''Slylock Fox'' is a daily

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 ...

created by Bob Weber Jr. and published 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 ...

. Bob Weber Jr. is the son of Bob Weber Sr., creator of the comic strip '' Moose & Molly''. As the comic's name implies, the target audience is young

children A child ( : children) is a human being between the stages of birth and puberty, or between the developmental period of infancy and puberty. The legal definition of ''child'' generally refers to a minor, otherwise known as a person younger ...

. According to the official website, ''Slylock Fox'' appears in nearly 400 newspapers with a combined readership of over 30 million.

Overview

''Slylock Fox'' regularly features a logic puzzle presented in a single panel. Slylock, an

anthropomorphic Anthropomorphism is the attribution of human traits, emotions, or intentions to non-human entities. It is considered to be an innate tendency of human psychology. Personification is the related attribution of human form and characteristics t ...

fox Foxes are small to medium-sized, omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull, upright, triangular ears, a pointed, slightly upturned snout, and a long bushy tail (or ''brush''). Twelve sp ...

detective, is constantly matching wits against a variety of criminals, including Count Weirdly, Shady Shrew and Slick Smitty. The strip does not normally use dialogue; instead, text accompanying the illustration informs the reader of a problem Slylock must solve. These often include escaping from a dungeon, locating stolen goods, or determining who committed a crime through visual clues or logical inconsistencies. The puzzle solution is printed upside down. Slylock is assisted by sidekick Max Mouse. Max wears pink shorts and a matching bowler hat. He functions as Slylock's foil, being distracted at the crime scene or coming to a false conclusion, only to be corrected by Slylock. A varied cast of witnesses, victims,

policemen A police officer (also called a policeman and, less commonly, a policewoman) is a warranted law employee of a police force. In most countries, "police officer" is a generic term not specifying a particular rank. In some, the use of the ...

and criminals fill in the rest of Slylock's world. These characters' names usually contain either some form of alliteration, a type of animal, a profession, or a personality trait. This allows Weber to quickly establish a scene and set up a mystery using very little space. Some notable examples include Deputy Duck, Roxy

Rabbit Rabbits, also known as bunnies or bunny rabbits, are small mammals in the family Leporidae (which also contains the hares) of the order Lagomorpha (which also contains the pikas). ''Oryctolagus cuniculus'' includes the European rabbit speci ...

, and Shady Shrew. Most of these characters are seen once and/or never again. Slylock's name is likely an homage to the fictional detective

Sherlock Holmes Sherlock Holmes () is a fictional detective created by British author Arthur Conan Doyle. Referring to himself as a " consulting detective" in the stories, Holmes is known for his proficiency with observation, deduction, forensic science and ...

. Like Sherlock, Slylock is traditionally depicted with a

magnifying glass A magnifying glass is a convex lens that is used to produce a magnified image of an object. The lens is usually mounted in a frame with a handle. A magnifying glass can be used to focus light, such as to concentrate the sun's radiation to crea ...

and a blue deerstalker hat; also, he wears a blue suit and cape. The Slylock Fox logic puzzles appear only in Sunday and Monday strips. The Tuesday to Saturday strips consist of

spot the difference Globe and high court (Spot the difference)

Media

The now-defunct ''Slylock Fox'' website featured many additional Slylock mysteries that have never been printed, in addition to other activities. The site was voted an "Educational Best Bet" by USA Today and received an award for "Best of the Net" from About.com in April 1999. The site currently redirects to the official page for Weber's other comic strip, '' Oh, Brother!''. Slylock Fox and Cassandra Cat guest starred in a week of ''

My Cage ''My Cage'' is an American daily comic strip by Melissa DeJesus and Ed Power and was distributed by King Features Syndicate. The strip debuted on May 6, 2007, while the final strip ran on October 31, 2010. ''My Cage'' was the first "manga-inspi ...

