do some chores around the house. On a couple of occasions, Barry even confesses to having listened to the conversations (asking what does a certain phrase mean, or even offering to repeat what Curtis said). This prompts questions from some over whether Diane properly punishes him for lying and eavesdropping.
- Another recurring theme involves Curtis' favorite comic bookComic bookA comic book or comicbook is a magazine made up of comics, narrative artwork in the form of separate panels that represent individual scenes, often accompanied by dialog as well as including...
superheroSuperheroA superhero is a type of stock character, possessing "extraordinary or superhuman powers", dedicated to protecting the public. Since the debut of the prototypical superhero Superman in 1938, stories of superheroes — ranging from brief episodic adventures to continuing years-long sagas —...
Supercaptaincoolman. The strip reads like a comic book in most part where Supercaptaincoolman engages in many types of adventures in his daily struggle to rid the world of his arch nemesis, The Evil Dr. Horsehead. But just as the action is about to heat up, the third to last panel suddenly shows Ms. Nelson shouting, "Mr. Wilkins!!" as she catches Curtis reading his comics while he is supposed to be paying attention in class while he gulps and says "Ms. Nelson!" He immediately tries to get out of the situation by lying. The last panel shows Curtis being sent to the principal's officeOfficeAn office is generally a room or other area in which people work, but may also denote a position within an organization with specific duties attached to it ; the latter is in fact an earlier usage, office as place originally referring to the location of one's duty. When used as an adjective, the...
as punishment for reading comic books in class.
- Once in a while, Curtis and Barry, just before church serviceChurch serviceIn Christianity, a church service is a term used to describe a formalized period of communal worship, often but not exclusively occurring on Sunday, or Saturday in the case of those churches practicing seventh-day Sabbatarianism. The church service is the gathering together of Christians to be...
s begin, will observe ladies coming in wearing elaborate hats on their heads. Curtis will promptly make jokes about each hat they are wearing as they pass by the pewPewA pew is a long bench seat or enclosed box used for seating members of a congregation or choir in a church, or sometimes in a courtroom.-Overview:Churches were not commonly furnished with permanent pews before the Protestant Reformation...
that Curtis and Barry are sitting in, while Barry tries not to laugh too loud. In the last panel, while Curtis is laughing over his ladies' hat jokes, Barry will typically warn Curtis about big trouble coming to him if they ever heard him make insulting jokes about their hats (ironically, in one such strip, there was also two elderly men who mock the women's hats in exactly the same manner as Curtis and Barry do, causing Barry to worry even more as to what they might end up as).
- In another recurring theme, Diane would have a dish made for either dinner or a bake sale at church place on the table in front of Curtis. She turns away for one second only to turn back and find Curtis eating up everything at an amazingly fast rate. The last panel features Curtis sitting in his room after being punished for eating the whole dish Diane made for either everyone at dinner or the church bake sale.
- One recurring theme always involves Curtis and someone else (often his brother) entering some establishment with a name like "The Don King School of Personal EtiquetteEtiquetteEtiquette is a code of behavior that delineates expectations for social behavior according to contemporary conventional norms within a society, social class, or group...
" or "The Mike TysonMike TysonMichael Gerard "Mike" Tyson is a retired American boxer. Tyson is a former undisputed heavyweight champion of the world and holds the record as the youngest boxer to win the WBC, WBA and IBF world heavyweight titles, he was 20 years, 4 months and 22 days old...
Institute of Good Mannerism", then finding out it's really a music store. Curtis explains that "it's really my favorite record store in disguise" and that "the locals torch the place once they find out its real identity", apparently due to the type of music it sells (usually rap music featuring an artist with a rap sheet).
- The skits often show Curtis (and often Barry for mere association) being disciplined for his various antics by either his mom or dad. However, they never show the actual punishment as it takes place, but the final frame of a strip where discipline is administered will show stars and such showing where the punishment was administered.
- Another recurring theme is the first day of school strip where the reader sees the city in the first panel. Then, the next two panels of the view brings the reader to where Curtis lives. The first three strips warn the reader about something that very disturbing is happening at this time of the morning, whether it is a skirmish or some other type of war. After being warned about what's to come in the third panel, the reader will then be taken to the last panel where the actual event takes place—Diane forcing Curtis to get out of bed to get ready for school while Curtis would rather stay in bed and sleep away.