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FoxTrot is an American comic strip written and illustrated by Bill Amend. As of December 2006, FoxTrot is carried by over 1,000 newspapers worldwide.^[1] It was published on a daily schedule from its inception in 1988 until December 31, 2006, when Amend switched it to a Sunday-only format.^[1] Foxtrot refers to: Foxtrot, a dance and style of music Fox trot, a horses gait Foxtrot, a Australian rock band, including Elliott Eldridge(drummer), Michael Nivison-Smith(lead guitarist) and some other guy Derivative usage: FoxTrot, a syndicated comic strip by Bill Amend Foxtrot class submarine Foxtrot (album) (1972... Image File history File links Broom_icon. ... For other uses, see Author (disambiguation). ... Bill Amend (born 1962 in Northampton, Massachusetts) is an American cartoonist, best known for his comic strip, FoxTrot. ... A website (alternatively, Web site or web site) is a collection of Web pages, images, videos or other digital assets that is hosted on one or several Web server(s), usually accessible via the Internet, cell phone or a LAN. A Web page is a document, typically written in HTML... is the 100th day of the year (101st in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1988 (MCMLXXXVIII) was a leap year starting on Friday (link displays 1988 Gregorian calendar). ... is the 364th day of the year (365th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2006 (MMVI) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... Universal Press Syndicate, an Andrews McMeel Universal company, provides syndication for a number of lifestyle and opinion columns, comics, and various other content. ... The webcomic genres are the types of themes a webcomic can take. ... This article is about the comic strip, the sequential art form as published in newspapers and on the Internet. ... Bill Amend (born 1962 in Northampton, Massachusetts) is an American cartoonist, best known for his comic strip, FoxTrot. ... is the 365th day of the year (366th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2006 (MMVI) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

The strip covers a wide range of subject matter, including spoofs of pop culture fads and popular consumer products. A fad, also known as a craze, refers to a fashion that becomes popular in a culture (or subcultures) relatively quickly, remains popular, often for a rather brief period, then loses popularity dramatically. ...

Characters

The Foxtrot comic is centered around the daily lives of the Fox family, consisting of parents Roger and Andy, and their three children: Peter, Paige, and Jason. Additional minor characters include Jason's pet iguana Quincy, Jason's best friend Marcus, and the friends and classmates of the children. This page contains information on the Fox family, central characters in the comic strip FoxTrot. ... For other members of the family Iguanidae, see Iguanidae. ...

Places

The Fox family's address is 1254 North Elm Street, but the city and state have never been specified. On the subject of the Fox's specific location, Bill Amend has stated: "I've never established a town name for where they live. The mall sign was meant as an homage to the Hillsdale Mall in San Mateo, California, where I used to shop as a teenager."^{[citation needed]} San Mateo is a city in San Mateo County, California, in the San Francisco Bay Area. ... Official language(s) English Capital Sacramento Largest city Los Angeles Largest metro area Greater Los Angeles Area  Ranked 3rd  - Total 158,302 sq mi (410,000 km²)  - Width 250 miles (400 km)  - Length 770 miles (1,240 km)  - % water 4. ...

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.^[2] Later vacations by the Fox family have included trips to Hawaii, Washington D.C., the desert, various amusement parks (Most notable is Fun-Fun Mountain), and campgrounds. This article is about the U.S. State. ... Aerial photo (looking NW) of the Washington Monument and the White House in Washington, DC. Washington, D.C., officially the District of Columbia (also known as D.C.; Washington; the Nations Capital; the District; and, historically, the Federal City) is the capital city and administrative district of the United... This article is about arid terrain. ... Theme park redirects here. ... A campsite (or campground) is a place used for camping. ...

Popular culture

A typical example of the strip referencing popular culture; in this case the cancellation of the cult science fiction television series Farscape by the Sci-Fi Channel and its ensuing controversy.

Another strip about popular culture, this time, a criticism of the power of Wikipedia.

