FoxTrot: Difference between revisions
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==Characters== |
==Characters== |
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{{Main|List of FoxTrot characters}} |
{{Main|List of FoxTrot characters}} |
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The ''FoxTrot'' comic centers on the daily lives of the Fox family,composed of father Roger, wife Andy, and their children: Peter, Paige, and Jason, who are forced to live together in the same |
The ''FoxTrot'' comic centers on the daily lives of the Fox family,composed of father Roger, wife Andy, and their children: Peter, Paige, and Jason, who are forced to live together in the same house. Additional minor characters include Jason's pet [[iguana]], Quincy; Jason's friend Marcus and classmate, Eileen Jacobson; Paige's friend Nicole and her classmate Morton Goldthwait; Peter's friend Steve and his blind girlfriend Denise; and other friends and classmates of the children and Roger's co-workers. |
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===Jason=== |
===Jason=== |
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Revision as of 16:42, 4 August 2010
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| FoxTrot | |
|---|---|
| Author(s) | Bill Amend |
| Website | FoxTrot.com |
| Current status/schedule | Sundays-only; daily until December 30, 2006 |
| Launch date | April 10, 1988 |
| Syndicate(s) | Universal Press Syndicate |
| Publisher(s) | Andrews McMeel Publishing |
| Genre(s) | Humor, Family, Satire |
FoxTrot is an American comic strip written and illustrated by Bill Amend. As of December 2006, FoxTrot was carried by more than 1,000 newspapers worldwide.[1] From its inception in 1988 it was published daily until December 31, 2006, when Amend switched to a Sunday-only format.[1]
The strip revolves around the daily lives of the Fox family, a dysfunctional American family made up of the happily married Roger and Andy (Andrea) Fox and their children Peter (16), Paige (14) and Jason (10). It covers a wide range of subject matter, including spoofs of pop culture fads, nerd culture, and popular consumer products.
Foxtrot is divided into three different sets, done in varying art styles and themes; Classic, with a primitive art style and more risque humor and contemporary issues, The Wonder Years, which deals with the characters pasts and early lives when they were younger, and Platinum, which is used in modern day and is set directly after Classic.
History
![[icon]](/enwiki/wiki/File:Wiki_letter_w_cropped.svg){kind=small} | This section needs expansion with: More sourced history of strip. You can help by adding to it. (December 2009) |
Amend states that after he submitted strips for three years, in 1987 Universal Press Syndicate offered him a contract.[2] FoxTrot was first published on April 10, 1988, under the syndication of Universal Press Syndicate.[3][4]
Characters
The FoxTrot comic centers on the daily lives of the Fox family,composed of father Roger, wife Andy, and their children: Peter, Paige, and Jason, who are forced to live together in the same house. Additional minor characters include Jason's pet iguana, Quincy; Jason's friend Marcus and classmate, Eileen Jacobson; Paige's friend Nicole and her classmate Morton Goldthwait; Peter's friend Steve and his blind girlfriend Denise; and other friends and classmates of the children and Roger's co-workers.
Jason
A ten-year-old math and science prodigy who, although remarkably intelligent, possesses little common sense whatsoever. He is obsessed with computers, space travel, and dinosaurs, and is rarely happy at the same time as his sister, Paige. His best friend is Marcus Jones, and his hidden love interest is Eileen Jacobson. He owns an iguana, Quincy.
Paige
A fourteen year old stereotypical diva obsessed with looks, men, and shopping. She desperately wishes for a boyfriend (other than her imaginary one, Pierre) but never quite seems to succeed in her many endeavors to attain one. She is rarely happy at the same time as her brother Jason, but has an as good as can be expected relationship with her other brother, Peter. Owns several fish.
Peter
A sixteen year old wannabe athlete who tries desperately but unsuccessfully to increase his minimal weight, drives like a maniac, and always wears the same blue-and-white baseball cap and gray sweatshirt. As the oldest sibling, he enjoys partial dominance over Paige and Jason, but is frequently outwitted by Jason. Early in the strip, he was shown to be much more brutal and antagonistic.
Andy (Andrea) Fox
The 42 year old wife of Roger. Obsessed with health food, and nags constantly at her family. Andy is a newspaper journalist who works from home, and is always putting off writing the next great American novel until "Tomorrow".
Roger Fox
The 45-year-old brother and businessman who loves his family more than anything else but is incapable of keeping up with them, turning himself into the classic "moron." He is also obsessed with football and becomes an ill-appreciated Walt Whitman on camping trips.
Minor characters
Quincy
Jason's pet iguana. Trained to, among other things, vomit upon Paige's bed.
