''Slylock Fox'' is a daily

comic strip A comic strip is a Comics, sequence of cartoons, arranged in interrelated panels to display brief humor or form a narrative, often Serial (literature), serialized, with text in Speech balloon, balloons and Glossary of comics terminology#Captio ...

created by Bob Weber Jr. and published by

King Features Syndicate King Features Syndicate, Inc. is an American content distribution and animation studio, consumer product License, licensing and print syndication company owned by Hearst Communications that distributes about 150 comic strips, columnist, newspape ...

. Bob Weber Jr. is the son of Bob Weber Sr., creator of the comic strip '' Moose & Molly''. The target audience is young

children A child () is a human being between the stages of childbirth, birth and puberty, or between the Development of the human body, developmental period of infancy and puberty. The term may also refer to an unborn human being. In English-speaking ...

. According to the official website, ''Slylock Fox'' appears in nearly 400 newspapers with a combined readership of over 30 million.

Overview

''Slylock Fox'' regularly features a logic puzzle presented in a single panel. Slylock, an

anthropomorphic Anthropomorphism is the attribution of human traits, emotions, or intentions to non-human entities. It is considered to be an innate tendency of human psychology. Personification is the related attribution of human form and characteristics to ...

fox Foxes are small-to-medium-sized omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull; upright, triangular ears; a pointed, slightly upturned snout; and a long, bushy tail ("brush"). Twelve species ...

detective, is constantly matching wits against a variety of criminals, including Count Weirdly, Shady Shrew and Slick Smitty. The strip does not normally use dialogue; instead, text accompanying the illustration informs the reader of a problem Slylock must solve. These often include escaping from a

dungeon A dungeon is a room or cell in which prisoners are held, especially underground. Dungeons are generally associated with medieval castles, though their association with torture probably derives more from the Renaissance period. An oubliette (fr ...

, locating stolen goods, or determining who committed a crime through visual clues or logical inconsistencies. The puzzle solution is printed upside down. Slylock is assisted by sidekick Max Mouse. Max wears pink shorts and a matching

bowler hat The bowler hat, also known as a Coke hat, billycock, bob hat, bombín (Spanish) or derby (United States), is a hard felt hat with a rounded crown, originally created by the London hat-makers Thomas and William Bowler in 1849 and commissioned by ...

. He functions as Slylock's foil, being distracted at the crime scene or coming to a false conclusion, only to be corrected by Slylock. A varied cast of

witnesses In law, a witness is someone who, either voluntarily or under compulsion, provides testimonial evidence, either oral or written, of what they know or claim to know. A witness might be compelled to provide testimony in court, before a grand jur ...

, victims,

policemen A police officer (also called policeman or policewoman, cop, officer or constable) is a warranted law employee of a police force. In most countries, ''police officer'' is a generic term not specifying a particular rank. In some, the use of t ...

and

criminals In ordinary language, a crime is an unlawful act punishable by a state or other authority. The term ''crime'' does not, in modern criminal law, have any simple and universally accepted definition,Farmer, Lindsay: "Crime, definitions of", in Cane ...

fill in the rest of Slylock's world. These characters' names usually contain either some form of

alliteration Alliteration is the repetition of syllable-initial consonant sounds between nearby words, or of syllable-initial vowels if the syllables in question do not start with a consonant. It is often used as a literary device. A common example is " Pe ...

, a type of animal, a profession, or a personality trait. This allows Weber to quickly establish a scene and set up a mystery using very little space. Some notable examples include Deputy

Duck Duck is the common name for numerous species of waterfowl in the family (biology), family Anatidae. Ducks are generally smaller and shorter-necked than swans and goose, geese, which are members of the same family. Divided among several subfam ...

, Roxy

Rabbit Rabbits are small mammals in the family Leporidae (which also includes the hares), which is in the order Lagomorpha (which also includes pikas). They are familiar throughout the world as a small herbivore, a prey animal, a domesticated ...

, and Shady Shrew. Most of these characters are seen once and/or never again. Slylock's name is likely an homage to the fictional detective

Sherlock Holmes Sherlock Holmes () is a Detective fiction, fictional detective created by British author Arthur Conan Doyle. Referring to himself as a "Private investigator, consulting detective" in his stories, Holmes is known for his proficiency with obser ...

. Like Sherlock, Slylock is traditionally depicted with a

magnifying glass A magnifying glass is a convex lens—usually mounted in a frame with a handle—that is used to produce a magnified image of an object. A magnifying glass can also be used to focus light, such as to concentrate the Sun's radiation to create ...

and a blue

deerstalker A deerstalker is a type of cap that is typically worn in rural areas, often for hunting, especially deer stalking. Because of the cap's popular association with the fictional detective Sherlock Holmes, it has become stereotypical headgear f ...

hat; also, he wears a blue suit and

cape A cape is a clothing accessory or a sleeveless outer garment of any length that hangs loosely and connects either at the neck or shoulders. They usually cover the back, shoulders, and arms. They come in a variety of styles and have been used th ...

