Big Nate

Big Nate
Author(s)	Lincoln Peirce
Website	www.bignatebooks.com
Current status / schedule	Ongoing, published online every day
Launch date	January 7, 1991 (dailies), February 10, 1991 (Sundays)
Syndicate(s)	Newspaper Enterprise Association (United Feature Syndicate)
Genre(s)	Humor, school life

Big Nate is an American comic strip written and illustrated by Lincoln Peirce. Originally launched on January 7, 1991, the comic has since inspired book collections and theatrical performances.^[1]

Synopsis

Big Nate follows the adventures and misadventures of Nate Wright, a spirited and rebellious sixth-grader, along with his classmates and teachers. He is portrayed as a boy with little interest in studies or conforming to standards. The lack of interest leads him into several conflicts with his social studies teacher Mrs. Godfrey, whom he considers his nemesis. Peirce also focuses on Nate's home life and friendships with his best friends, Francis and Teddy. Answering questions from fans in the Washington Post,^[2] Peirce revealed the following about the creation of the strip:

Big Nate started out as more of a "domestic humor" strip than it is now. It was my intention to feature a lot of stories about Nate's single dad, and all the comic possibilities inherent in that. But before too long, I realized that the part of the strip that I enjoyed most was the school humor. I'd been a teacher myself, and schools can be very funny places.

Characters

Wright family

• Nate Wright: The comic strip's main character. Nate is 11 years old, he is an aspiring cartoonist, drummer, underachiever, and plays funny yet overdone pranks on Prank Day (the last day or 2nd last day of school). He is somewhat self-absorbed, believing himself to be irresistible to women despite repeated rejection, a brilliant sports player despite his poor performance, and a genius despite his poor grades. He spends much of his time in detention, in the art room drawing comics, or playing drums for his band, Enslave the Mollusk, which also comprises his friends Francis and Teddy. He is desperate to own a dog, and loves Cheez Doodles, his favorite snack, with a passion. He is additionally terrified of cats because of ailurophobia, hates figure-skating and egg salad. Surprisingly, he is a naturally gifted chess-player, to the complete confusion of his friends and family.
• Martin Earl "Marty" Wright: Nate's father, a balding, overweight divorcee who lost his job in the eighth novel of the series (eventually getting another one). Like his son, he is somewhat clueless about his own failings, and considers himself an athlete despite his inherent laziness, and an expert golfer, though he constantly cheats or loses his ball. He is a health-nut and always tries to hand out healthy alternatives to candy on Halloween (raisins, prunes etc.), which are always rejected by trick-or-treaters. His first name was first stated on 7/28/05. He first appeared 1/10/91.
• Ellen Wright: Nate's Fifteen-year-old sister. Unlike Nate, Ellen is responsible and hardworking, and loves cats and figure-skating. Nate is always compared to Ellen in school by teachers. She is Nate's constant rival, and he enjoys playing pranks on her. Ellen also dates Gordie on and off, who works at the comic book store, Klassic Komix and has previously dated Kenny Smithson, the captain of the football team and is considered her crush.They briefly broke up before reconciling. She is 4 years older than Nate and first appeared 1/8/91.
• Marge Wright: Nate's grandmother. She and her husband, Vern, have a slightly tense relationship, as she sometimes nags him about giving up her career for married life and for generally being lazy and perverted. She first appeared 7/28/05.
• Vern Wright: Nate's grandfather. He enjoys stating his opinion without consideration, using his age to show off. He is shown to have a tattoo, and he also likes Junior Mints. He first appeared 7/28/05.
• Ted Wright: Nate's lazy uncle, an overweight, unemployed man-child who lives in Nate's grandparent's basement. He dropped out of college and since then has never held down a job. He is oblivious to his family's hints that he move out and find work, and spouts sci-fi and musical trivia at the drop of a hat. He first appeared 8/1/05

