Jump Start is a daily comic strip drawn by cartoonist Robb Armstrong. It portrays the trials and tribulations of a young African American couple as they try to balance the demands of work and raising their young children. Syndicated by United Feature Syndicate, Jump Start is set in the Philadelphia area, where Armstrong grew up. Publication history Armstrong attended Syracuse University, where in 1982 he created a popular comic strip in the student newspaper The Daily Orange. That strip was called Hector and its main characters were two young men and a glasses-wearing dog. After having no success in attempting to syndicate Hector, Armstrong created Jump Start, which was designed to have a broader appeal than the earlier strip. Jump Start entered syndication in 1989. Story and characters Jump Start's main characters are Joe and Marcy Cobb, and their children Sunny, Jojo and twins Tommi and Teddy. Police officer Joe's uniform hat is drawn with a keystone badge emblem, as many police departments in Pennsylvania use that emblem due to Pennsylvania being known as the "Keystone State". Robb Armstrong set out to portray young black couples from his own experience. In Marcy and Joe, the reader sees an average middle class couple, busy with work and raising a family. Armstrong says, "The image of young blacks is so skewed, so false. I don't know anybody who's carjacking, playing basketball, rapping. Joe and Marcy and the characters I've developed are deep and based on real life." The Cobb family Joseph "Joe" Cobb Sr. is a father, loving husband and hard-working city police officer. Marcy Cobb (née Hart) is a fun-loving, young and caring mother, a loving wife and a busy and dedicated nurse. Sunny Cobb is the upbeat, intelligent daughter of Joe and Marcy. She is addicted to macaroni and cheese. She is a good big sister to Jojo, Tommi and Teddy but still knows how to use that older-sibling power. Joseph "Jojo" Latimer Cobb Jr. is a budding leader with an active imagination. Jojo makes it his business to cause the havoc expected of little brothers. He even considers his group of friends to be his "business partners" and acts as almost a CEO figure among his friends. His pursuits include campaigning for class president and being in a band with his friends called "Benny and the Jets", which he quit to go solo. Teddy & Tommi Cobb are the