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Baby Blues is an American comic strip series produced by Rick Kirkman and Jerry Scott since January 7, 1990. Syndicated by King Features Syndicate since 1995, the strip centralizes on the MacPherson family. Initially, this family was composed of parents Wanda and Darryl MacPherson, and their daughter Zoe, who was a newborn baby when the strip began. Throughout the strip's run, Zoe has grown, and two more children have been added to the family: Hammie, the middle child and only son, and Wren, the youngest child.

The strip focuses mainly on the MacPherson family — specifically, the raising of the three MacPherson children. Both Kirkman and Scott have drawn from their own parenting experiences as a source for much of the strip's content.

[edit] Characters

The strip mainly consists of three families:

[edit] Main family (MacPhersons)

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• Wanda Wizowski-MacPherson: The mother. Though she once originally had a job, she chose to stay at home to look after her children. However, she is easily frustrated by this job, and jealous of any mothers who seem to do better than she does.

• Darryl MacPherson:The father. A manager. He is sometimes unaware of his wife's exhausted state. In various strips, Zoe, Wren and Hammie are there to meet him right when he gets home from work.

• Zoe MacPherson: The first sibling (born January 7, 1990 – her birth starts the strip) Age 10. She and Hammie tend to fuss the most over Wanda's dinner, and would prefer macaroni and cheese. She likes to blame things on Hammie a lot, even when she was the one who actually did something wrong. Originally, her middle name was Jennifer, but a strip dated April 9, 2007 See Strip, identified her middle name was changed to Madison. Zoe is not usually a brat, but an average child. This is represented when shown playing with toys, watching children's shows, playing with other children, and not having a clear view of the world earlier on in the strip (she was younger then).
• Hamish MacPherson: The middle sibling, usually called Ham or Hammie (born April 29, 1998). Age 8 He has great fondness and uninhibited enthusiasm for trucks, and can tell their model on sight, as proven in several strips. His first words were "bulldozer/'buh-dozer'" and "bazooka," much to to Wanda's tragedy. He often likes to report when his big sister teases or bullies him, but generally he gets mad less often than Zoe. He also likes driving Zoe mad or watching Zoe get into trouble (without doing anything himself). He was named after his great-great-grandfather, who was called "Ham".

• Wren MacPherson: The youngest sibling (born October 26, 2002) Age 1 See Strip. She does not seem to be as much of a nuisance as her elder siblings. Wren is a very curious baby. She often is shown climbing on top of things or grabbing at things. She said her first words (First "Ma", then "Da", and eventually "No") on Monday, May 19, 2008

[edit] Additional characters

• Bunny and Butch: The mother and the main character of this family, Bunny and her seeming perfection in terms of appearance and lifestyle is the target of any possible jealousy from Wanda. Nearly all main adult characters dislike Bunny and have frequently tricked her in some way or another. Bunny seems to be oblivious to how she irritates Wanda, or anyone else around her. She is similarly oblivious to the needs of others and thereby often comes off as self-centered and tactless. Bunny has a husband, "Butch". Together, they have three sons: Bogart (the eldest), and identical twins Wendell John and Wendell Jon. The latter two were born August 10, 2002 See Strip.

• Yolanda and Mike: Yolanda and her husband, Mike, are close friends to the MacPhersons. Together, Yolanda and Mike have two daughters: Keesha and Dziko (nickname "Dizzy"), the latter of whom was born November 11, 2002 See Strip.

• Rhonda Wizowski: Wanda's younger sister. Enjoys the life of being a single woman, except when given a hard time about not "having children and settling down" by her mother. She usually shows up as the babysitter when Wanda and Darryl go out and leave their children behind. She is sometimes even tricked into babysitting for them. Recently, she is shown wanting to find a man and start a family. She was recently shown to have an online relationship with a person named Thom, who called her Linda (He said "I love you, Linda") and caused her to throw wine at her computer; she broke up with him.

• Hugh and Maggie Wizowski: Wanda's parents.

• "Mac" and Pauline MacPherson: Darryl's parents.

• Trent: Best friend of Hammie since kindergarten.

[edit] Timeline

The children in Baby Blues have aged as the strip has progressed, although at a slower rate than real-time. Kirkman and Scott have stated that the strip's timeline is "about a 3 to 1 ratio."^[1] As of 2008, Zoe, Hammie and Wren are 9, 6, and 1, respectively.

[edit] Books

As of late 2008, twenty-three books of Baby Blues strips have been issued, as well as six treasuries. Each treasury comprises reprints from the collection books preceding it, with Sunday strips presented in color.

[edit] Collections

[edit] Treasuries

[edit] Television adaptation

Main article: Baby Blues (US TV series)

In 2000, "Baby Blues" was adapted into an animated cartoon series which aired on The WB Television Network for a few weeks in the summer, from July 28, 2000 to August 25, 2000. The animated version featured Darryl and Wanda raising the infant Zoe as their first child, as distinct from the comic strip's storyline at the time which showed Zoe as the older sister to Hammie. Mike O'Malley supplied the voice of Darryl while Julia Sweeney played Wanda.

The Baby Blues television series differed from the comic strip by focusing on Darryl and Wanda's relationship with the Bittermans, a neighbor family with three children (Rodney, Megan, and Shelby); Kenny, Darryl's co-worker; and Bizzy, the babysitter for Zoe. Rick Kirkman and Jerry Scott had little creative control over the animated version. [1]

The WB typically aired two episodes each week, thus enabling eight different episodes to be shown in the five-week run, but abandoned plans to air additional episodes which had been completed. Previously unaired episodes were later shown by the Cartoon Network in its Adult Swim block. Like fellow WB primetime animated series The Oblongs and Mission Hill, this show was cancelled after 13 episodes.

The Theme Song was "It's All Been Done" by the Barenaked Ladies.

[edit] External links

• Baby Blues home page
• Baby Blues comic strip