Jump Start (comic strip)

Last updated
Jump Start
Author(s) Robb Armstrong
Website syndication.andrewsmcmeel.com/comics/jumpstart
Current status/scheduleCurrent daily strip
Launch date1989 (1989)
Syndicate(s) United Feature Syndicate
Genre(s)Humor

Jump Start is a daily comic strip drawn by cartoonist Robb Armstrong. [1] It portrays the trials and tribulations of a young African American couple as they try to balance the demands of work and raising their young children. [2]

Contents

Syndicated by United Feature Syndicate, Jump Start is set in the Philadelphia area, where Armstrong grew up.

Publication history

Armstrong attended Syracuse University, where in 1982 he created a popular comic strip in the student newspaper The Daily Orange . That strip was called Hector and its main characters were two young men and a glasses-wearing dog.

After having no success in attempting to syndicate Hector, Armstrong created Jump Start, which was designed to have a broader appeal than the earlier strip. Jump Start entered syndication in 1989.

Story and characters

Jump Start's main characters are Joe and Marcy Cobb, and their children Sunny, Jojo and twins Tommi and Teddy. [2] Police officer Joe's uniform hat is drawn with a keystone badge emblem, as many police departments in Pennsylvania use that emblem due to Pennsylvania being known as the "Keystone State".

Robb Armstrong set out to portray young black couples from his own experience. In Marcy and Joe, the reader sees an average middle class couple, busy with work and raising a family. Armstrong says, "The image of young blacks is so skewed, so false. I don't know anybody who's carjacking, playing basketball, rapping. Joe and Marcy and the characters I've developed are deep and based on real life." [3] In all strips, adults use regular all caps type for their speech and thoughts, while children's speech and thought balloons are a mix of uppercase and lowercase lettering.

The Cobb family

Recurring characters

Jump Start books

Memorable storylines

Television series

In November 2014, 20th Century Fox and Aaron Kaplan's Kapital Entertainment announced a project to develop a live-action television series based on Jump Start. Robb Armstrong, Andrew Orenstein and Kaplan were to co-write and serve as the executive producers of the series along with Armstrong's producer Bridget McMeel of Amuse Entertainment. [5]

In June 2022, CBS had put in development a television adaptation of Jump Start and Wayne Conley will write. [6] In February 2023, CBS ordered the pilot. [7] In March 2023, it was announced that Terry Crews would portray Joe Cobb and that Phill Lewis would direct and executive produce the pilot. [8]

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References

  1. "JUMPSTART". JumpStart Comics by Robb Armstrong. Retrieved 2024-02-20.
  2. 1 2 "Andrews McMeel Syndication - Home". syndication.andrewsmcmeel.com. Retrieved 2023-06-10.
  3. Hattori, Ted (24 June 1996). "CARTOONIST'S 'JUMP START' BASED ON A SLICE OF HIS LIFE". Daily Press . Retrieved February 5, 2020.
  4. "JumpStart by Robb Armstrong for October 08, 2005". GoComics. Retrieved 2022-08-31.
  5. Nellie Andreeva (2014-11-21). "'Jump Start' Comic Strip To Be Adapted As Family Comedy For Fox". Deadline Hollywood . Retrieved 2015-11-21.
  6. Andreeva, Nellie (June 13, 2022). "'JumpStart' Comedy Series Based On Comic Strip In Works At CBS From Wayne Conley & Kapital". Deadline Hollywood.
  7. Andreeva, Nellie (February 15, 2023). "'JumpStart' Comedy Based On Comic Strip Gets CBS Pilot Order From Wayne Conley, Kapital & TrillTV". Deadline Hollywood .
  8. Andreeva, Nellie (2023-03-17). "Terry Crews To Headline 'JumpStart' CBS Comedy Pilot Based On Comic Strip". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved March 17, 2023.