In addition to typical family humor, the strip has many stories built around fandom, nerdiness 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. At least two FoxTrot strips have directly mentioned Wikipedia. Image File history File links Size of this preview: 600 × 197 pixelsFull resolution (600 × 197 pixel, file size: 53 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) This image is a sequence of panels from a comic strip or the interior of a single issue of a comic book and the copyright for... Image File history File links Size of this preview: 600 × 197 pixelsFull resolution (600 × 197 pixel, file size: 53 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) This image is a sequence of panels from a comic strip or the interior of a single issue of a comic book and the copyright for... Farscape (1999–2003) is a science fiction television series, featuring a present-day astronaut who accidentally travels through a wormhole to a distant part of the galaxy. ... SCI FI (originally The Sci-Fi Channel, sometimes rendered SCI FI Channel when part of a longer phrase) is an American cable television channel, launched on September 24, 1992, specializing in science fiction, fantasy, horror, and paranormal programming. ... Image File history File links This is supposed to be funny. ... Image File history File links This is supposed to be funny. ... Wikipedia (IPA: , or ( ) is a multilingual, web-based, free content encyclopedia project, operated by the Wikimedia Foundation, a non-profit organization. ... Fandom (from the noun fan and the affix -dom, as in kingdom, dukedom, etc. ...

Jason is often portrayed as having a fascination in various science fiction and fantasy titles including Star Wars, Star Trek and Lord of the Rings. He also plays Dungeons & Dragons (often with his friend, Marcus and, earlier in the strip, his brother Peter), and is frequently seen playing video games (which are often referenced by their actual titles such as World of Warcraft being called World of Warquest). Science fiction is a form of speculative fiction principally dealing with the impact of imagined science and technology, or both, upon society and persons as individuals. ... For other uses, see Fantasy (disambiguation). ... This article is about the series. ... This article is about the entire Star Trek franchise. ... Dust jacket of the 1968 UK edition The Lord of the Rings is an epic fantasy story by J. R. R. Tolkien, a sequel to his earlier work, The Hobbit. ... D&D redirects here. ... This article is about computer and video games. ...

Scientific references

Amend majored in physics at Amherst College,^[3] 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.^[4] A magnet levitating above a high-temperature superconductor demonstrates the Meissner effect. ... Amherst College is a private liberal arts college in Amherst, Massachusetts, USA. It is the third oldest college in Massachusetts. ... For other meanings of mathematics or uses of math and maths, see Mathematics (disambiguation) and Math (disambiguation). ...

Style

Passage of time

FoxTrot is similar to other comic strips in that the characters do not age (although in one very early strip, Roger's 45th birthday was celebrated). There was an in-joke on the lack of aging in a strip in which Andy told Jason that Roger had donated blood even though he was scared of needles because "We all have to grow up, kiddo." Jason replied, "Whoa, did I stumble into For Better or For Worse?", referring to a comic where the characters actually do grow up, up until September 2007. For Better or For Worse is a comic strip by Lynn Johnston that began in September 1979. ...

Although the characters do not age, past events are occasionally referenced in the strip—most notably, Jason's summer at Camp Bohrmore, a science-based summer camp. Other past events in the strip may be referred to as happening "last year" even if the referenced storyline was printed more than a year ago. Summer camp is a supervised program for children and teenagers conducted during the summer months in some countries. ...

Parodies and subtleties

The characters appear to be aware that they are living a comic strip, with references to such events as ink shortages and "whitening" toothpaste that erased the lines between Roger's teeth. In scenes where a character is reading a newspaper, Amend will often add a joke headline to the paper (such as "Cartoonist to join NASCAR Circuit"), usually accompanied by a caricature of himself. Other comic strips are sometimes referenced as well, and characters from other strips are sometimes drawn in the background. Jeff Burton (99), Elliott Sadler (38), Ricky Rudd (21), Dale Jarrett (88), Sterling Marlin (40), Jimmie Johnson (48), and Casey Mears (41) practice for the 2004 Daytona 500 The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR) is the largest sanctioning body of motorsports in the United States. ...

