Curtis comic strip april

He debuted Curtis in Distributed by King Features , Curtis —a multilayered tale of an urban African American family of four and their wider community—has been a remarkable success, appearing in more than newspapers in an age when print journalism is increasingly threatened, with an estimated daily readership of 43 million. In it, Billingsley blends charming domestic humor with sometimes startling commentary on topics such as racism, guns in schools and tobacco use. These days, Billingsley is living and working out of his home in Stamford, Connecticut. We caught up with him several months ago to discuss his career, his time at SVA, and underrepresentation in comics. Curtis debuted in and today appears in more than newspapers.

Curtis is a nationally syndicated comic strip written and illustrated by Ray Billingsley. It began on October 3, , 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 , 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.

Billingsley draws from real life, and the strip has the fresh quality of situational humor, mixed with melodrama, comedy and pathos. Distributed by King Features Syndicate, Curtis is read in more than newspapers nationwide. Because he finds inspiration for the strip in his own childhood memories, conversations with friends and life at the local barbershop, where the folks talk everything from small-town gossip to big dreams and problems; he encourages youngsters reading Curtis to try cartooning themselves, and spends a great deal of time answering his fan mail.

In the closing weeks of March, comics pages in daily newspapers were oblivious. People were still making plans. There were parties. When animals talked, as animals in comics do , they said nothing about quarantines. Since debuting the strip in , Billingsley has mixed lighthearted gags with occasionally stark portrayals of the Wilkins, a middle-class African-American family, and their larger community of family, friends, barbers, and teachers.