''Quincy'' is an

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syndicated newspaper

comic strip A comic strip is a sequence of drawings, often cartoons, arranged in interrelated panels to display brief humor or form a narrative, often serialized, with text in balloons and captions. Traditionally, throughout the 20th and into the 21st ...

published from July 13, 1970 to October 4, 1986, created and produced by

cartoonist A cartoonist is a visual artist who specializes in both drawing and writing cartoons (individual images) or comics (sequential images). Cartoonists differ from comics writers or comic book illustrators in that they produce both the literary and ...

Ted Shearer. The series, about an

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boy being raised by his grandmother in

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, was one of the earliest mainstream comic strips to star an African American in the lead role, following '' Dateline: Danger!'' (1968-1974) and ''

Luther Luther may refer to: People * Martin Luther (1483–1546), German monk credited with initiating the Protestant Reformation * Martin Luther King Jr. (1929-1968), American minister and leader in the American civil rights movement * Luther (give ...

'' (1969-1986). Another predecessor, ''

Wee Pals ''Wee Pals'' is an American syndicated comic strip about a diverse group of children, created and produced by Morrie Turner. It was the first comic strip syndicated in the United States to have a cast of diverse ethnicity, dubbed the "Rainbow Gan ...

'' (1965- ), features an African-American among an ensemble cast of different races and ethnicities.

Publication history

The comic strip ''Quincy'', starring a 9- or 10-year-old

title character being raised by his grandmother in

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neighborhood, debuted on June 13 or June 17, 1970 (sources differ), syndicated to newspapers by

King Features Syndicate King Features Syndicate, Inc. is a American content distribution and animation studio, consumer product licensing and print syndication company owned by Hearst Communications that distributes about 150 comic strips, newspaper columns, editoria ...

.Crouch, Bill Jr., in Creator Ted Shearer, born in

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, himself grew up in Harlem, although by the time he created ''Quincy'' he was living in

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, immediately north of

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. Upon launching the comic strip, Shearer left his 15-year position as an

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at the large advertising agency

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. Shearer had previously sold single-panel gag cartoons to King Features' ''

Laff-a-Day ''Laff-a-Day'' is a daily gag cartoon panel distributed to newspapers by King Features Syndicate from 1936 to 1998. The cartoonists included Frank Beaven, Henry Boltinoff, Dave Breger, Bo Brown, Orlando Busino, George Gately, Martin Giuffre, Al ...

'' feature. After a chance commuter-train meeting with King Features artist Bill Gilmartin, where Shearer showed some of his work and noted that his cartoons had been published in ''

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'', ''

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'' and other magazines, an impressed Gilmartin brought Shearer's work to wider attention at the syndicate. The strip ended in 1986, upon Shearer's retirement. Quincy appeared in at least a half-dozen comic-book stories, most of them written and drawn by Shearer.Ted Shearer
at the

Grand Comics Database The Grand Comics Database (GCD) is an Internet-based project to build a database of comic book information through user contributions. The GCD project catalogues information on creator credits, story details, reprints, and other information useful ...

. Retrieved on March 21, 2015. These appeared in three comics: King Features' school-distributed ''King Reading Library'' #R-01 (1973), the premiere of a series that took previously published content and rewrote it in simpler language for young readers or those with limited reading skills;King Reading Library
at the Grand Comics Database. Retrieved on March 21, 2015. King Features' free, promotional

one-shot One shot may refer to: Film and television * One-shot film, a feature film shot in one long take with no edits, or manufactured to look like so * ''One Shot'' (2005 film), a Sri Lankan action film directed by Ranjan Ramanayake * ''One Shot'' (2 ...

''Let's Read the Newspaper'' (1974); and King Features' and

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's free, educational one-shot ''Quincy Looks Into His Future''.

Cast

Source unless otherwise noted: * Quincy, a young boy living in Harlem, at just above the poverty line * Li'l Bo', his younger brother * Granny Dixon, their grandmother, who is raising them * Viola, Quincy's girlfriend * Nickles, Quincy's Caucasian best friend * Sneeze, an African-American friend who wears glasses (see illustration)

Critical analysis

Cartoon historian Bill Crouch, Jr. wrote that Shearer Another comics historian,

Don Markstein Don Markstein's Toonopedia (subtitled A Vast Repository of Toonological Knowledge) is an online encyclopedia of print cartoons, comic strips and animation, initiated February 13, 2001. Donald D. Markstein, the sole writer and editor of Toonop ...

, said the strip

wasn't preachy, the way pioneers of this type often wear their virtue on their sleeves. ... Shearer's characters were identifiably minorities in lifestyle as well as skin tones, and often derived gags from the fact, but weren't vocal advocates of change. Mostly, they were just a bunch of kids who got along together and didn't give much thought to their racial identity.

Paperback collections

*''Quincy'' (Bantam H7183, 1972) *''Quincy's World'' (Grosset & Dunlap, 1978; )

References

External links

* * * {{King Features Syndicate Comics American comic strips African-Americans in comic strips African-American comics Child characters in comics 1970 comics debuts 1986 comics endings Gag-a-day comics Fictional African-American people Comics characters introduced in 1970