Red and Rover

Red and Rover or Red & Rover is an award winning daily syndicated comic strip by Brian Basset that debuted in 2000. ^[1] It is about a young boy and his dog.

It is usually set around the end of the 1960s or the beginning of the 1970s, although a strip from November 20, 2009 depicted a car which bears a striking resemblance to a mid-1970s Ford Country Squire station wagon,^[2] and in a Sunday strip from August 28, 2011 Red plays a parody of Jaws, a film from 1975.^[3]

When Basset began drawing Red and Rover he was also drawing the daily strip Adam@home, which he had been drawing since 1984. Basset decided to focus squarely on Red and Rover after nearly 25 years of drawing Adam@home in 2009 and handed over control of the older strip to Big Top artist Rob Harrell.

Red and Rover has been nominated three times for Best Newspaper Comic Strip. In 2013, Red and Rover received the Reuben Award for Best Newspaper Comic Strip by the National Cartoonists Society.

Cast of characters

Red (real name Russell McLean^[4]) is a 10-year-old with dreams of going into space one day. He enjoys baseball and model rocketry. He loves Rover, his dog. Red can understand what Rover is thinking.

Rover is a dog with mostly Lab in him. Rover is usually cool, calm and collected, and is very loyal to Red. Red and Rover met when Rover rescued Red from being hit by a truck. Red took him home where he's stayed ever since. Rover, in turn, can understand what Red is thinking. In many strips Rover is shown chasing squirrels.

On March 16, 2010, Rover revealed that his grandfather, "Merganser McIntire", was a Chesapeake Bay Retriever and his grandmother, "Codfish Kate", was part Portuguese Water Dog.^[5]

Martin is Red's 17-year-old brother, taken as a member of the "in crowd". Martin's bedroom is in his basement, and he likes the Rolling Stones. He has bangs that cover his eyes most of the time. He has a girlfriend – Red can be seen either listening in on phone conversations or spying on Martin when she comes over. Martin seems to think of Red as a lower form of life, and frequently torments him.

Carol is Red's mom. She is a part-time community college administrator. She is known for her good fudge.

Charlie is Red's dad. He is an aerospace engineer. He enjoys bowling and barbecuing. He had a brother named Jimmy who was killed in action. Red and Rover place a flag on his uncle Jimmy's grave on Memorial Day.

External links

• Red & Rover Facebook Page
• Red & Rover Web Site

References