'' comic strips in October 2007. Stephan Pastis made a parody of ''Slylock Fox'' in his comic strip ''

Pearls Before Swine A pearl is a hard, glistening object produced within the soft tissue (specifically the mantle (mollusc), mantle) of a living animal shell, shelled mollusk or another animal, such as fossil conulariids. Just like the shell of a mollusk, a pea ...

'' on January 13, 2008; Weber reciprocated by having Rat and Pig, the two main characters from ''Pearls'', appear in ''Slylock'' on February 3, 2008. Pastis repeated with another parody on April 24, 2016. A Slylock Fox mystery puzzle reprint book titled ''Go Fun Slylock Fox Mystery Puzzles'' and a Spot Six Differences reprint book titled ''Go Fun Spot Six Differences'' have been released by Andrews McMeel Publishing.

Main characters

In addition to a large cast of one-time characters, the strip has a handful of heroes and villains.

Protagonists

*Slylock Fox, a

detective A detective is an investigator, usually a member of a law enforcement agency. They often collect information to solve crimes by talking to witnesses and informants, collecting physical evidence, or searching records in databases. This leads th ...

who relies on logic and observation. He normally appears quite stoic. *Max Mouse, Slylock's sidekick. He occasionally finds clues that Slylock misses, but is usually less focused. *Chief Mutt and Deputy Duck, the local police, a bulldog and duck. *Tiffany Fox and Melody Mouse, two friendly bystanders and occasional victims. They sometimes act as romantic interests for Slylock and Max. *Sir Hound *Granny Squirrel *Rachel Rabbit *Princess Pussycat

Antagonists

*Slick Smitty, one of the few humans, a perpetually smug con-artist and recurring villain. *Cassandra Cat, a jewel thief who gets by on her charm and beauty. Slylock seems to be the only one who is not fazed. *Count Weirdly, an eccentric scientist who lives in a castle full of creepy creatures and monsters. His crimes range from dangerously insane to simple cons. *Shady Shrew, a lower class citizen in a run-down house who constantly steals and lies. *Reeky Rat, a conniving, stealing, lying mullet-headed rat that lives in a trailer down by the river. *Harry Ape, a big gorilla that has a habit of robbing banks. His short, white-haired mama ape often offers false alibis for her felonious offspring. *Koppy Kat, a painting forger known for always leaving some sort of error in the paintings. *Big Brad Wolf, a lowlife single father to his son, Little Brad Wolf. *Rodney Rat *Buford Bull *Bertha Bear *Wanda Weasel *Lady Lynx *Wanda Witch

Collections

Reprints of the different activities featured in ''Slylock Fox'' are distributed through Slylock Fox' official store. * ''Find the Six Differences #1'' * ''Find the Six Differences #2'' * ''Find the Six Differences #3'' * ''Bob Weber Jr.'s How To Draw Cartoons'' * ''Bob Weber Jr.'s Slylock Fox Mystery Puzzles'' * ''Bob Weber Jr.'s True or False'' * ''Bob Weber Jr.'s Trivia'' * ''Bob Weber Jr.'s Other Puzzles'' * ''Bob Weber Jr.'s Tagged Puzzles'' * ''Find the Six Difference #4'' * A Slylock Fox mystery puzzle reprint book titled ''Go Fun Slylock Fox Mystery Puzzles'' and a Spot Six Differences reprint book titled ''Go Fun Spot Six Differences'' have been released by Andrews McMeel Publishing.

Film adaptation

In September 2022, it was reported that King Features will be adapt ''Slylock Fox'' into an animated feature film. Evan Daugherty will write and produce and CJ Kettler will executive produce.

References

External links

The official Slylock Facebook PageOh, Brother! Bob Weber Jr.'s other comic strip
{{DEFAULTSORT:Slylock Fox and Comics for Kids American comic strips 1987 comics debuts Comics characters introduced in 1987 Sherlock Holmes pastiches Ducks in literature Dogs in literature Comics about mice and rats Comics about animals Comics about foxes