FoxTrot

Cartoonist Bill Amend states that after he submitted strips for three years, in 1987 Universal Press Syndicate (UPS) offered him a contract.{{cite web|title=About The Strip – About Me|author=Amend, Bill |publisher=Bill Amend |url=http://www.foxtrot.com/about/ |work=foxtrot.com |access-date=2010-07-22}}

FoxTrot was first syndicated by UPS on April 10, 1988.{{cite news|url=http://www.deseretnews.com/article/1755/|archive-url=https://archive.today/20120919070317/http://www.deseretnews.com/article/1755/|url-status=dead|archive-date=September 19, 2012|title='FoxTrot' comic strip premieres today|last=Arvae|first=Lynn|date=April 11, 1988|work=Deseret News|access-date=2009-12-21}}{{cite news|date=April 10, 1988|url=http://nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we/Archives?p_product=MH&s_site=miami&p_multi=MH&p_theme=realcities&p_action=search&p_maxdocs=200&p_topdoc=1&p_text_direct-0=0EB3377BE6B02E3E&p_field_direct-0=document_id&p_perpage=10&p_sort=YMD_date:D&s_trackval=GooglePM|title=Hunting fox in suburbia: New comic strip premieres|work=The Miami Herald|pages=1G|access-date=2009-12-21}}

On December 5, 2006, Universal Press Syndicate issued a press release stating that Amend's strip, FoxTrot, would turn into a Sunday-only strip and the comic confirming it was on December 25, 2006, just 20 days later. Amend stated that he wanted to continue doing the strip, but at a less hurried pace.{{cite press release|url=http://www.amuniversal.com/ups/newsrelease/?view=468|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061214210634/http://www.amuniversal.com/ups/newsrelease/?view=468|url-status=dead|archive-date=2006-12-14|title=FoxTrot to Cease Dailies|work=amuniversal.com|publisher=Universal Press Syndicate}} This news was followed by a week-long arc of the characters discussing a "cartoonist" semi-retiring to Sundays only, and what methods he would use to phase out the daily strips. The last daily strip was shown on December 30, 2006.{{cite news|url=http://www.amuniversal.com/ups/newsrelease/?view=468|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061214210634/http://www.amuniversal.com/ups/newsrelease/?view=468|url-status=dead|archive-date=2006-12-14|title=Universal Uclick|work=amuniversal.com|access-date=2014-08-26}} At the end of its run as a daily comic, FoxTrot was carried by more than 1,200 newspapers worldwide.{{cite press release| url=http://www.amuniversal.com/ups/newsrelease/?view=468| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080210065602/http://www.amuniversal.com/ups/newsrelease/?view=468| url-status=dead| archive-date=February 10, 2008| publisher=Universal Press Syndicate| date=December 5, 2006 |title=FoxTrot to Cease Dailies |access-date=2006-12-05}} Since moving to one comic every week, Amend has said that it's harder to remain topical because Sunday's deadline is 30 days ahead of publication, compared with just 10-day deadlines the rest of the week.Booth, John (April 14, 2010). "[https://www.wired.com/2010/04/interview-with-foxtrots-bill-amend/ Interview with FoxTrot's Bill Amend]". Wired. Amend and fellow cartoonist Stephan Pastis joked that Amend switched to a Sundays-only schedule "so he could spend 18 hours a day playing World of Warcraft."{{Cite web|url=https://www.gocomics.com/pearlsbeforeswine/2017/03/19|title=Pearls Before Swine by Stephan Pastis for March 19, 2017 {{!}} GoComics.com|last=Pastis|first=Stephan|date=2017-03-19|website=GoComics|language=en|access-date=2021-01-25}}

{{Main|List of FoxTrot characters}}

FoxTrot takes place with the daily lives of the Foxes, a suburban family, composed of father Roger, mother Andrea (Andy), and their children: Peter (age 16), Paige (14), and Jason (10), who live together.{{cite web|last=Amend|first=Bill|url=http://www.foxtrot.com/about/|title=About FoxTrot|work=Original Comic Website|access-date=2013-08-03}} The Fox family lives in a suburban setting. Amend has said he has never specified where the Foxes live, and he has shown them taking vacations to the desert and various amusement parks and campgrounds.

Amend majored in physics at Amherst College,{{cite web|url=http://www.amuniversal.com/ups/features/foxtrot/bio.htm |title=Bill Amend – Creator Bio |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110109171447/http://www.amuniversal.com/ups/features/foxtrot/bio.htm |archive-date=January 9, 2011 |publisher=Universal Press Syndicate |work=amuniversal.com |url-status=dead |df=mdy }} and his knowledge on the subject is sometimes reflected in FoxTrot{{'}}s frequent inclusion of complex mathematical or physics formulae, usually written by Jason, whom Amend described as "largely an exaggerated representation of [his] own geeky nature." Jason is also used to express Amend's knowledge of computer languages.{{cite book|last=Amend|first=Bill|author-link=Bill Amend|title=Death By Field Trip (p. 87)|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=C4gMKOkILZcC&q=wikipedia |publisher=Andrews McMeel Publishing|year=2001|location=Kansas City, Missouri|isbn=0-7407-1391-4|access-date=2014-08-26}}

Recurring characters include Jason's pet iguana Quincy; Jason's friend Marcus and his classmate Eileen Jacobson; Paige's friend Nicole and her classmate Morton Goldthwait; Peter's blind girlfriend, Denise, and his friend Steve; and other friends and classmates of the children and Roger's co-workers. Like many comic strips, FoxTrot employs a floating timeline "for specific reasons and to create specific dynamics between [Peter, Paige, and Jason]."{{cite magazine| url=https://www.wired.com/2010/04/interview-with-foxtrots-bill-amend/| title=Interview With FoxTrot's Bill Amend| first=John| last=Booth| date=14 April 2010| magazine=Wired| url-status=live| archive-date=27 June 2020| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200627215853/https://www.wired.com/2010/04/interview-with-foxtrots-bill-amend/}}

{{Main|List of FoxTrot books}}

The strips have been printed in 45 different books, all by Andrews McMeel Publishing. Of the 45 books, 31 are collections and 14 are anthologies. The anthologies are composed of the two or three previous collections and include Sunday strips in color.

During the late 1990s, the character of Jason Fox was licensed to Wolfram Research as a product mascot for its mathematica software package.{{cite press release |title='FoxTrot' Character Jason Fox to Promote Innovative Educational Calculus Software |publisher=Wolfram Research |url=http://company.wolfram.com/news/1998/foxtrot-character-jason-fox-to-promote-innovative-educational-calculus-software/ |date=June 8, 1998 |access-date=2015-02-03 |archive-date=February 4, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150204001325/http://company.wolfram.com/news/1998/foxtrot-character-jason-fox-to-promote-innovative-educational-calculus-software/ |url-status=dead }}

{{Reflist}}

{{Wikiquote}}

• {{official website|http://www.foxtrot.com/}}
• [http://www.universaluclick.com/comics/strip/foxtrot FoxTrot] syndication at Universal Uclick

• FoxTrot at GoComics
• [http://www.gocomics.com/foxtrot/ Comics]
• [http://www.gocomics.com/foxtrotclassics/ Classics]

{{UniversalPressSyndicate}}

Category:1988 comics debuts

Category:2006 comics endings

Category:American comic strips

Category:Comics about married people

Category:Slice of life comics

Category:Gag-a-day comics

Category:Comics set in the United States

Category:Comics set in the 1980s

Category:Comics set in the 1990s

Category:Comics set in the 2000s

Category:GoComics