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A
Short History of Baby Blues
At some point after Rick and Sukey's first daughter was born
in 1984, it occurred to Jerry that something remarkable was happening
at the Kirkmans' house. Rick and Sukey were changing from being
a couple to being a family. Frankly, the process wasn't exactly
accomplished with swan-like grace, but it was genuinely funny
and almost universally familiar. Jerry and his wife, Kim, moved
back to Phoenix in 1987, and he and Rick started to work on coming
up with a strip together. Progress was hampered by the birth
of the Kirkman's second daughter, turning creative sessions to
therapy sessions. Jerry doesn't remember who suggested the idea
of a strip about this subject, but after about six months of
brainstorming, the idea arrived and they both liked it. No one
has ever accused them of being quick on the uptake.
Disregarding two or three mutations of the original concept of
a strip about a young family, Rick and Jerry's first attempt
was named OH, BABY! 
Click
on the cartoon to see more "Oh, Baby!" strips.
Along
with its rejection came the suggestion that Rick and Jerry try
the idea as a panel. Never being ones to disregard the advice
of a major syndicate, Rick and Jerry promptly reworked the idea
and created BABY BLUES, the panel.  That one came back with the admonition
that panels are too hard to sell... perhaps Rick and Jerry might
consider turning it into a strip. Ignoring the growing similarity
to a dog chasing its own tail, BABY BLUES became a strip again
with new material and refined characters.
The new improved version received interest from three syndicates.
One syndicate asked to see more strips, but with an older child
in the family, which Rick and Jerry did. Then they wanted to
see more strips like the original concept, but with a continuing
storyline... which Rick and Jerry did. Then they said, "no
thanks."
Click
on the cartoon to see more "Baby Blues" panels.
Although Rick and Jerry still believed in BABY BLUES (the strip),
at that point they had decided that they were either way ahead
of their time, or too stupid to
know a bad idea when they saw one.
Click
on the cartoon to see more from the final "Baby Blues"
submission.
Then one afternoon Jerry received a call from Anita Medeiros
of Creators Syndicate. Anita said that they loved the strip,
apologized for not getting back to Rick and Jerry sooner and
asked if they would be interested in discussing contract terms.
They were, they did, and BABY BLUES' first syndicated strip appeared
in about 55 newspapers on January 7, 1990. The lesson here is,
to thine own opinion be true.
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