Marcus
Jason's best friend. Identical to Jason in almost every aspect barring appearance. He has several sisters (Who are never seen)
Pierre
Paige's imaginary French boyfriend. Possesses all of the characteristics of the typical imaginary male love interest.
Settings
The Fox family lives in a suburban setting. Several storylines in the strip have focused on summer vacation trips to various places. Early on, the Fox family spent summer vacation at "Uncle Ralph's Cabin".[5] Later vacations by the Fox family have included trips to Hawaii, Washington D.C., the desert, various amusement parks, and campgrounds. In a series of strips though, references are made implying that they live in or near Chicago. However, Amend has denied this and claims that he has never given a particular location or name for where they live.
Early in the strip's run, FoxTrot often dealt with societal issues such as drug abuse.[6]
Popular culture references
In addition to family humor, the strip has many stories built around fandom and popular culture. The characters—primarily Jason, Peter, and Paige—frequently have new obsessions or interests which reflect the time period at which the strip was published, including TV and the movies. At least two FoxTrot strips have directly mentioned Wikipedia.[7][citation needed] They also show Jason playing games like Warhammer and Dungeons and Dragons, or at least variations of the game. For example, he was playing chess with his friend, but the game was tweaked into being a modified Dungeons and Dragons.[8]
Celebrity guest appearances
- Peter Jackson appeared in a storyline in which Jason and Marcus were auditioning for the roles of Frodo and Sam in the first film of The Lord of the Rings film trilogy, resulting in them pointing out the differences between the book and the movie (they had the book memorized).
- Bruce Springsteen appeared partially in one strip of a storyline in which Peter escorted a girl to a concert (but only because she had front-row tickets). Springsteen's legs and lower body were the only parts visible because of the stage's height off the ground.
- Steve Jobs occasionally appears in cartoons penned by Jason about the Apple Computers.
Scientific references
Amend majored in physics at Amherst College,[9] and his knowledge of physics is sometimes reflected in FoxTrot's frequent inclusion of complex mathematical or physics formulae, usually written by Jason. Jason is also used to express Amend's knowledge of computer languages.[10]
Books
The strips have been printed in thirty-nine different books, all by Andrews McMeel Publishing. Of the 39 books, 27 are collections and 12 are anthologies. The anthologies are composed of the two or three previous collections, and include Sunday strips in color.
Merchandising
During the late 1990s, the character of Jason Fox was licensed to Wolfram Research as a product spokesman for its Mathematica software package.[11]
Critical reception
| This section needs expansion with: More critical reception from reputable reviewers. You can help by adding to it. (December 2009) |
In a 1990 article which reviewed various then-current comic strips, Ken Tucker of Entertainment Weekly gave FoxTrot a "B" rating, calling it "the most idiosyncratic comic strip to debut since Calvin and Hobbes" and describing the Fox family as "believable."[12] Bill Watterson, the creator of Calvin and Hobbes, said that that it was, "refreshing," to see a comic strip with humor that comes from the characters instead of, "silly events imposed from without."
References
- ^ a b "FoxTrot to Cease Dailies" (Press release). Universal Press Syndicate. December 5, 2006. Retrieved 2006-12-05.
- ^ Amend, Bill. "About The Strip - About Me". foxtrot.com. Bill Amend. Retrieved 2010-07-22.
- ^ Arvae, Lynn (April 11, 1988). "'FoxTrot' comic strip premieres today". Deseret News. Retrieved 2009-12-21.
- ^ "Hunting fox in suburbia: New comic strip premieres". The Miami Herald. April 10, 1988. pp. 1G. Retrieved 21 December 2009.
- ^ Amend, Bill (1990). FoxTrot: The Works (pp. 60-1). Kansas City: Andrews McMeel Publishing. ISBN 0-8362-1848-5.
- ^ "'FoxTrot' tackles drug abuse". Deseret News. 1989-03-06. Retrieved 21 December 2009.
- ^ Amend, Bill (May 7, 2005). "Foxtrot Comic". GoComics.com. Universal Press Syndicate. Retrieved 2010-07-22.
- ^ Andersen, Espen (December 12, 2007). "Applied Abstractions: Wikipedia As Seen By FoxTrot". espen.com. Retrieved 2008-12-28.
- ^ Bill Amend - Creator Bio. Universal Press Syndicate.
- ^ Amend, Bill (2001). Death By Field Trip (p. 87). Kansas City: Andrews McMeel Publishing. ISBN 0-7407-1391-4.
- ^ "'FoxTrot' Character Jason Fox to Promote Innovative Educational Calculus Software" (Press release). Wolfram Research. June 8, 1998. Retrieved 2006-10-11.
- ^ Tucker, Ken (October 15, 1990). "Black & White and Read All Over". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved 2009-12-21.
External links
