Curtis (comic Strip) - Characters and Story

Characters and Story

• Curtis Wesley Wilkins - Main character, an 11-year old boy. A rap fan with a huge crush on a girl named Michelle. He has a huge appetite and a talent for getting himself into trouble. Always wears an odd type of hat any way but forward; according to the storyline, he got it at birth from his father. He received a slave ledger from a mysterious homeless man, who gave it to him in exchange for part of Curtis's enormous sandwich. The ledger is later shown at school and sold to the history society so the school can buy new computers and books.

• Barry Wilkins - Curtis's younger brother. Often likes to annoy and outsmart Curtis. Their parents consider Barry to be the more trustworthy of the two, while Curtis usually sees him as a brat. He whines when he has to eat his vegetables and has no qualms about mashing Curtis to a pulp when called on to do it. Also earns merit awards, which makes Curtis jealous. Barry has an imaginary friend named Oogie, who is green, has one eye, is about Barry's size, and likes to eat vegetables. Has shown effeminate qualities.

• Greg Wilkins - Curtis's father. Works at the DMV and hates his job. He gained the habit of smoking when he was a teenager, and Curtis tries regularly (unsuccessfully) to get him to quit. He and Curtis are also regularly at odds over their tastes in music (Curtis likes rap and hip-hop, and Greg can't stand it, preferring Motown).

• Diane Wilkins - Curtis's mother. A housewife, she tends to get irritated by Curtis's antics, but is always supportive of him when he has a problem. Recently, she got a new hair style, which made Derrick and "Onion" think that Greg was having an affair. Diane and Greg met when they were featured dancers on Soul Train.

• Mrs. Nelson - A middle-aged, overweight teacher. Since Curtis is the class joker, she doesn't get along very well with him. He does however do well when he makes an effort and when he thanks her for giving him a good grade, she tells him he earned it. She also tells his mother good things about him at the parent-teacher conferences.

• Michelle Grant - A girl whom Curtis likes, even though she is two years older. Considered self-centered (and egotistical) by most of the other characters, she only likes Curtis as a friend (although it may prove otherwise since whenever Curtis greets her, she always gives him an annoyed look) and discourages his attempts to date her (though she did finally agree to do so in a June–July 2007 series). She is an excellent singer and hopes to become a famous star, currently starring in energy drink commercials. In a weeklong series of strips starting November 30, 2009 she tells Curtis she was in a Super Fiber Chux cereal commercial at age three, and that her first role in a TV series would have been on "The Muppet Show" had Miss Piggy not felt threatened by her. In the October 10, 2007 strip, it is revealed that Michelle has a mother who has been admitted to rehab for treatment due to her problems with drug addiction.

• Chutney Devoe - A girl who likes Curtis. Curtis only sees her as a friend, while he chases after Michelle. However that may prove otherwise: in an early 2011 strip, Curtis finds Chutney with another guy, whom Curtis suspects is her boyrfriend. That being said, Curtis tries to find out for himself, fearing that her new relationship with him will strongly affect their friendship. He finds that the guy is in fact one of her relatives who came to visit her family for a little while.

• Gunk - Curtis's cross-eyed Caucasian best friend. A native of the fictional Flyspeck Island, Gunk (an initialism for Gladimus Umfred Nostradamus Klaustauviwicke) often gives some bizarre item to Curtis, with disastrous results (most often a chameleon). One of his quirks is his refusal to fight anybody, but he also is cat-like in his moves to avoid his nemesis's punches, because as he says afterwards, "Just because I won't fight you doesn't mean I'm going to let you hit me."

• Gunther - The local barber, who never gets Curtis' name right (but at least every attempt either starts with a "C" or a hard "C" sound), and who claims to know nearly every famous person (and who has photos – but always with a thumb covering the famous person).

• Rose Petal, niece of Gunther, who enjoys singing, but she gets fired from every gig she enters, because she has a foul mouth and a really bad attitude. She refuses to work for money she needs to "pay for her rent" (although it is revealed that she really needs the money to party), and ultimately, Gunther throws her out of his shop, demonstrating "tough love". She responds with profanity. According to Curtis, she thinks the world owes her.

• Derrick - A bully. He and his friend, "Onion", make fun of Curtis by calling him "Wimpkins" and using "yo momma jokes", and on occasion physically harass him (in one series, they attempted to falsely accuse him of criminal activity). Curtis attempts to avoid them as much as possible. Gunk, Chutney and others have helped Curtis against the bullying of Derrick and "Onion". In a late 2010 strip, Derrick has a girlfriend named Veranda, who has an attitude like him and "Onion".

• "Onion" - Derrick's friend and fellow bully to Curtis. His real name is Norman, but is self-nicknamed "Onion" for being able to "bring tears to a sucker's eyes", although Curtis once exclaimed that it was "probably because he stunk".

• "Ms. Honeystump" - Curtis's summer-school teacher. The gag is that she's attractive, and therefore distracting to the students. However, possibly because of outcry from readers, the blond Caucasian teacher was retroactively made African American in colorized versions of the strip. A fellow student, Venus, who may have a crush on Curtis, also went from white to black.

• "Mr. Kwame" - Michelle's Teacher whom she is madly in love with. The gag is While Curtis fawns over her in his presence she completely ignores his passes while dreaming about him.