Curtis (comic strip)
Template:Short description {{#invoke:other uses|otheruses}} Template:Italic title Template:Infobox Comic strip Curtis is a nationally syndicated comic strip written and illustrated by Ray Billingsley, with a predominantly African American cast. The comic strip started up on October 3, 1988, and is syndicated by King Features.<ref>Dean Mullaney, Bruce Canwell and Brian Walker, King of the Comics : One Hundred Years of King Features Syndicate. San Diego : IDW Publishing, 2015. Template:ISBN (p. 259)</ref>
The comic strip portrays the daily life of a middle-class family living in a large American city, especially that of Curtis, the eponymous main character. It frequently chronicles aspects of African American culture and history.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Curtis has been compared to Li'l Abner, which Billingsley cites as his favorite comic strip, in style.<ref name=":1">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Themes
A recurring theme is Curtis' efforts to convince his father to try give up smoking, a personal issue for Billingsley, who is a prominent advocate for public health and the dangers of smoking.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> For his efforts in educating young people about smoking, Billingsley has earned multiple awards from the American Lung Association.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Though a fundamentally humorous comic, Curtis frequently addresses serious themes. Examples include bullying,<ref name=":0">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> drug addiction<ref name=":0" /> and gentrification.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> A storyline in 2020 involved the COVID-19 pandemic.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
During the holiday season, Billingsley sometimes deviates from his usual characters to present special two-to-three week stories celebrating the Festival of Kwanzaa. Once an annual tradition in the strip, these specials became irregular in the mid-2010s, with Ray Billingsley citing declining reader interest in them.<ref name=":1" />
References
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