Sometimes, details in the background will change subtly from panel to panel, such as the text on a poster, magazine or coffee mug.

Often, when a band, video game, or brand name is referenced, the name in question is a portmanteau of other names (such as "World of Warquest", frequently played by Jason; the name is a portmanteau of World of Warcraft and Everquest, two popular video games). A portmanteau (IPA: ) is a word or morpheme that fuses two or more words or word parts to give a combined or loaded meaning. ... World of Warcraft (commonly abbreviated as WoW) is a massive multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) developed by Blizzard Entertainment and is the fourth game in the Warcraft series, excluding expansion packs and the cancelled Warcraft Adventures: Lord of the Clans. ... EverQuest (or colloquially, EQ) is a 3D fantasy-themed massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) that was released on March 16, 1999. ...

Computers

Several FoxTrot gags revolve around the use of a computer in some way. The first computer to appear in the FoxTrot strip was an Apple II; by 1991, Andy had purchased an unidentified style of Compact Macintosh. Later, the Fox family used an unidentified Macintosh desktop computer, similar in design to a Macintosh LC or Power Macintosh. In a 1999 story, Andy purchased an iFruit (a parody of the original iMac) after Roger's unsuccessful attempts at online stock trading had resulted in the family selling their old computer. Starting in 2007, a newer computer resembling the most recent model of iMac has been shown.^{[citation needed]} The Apple II was one of the most popular personal computers of the 1980s. ... The Macintosh 128K introduced the Compact Macintosh fcase style Compact Macintosh or Classic Macintosh are terms that refer to the direct descendants of the original Macintosh personal computer case design by Apple Computer. ... For other uses, see Macintosh (disambiguation) and Mac. ... Macintosh LC pizza box computer, circa 1990. ... The Power Mac G5, the last model of the series. ... The original Bondi Blue iMac G3 was introduced in 1998. ...

Although the computers are never directly referenced as Macintosh products, Bill Amend has stated:

^{[citation needed]}

Books

There have been 35 FoxTrot books published so far, all by Andrews McMeel Publishing. Of the 35 books, 25 are collections and 10 are anthologies. The anthologies are composed of the two or three previous collections, and include Sunday strips in color. There have been 33 FoxTrot books published so far, all by Andrews McMeel Publishing. ... Andrews McMeel Publishing, LLC is a company which publishes books, calendars, and related toys. ...

Merchandising

During the late 1990s, the character of Jason Fox was licensed to Wolfram Research as a product spokesman for its Mathematica software package.^[5] In fact, Mathematica was referenced at least once in the strip (though several years before Jason was licensed). Wolfram Research is part of the Wolfram Group which consists of four companies: Wolfram Research Inc. ... For other uses, see Mathematica (disambiguation). ...

References

In historical scholarship, a primary source is a document, or other source of information that was created at or near the time being studied, by an authoritative source, usually one with direct personal knowledge of the events being described. ... In library and information science, historiography and some other areas of scholarship, a secondary source is a document or recording that relates or discusses information originally presented elsewhere. ... Year 2006 (MMVI) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 339th day of the year (340th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Bill Amend (born 1962 in Northampton, Massachusetts) is an American cartoonist, best known for his comic strip, FoxTrot. ... Bill Amend (born 1962 in Northampton, Massachusetts) is an American cartoonist, best known for his comic strip, FoxTrot. ... is the 159th day of the year (160th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1998 (MCMXCVIII) was a common year starting on Thursday (link will display full 1998 Gregorian calendar). ... Year 2006 (MMVI) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 284th day of the year (285th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ...

External links

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to:

FoxTrot

• FoxTrot.com
• Universal Press Syndicate FoxTrot Page
• Bill Amend's Homepages
• FoxTrot comics and FoxTrot classics at GoComics
• Biographies of Bill Amend
• Bill Amend's press release about FoxTrot Ceasing Dailies