Ray Billingsley
Creator of the Comic Strip “Curtis”
Keeping the funny pages turning
Ray Billingsley is the creator of “Curtis,” a comic strip published by King Features Syndicate centered around the titular 11-year-old and his friends and family. The comic started in 1988, and it was one of the first strips to bring the everyday life of a Black family into people’s homes.
Billingsley’s incessant drawing as a child led him to become a comics artist. His strong bond with his brother influenced the interactions he wrote between Curtis and his family, though the artist admits Curtis’s relationship with his father is what he wished he would have had with his own dad.
Billingsley sold his first bit of art in 1969 when he was 12. He worked in the industry for years before landing his own strip. Unfortunately, budget cuts and digital transformations in the newspaper business have slowly pushed comic strips from readers’ everyday habits. He hopes his work inspires future comic artists, but believes “any new strip lasting over five years is a miracle.”
By Bill Meincke
I write about Blacks because that is what I am, what life I reflect on, what life I truly understand. The disappearance of Black strips in journalism is a sad shame. It’s as though our stories don’t make the cut anymore. But that has always been the case: We were seen as novelties not to be taken seriously, or we didn’t have the same full backing as our white counterparts.
Strips of any kind were to enhance journalism — not to improve journalism, but rather to warmly be appreciated along with it. How many stories have we read that couldn’t be eased by seeing what was going on with your favorite comic characters?
They’re more than pen-and-ink drawings; they have the same qualities and personalities as any flesh person. They can make you smile, laugh, or feel great emotion. Black comics just give a different take on ordinary, everyday circumstances that affect all society.
It’s important to have as many diverse voices as possible. The world has become a huge melting pot, and at times the comics are the family and friends we depend on seeing every day. Black, Hispanic, Asian, whatever gender you are or identify with, there is room for inclusion.
Survival of the Daily Strip
Creating “Curtis” gives me moments of great pride. A daily strip is not an easy feat. I like to challenge myself, and it makes me laugh when I think I’m getting away with something. I like to regularly push boundaries and see how far I can take it.
My strip has a point and I like to believe that my readers are very intelligent. I try to keep my fans, whom I call my family, engaged.
I’ve done “Curtis” for so long by myself that anything can be of use in the strip, from topical subjects to pure absurdity. What I love is that I have the type of strip where I can do anything I want — I’m not pigeonholed into doing it the same way every day.
However, it has always been harder for strips like “Curtis” to survive, whether then or now, especially in print. The Black audience itself needs to embrace these strips closely as they speak to the audience directly, but that is not always the case.
And that goes for all races. The audience is quicker to go to their digital favorites and choose what only speaks to them. Instead of boundaries, there are many new ways to have your stories told — you just have to be extra clever about it.
The hardest thing about online is that publications don’t want to pay a good wage. The artists put their life’s blood into their creations only to receive a much lower price than print. I know that syndicates are creative in the ways they discover new venues to make up for this.
I have been very lucky. One must have a real dedication to their art and the growth of it to keep up in this industry and not become just a side note that quietly fades away.
Different Voices, Different Stories
If the worst happened and strips completely disappeared, this world would be a darker place. Such a thing should be considered a crime, especially if they were dropped to save a buck. There should be consideration for what could bring a smile to someone’s face, whether young, old, or in between.
Papers, like all businesses, were looking for ways to save money as printing costs soared ever higher. Comics were among the first to go.
I remember when comics were changing. It was soon after the invention of the internet. When PCs first came out, they were strictly for business, not much creative work could be done on them. It wasn’t until the rise of applications like Facebook that the industry began to do an about-face. Any and everyone could post their work, which was good because many people were not professional and this gave them a venue in which to share their voice, their take on life.
At the same time, it had a bad sting. With the overwhelming offerings from illustrators, many newspapers and magazines no longer needed to seek top talents to publish. Papers, like all businesses, were looking for ways to save money as printing costs soared ever higher. Comics were among the first to go.
I loved print because I had the option to learn about things that I might not have given thought to before. It was like going into a bookstore looking for a certain book and discovering many other topics that piqued my curiosity.
I think one of the deciding factors in the decline of the art form is that the comics that spoke to one generation did not translate to the next flock of readers. They wanted subjects they could easily relate to, or that spoke to them, and many of the comics seemed to be stuck in the past.
But there are so many different creators with different voices and stories, striving to be heard, just like when I was starting out. I truly want to inspire others as I was inspired, and to give breath to their stories. I want them to never give up on their dreams and to constantly reach for the sky — and the sky is only the first stop.
I come from a family of five, yet I feel like I’m a part of millions. And I thank all the readers for inviting me into their lives.