Cartoonist Ray Billingsley remembers waking up at about 3:30 a.m. and beginning to sketch the figure of a little boy. When he woke up later that morning, Curtis was smiling back at him. Little did Billingsley realize at the time that in the next 10 years he would develop his character sketch into the star of a successful comic strip.
Launched in syndication in Oct. 1988, today "Curtis" appears in more than 250 newspapers worldwide. One of the few comics featuring African-American characters, "Curtis" has earned high praise from fans, educators and corporate and community leaders for its contemporary humour as well as its sensitive dramatization of serious social issues.
Billingsley always tries to influence his young readers in positive ways and presents an accurate picture of a family's struggle to survive the hardships of modern life.