. The Slylock Fox logic puzzles appear only in Sunday and Monday strips. The Tuesday to Saturday strips consist of

spot the difference Spot the difference is a type of puzzle where players must find a set number of differences between two otherwise similar images. Description Spot the difference games are found in various media including activity books for children, newspap ...

puzzles, trivia challenges, how-to-draw tutorials, and other activities. The Sunday edition features both Slylock and the activities.

Main characters

In addition to a large cast of one-time characters, the strip has a handful of heroes and villains.

Protagonists

*Slylock Fox, a

detective A detective is an investigator, usually a member of a law enforcement agency. They often collect information to solve crimes by talking to witnesses and informants, collecting physical evidence, or searching records in databases. This leads the ...

who relies on logic and observation. He normally appears quite stoic. *Max Mouse, Slylock's sidekick. He occasionally finds clues that Slylock misses, but is usually less focused. *Chief Mutt and Deputy Duck, the local police, a

bulldog The Bulldog is a British breed of dog of mastiff type. It may also be known as the English Bulldog or British Bulldog. It is a stocky, muscular dog of medium size, with a large head, thick folds of skin around the face and shoulders and a rel ...

and

duck Duck is the common name for numerous species of waterfowl in the family (biology), family Anatidae. Ducks are generally smaller and shorter-necked than swans and goose, geese, which are members of the same family. Divided among several subfam ...

. *Tiffany Fox and Melody Mouse, two friendly bystanders and occasional victims. They sometimes act as romantic interests for Slylock and Max. *Sir Hound *Granny Squirrel *Rachel Rabbit *Princess Pussycat

Antagonists

*Slick Smitty, one of the few humans, a perpetually smug con-artist and recurring villain. *Cassandra Cat, a jewel thief who gets by on her charm and beauty. Slylock seems to be the only one who is not fazed. Cassandra plays the role of a ''

femme fatale A ( , ; ), sometimes called a maneater, Mata Hari, or vamp, is a stock character of a mysterious, beautiful, and Seduction, seductive woman whose charms ensnare her lovers, often leading them into compromising, deadly traps. She is an archetype ...

'', and has influences in characters such as

Irene Adler Irene Adler is a fictional character in the Sherlock Holmes stories written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. A former opera singer and actress, she was featured in the short story " A Scandal in Bohemia", published in July 1891. Adler is one of the ...

and

Catwoman Catwoman is a character appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. Created by Bill Finger and Bob Kane, she debuted as "the Cat" in ''Batman (comic book), Batman'' #1 (spring 1940). She has become one of the superhero Batman' ...

. *Count Weirdly, an eccentric scientist who lives in a castle full of creepy creatures and monsters. His crimes range from dangerously insane to simple cons. Weirdly's theming takes influence from elements of various vintage horror and science-fiction films, particularly the

gothic horror Gothic fiction, sometimes referred to as Gothic horror (primarily in the 20th century), is a literary aesthetic of fear and haunting. The name of the genre is derived from the Renaissance era use of the word "gothic", as a pejorative to mean m ...

subgenre. *Shady Shrew, a lower class citizen in a run-down house who constantly steals and lies. *Reeky Rat, a conniving, mullet-headed rat that lives in a trailer down by the river. *Harry Ape, a big gorilla that has a habit of robbing banks. His short, white-haired mama ape often offers false alibis for her felonious offspring. *Koppy Kat, a painting forger known for always leaving some sort of error in the paintings. *Big Brad Wolf, a lowlife single father to his son, Little Brad Wolf.

Media

The now-defunct ''Slylock Fox'' website featured many additional Slylock mysteries that have never been printed, in addition to other activities. The site was voted an "Educational Best Bet" by

USA Today ''USA Today'' (often stylized in all caps) is an American daily middle-market newspaper and news broadcasting company. Founded by Al Neuharth in 1980 and launched on September 14, 1982, the newspaper operates from Gannett's corporate headq ...

and received an award for "Best of the Net" from

About.com Dotdash Meredith (formerly The Mining Company, About.com and Dotdash) is an American digital media company based in New York City. The company publishes online articles and videos about various subjects across categories including health, hom ...

in April 1999. The site currently redirects to the official page for Weber's other comic strip, ''

Oh, Brother! ''Oh, Brother!'' is a British television sitcom starring Derek Nimmo, which aired on BBC1 from September 13, 1968 to February 27, 1970. Synopsis The series was set in the fictional Mountacres Monastery, with Nimmo cast as the well-meaning but ...

''. An iPhone game titled ''Slylock Fox Spot the Differences'' was made available for download on the

App Store An app store, also called an app marketplace or app catalog, is a type of digital distribution platform for computer software called applications, often in a mobile context. Apps provide a specific set of functions which, by definition, do not i ...

in 2011. The game allowed users to play fifty of Bob Weber Jr.'s favorite spot the differences puzzles in a digital format. Due to the restrictions on compatibility with later versions of

iOS Ios, Io or Nio (, ; ; locally Nios, Νιός) is a Greek island in the Cyclades group in the Aegean Sea. Ios is a hilly island with cliffs down to the sea on most sides. It is situated halfway between Naxos and Santorini. It is about long an ...

, the game was delisted from the marketplace in 2018.

Collections

Reprints of the different activities featured in the strip are distributed through the ''Slylock Fox'' official store. * ''Find the Six Differences #1'' * ''Find the Six Differences #2'' * ''Find the Six Differences #3'' * ''Bob Weber Jr.'s How To Draw Cartoons'' * ''Bob Weber Jr.'s Slylock Fox Mystery Puzzles'' * ''Bob Weber Jr.'s True or False'' * ''Bob Weber Jr.'s Trivia'' * ''Bob Weber Jr.'s Other Puzzles'' * The ''Bob Weber Jr.'s Tagged Puzzles'' * ''Find the Six Difference #4'' * ''Go Fun Slylock Fox Mystery Puzzles'' and ''Go Fun Spot Six Differences'': Compilation volumes by

Andrews McMeel Publishing Andrews McMeel Publishing, LLC (formerly Andrews, McMeel and Parker (1975–1986) and Andrews and McMeel (1986–1997)) is a company that publishes books, calendars, and related toys. It is a part of Andrews McMeel Universal, which comprises A ...

Film adaptation

In September 2022, it was reported that King Features will be adapting ''Slylock Fox'' into an animated feature film.

Evan Daugherty Evan Daugherty (born 1981) is an American screenwriter. He wrote the films '' Killing Season'', ''Snow White and the Huntsman'' and the film adaptation of '' Divergent''. Career Daugherty's first screenplay was ''Shrapnel''. It won first place i ...

will write and produce and CJ Kettler will executive produce.

Legacy

Your Drawing

A notable feature of the Sunday editions of the strip is Your Drawing, a child-submitted artwork space which in recent years has been utilized by older readers of the strip to submit artwork of their own or of fictional characters that many might recognize. In late 2021, the strip saw an influx of submissions from fans of manga series ''

JoJo's Bizarre Adventure is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Hirohiko Araki. It was originally serialized in Shueisha's manga magazine ''Weekly Shōnen Jump'' from 1987 to 2004, and was transferred to the monthly manga magazine ''Ultra Jum ...

'', containing artwork from both fans and series creator

Hirohiko Araki , better known as , is a Japanese manga artist. He is best known for his long-running series '' JoJo's Bizarre Adventure'', which began publication in ''Weekly Shōnen Jump'' in 1987 and has over 120 million copies in circulation, making it one ...

, the latter's without expressed permission from franchise copyright holders. Weber Jr., via the strip's social media accounts, frequently interacts with fans who have submitted artwork to Your Drawing and who create

fan art Fan art or fanart is artwork created by Fan (person), fans of a work of fiction or celebrity depicting events, Character (arts), character, or other aspect of the work. As fan labor, fan art refers to artworks that are not created, commissione ...

of the comic. Through his posts, readers discovered he was aware of the rise in ''JoJo'' submissions. In a

Reddit Reddit ( ) is an American Proprietary software, proprietary social news news aggregator, aggregation and Internet forum, forum Social media, social media platform. Registered users (commonly referred to as "redditors") submit content to the ...

post on r/comics, a user tagged ''JoJo'' fan subreddit r/UnexpectedJoJo in response to a Your Drawing submission of Giorno Giovanna from the '' Golden Wind'' arc of the series. In response, Weber Jr. replied, through the official ''Slylock Fox'' repost account, "Good eye! Have an upvote."

Appearances in other strips

Slylock Fox and Cassandra Cat guest starred in a week of '' My Cage'' comic strips in October 2007.

Stephan Pastis Stephan Thomas Pastis ( ; born January 16, 1968) is an American cartoonist and former lawyer who is the creator of the comic strip '' Pearls Before Swine''. He also writes children's books, commencing with the release of ''Timmy Failure: Mistake ...

parodied the format of ''Slylock Fox'' in his comic strip '' Pearls Before Swine'' on January 13, 2008; Weber reciprocated by having Rat and Pig, the two main characters from ''Pearls'', appear in ''Slylock'' on February 3 of that year. Pastis repeated with another parody on April 24, 2016.

References

External links

The official Slylock Facebook PageOh, Brother! Bob Weber Jr.'s other comic strip
{{DEFAULTSORT:Slylock Fox and Comics for Kids American comic strips 1987 comics debuts Comics characters introduced in 1987 Sherlock Holmes pastiches Detective comics Comics about anthropomorphic ducks Comics about anthropomorphic dogs Comics about anthropomorphic mice and rats Comics about anthropomorphic foxes Comics about anthropomorphic birds Puzzles