Friends and Students

• Artur Pashkov: A very friendly, intelligent, and well-liked exchange student from Belarus.^[3] He is in Nate's class, and is Jenny Jenkins' boyfriend. Jenny's liking for Arthur, and Artur's ability to beat Nate at chess (and almost anything else) makes Nate take an instant dislike to Artur. Artur was the Boys' Age-Group Chess Champion of Belarus before moving to the United States. Artur speaks somewhat broken English as a second language. He is very innocent, gentle, kind, and (most of the time) unassuming. He regards Nate as his best friend, and is generally unaware of Nate's personal dislike of him. He went with his father, a college professor, to Turkey for 6 months, during which time Nate tried to start going out with Jenny. Artur is a nice boy who is trying to please Nate, including letting Nate beat him at chess at one point. While Nate somewhat views Artur as a friend, he is quite jealous of Artur's talent and better luck. His first appearance on the comic strip was on May 7, 2001. From Nate's point of view, Artur is the main antagonist (though not necessarily an antagonist) in Big Nate On A Roll.
• Randy Betancourt: One of Nate's other rivals. Randy once got Nate into detention in the chess club bake sale by using Nate as a scapegoat. He is the main antagonist in Big Nate Strikes Again, in which he creates a fleeceball team called the Raptors and gets revenge on Nate by injuring him, stepping hard on his foot, after Nate accidentally hurts Randy's nose. His first appearance in the comic strip was on 25 April 2010. Usually, Nate tries to avoid confrontation with Randy, but once when Randy was bullying Francis, Nate jumped on Randy "like a rabid wolverine." They became friends in peer counseling after a Jefferson student shoved Nate on his butt in Big Nate Blasts Off. Their new friendship was strengthened when the two boys were in the PS 38 Ultimate Frisbee team in the Mud Bowl. Randy and Nate discovered they were very effective playing together. From rivals they went to become great buddies. However, in the comic strip, they still remain as rivals. In one comic, it is revealed that his mom writes him a note in his lunch bag and calls him "Lil Dumpling". He once dislocated his arm while trying to attack Nate.
• Jenny Jenkins: Nate's classmate since grade one. She is his biggest crush, however, she used to despise Nate (though Nate was absolutely oblivious, believing Jenny is hiding her true feelings). She briefly moved to Seattle, but moved back on June 8, 2013. She is blonde with blue eyes and dates Artur. She has no feelings for Nate and up to 2016, couldn't stand Nate. But on April 11, 2016 it stated that Nate doesn't like Jenny anymore. So Jenny doesn't hate him and they are friends now. She tends to go berserk when something embarrassing is done to her (e.g. when Nate tripped and spilled egg salad on her). In older comics, it mentions that she and Sheila Stapleton were best friends.
• Dee Dee Dorcas Holloway: A friend of Nate mentioned in Big Nate Strikes Again and also reappeared in Big Nate Goes For Broke and Big Nate Flips Out. She is a member of the drama club and is considered by Nate to be a drama queen. Nate did not like her much at first, but she has gradually become a part of Nate's friend group and a major character. Dee Dee and Nate are now friends, and are comfortable with each other. She is a very good artist and cartoonist, and had once hosted a large party. She first appeared in the comics on 1/28/16.
• Kelly: Nate's ex-girlfriend whom he met at soccer camp. She goes to Jefferson Middle School, and is the goalie on the girls' soccer team. Not seen since Nate broke up with her to try to start going with Jenny after Jenny broke up with her boyfriend. (Kelly was angry, with good reason, because Nate broke up with her using a note written on the back of a detention slip.) They dated from July 20, 2001 to April 11, 2002. Nate regretted everything after seeing that Jenny was dating Greg Proxmire moments after. This was Nate's fault, obviously.
• Breckenridge Puffington III: Nate's most recent met student. He's somewhat shy and is a huge fanatic of plants. Teddy is constantly messing up his first name. He considered Nate his "buddy," but Nate thinks the opposite about him. Nate said to his friends once that Breckenridge is a stiff, boring, has an annoying voice, and is a wuss. Nate was constantly wondering if he had met Breckenridge before. Apparently, his name was Bobby at the Honey Hive 7 years ago,and he used to bully Nate when they were toddlers. He was a contributing member of Nate's Non-Stoppers winning the scavenger hunt, and even found the Granny Peppers Mural. He has only appeared once in 2015 and in a drawing in Big Nate Blasts Off.
• Nick Blonsky: Nick is mentioned in the first two books. In the first, Nate says even Nick was raising his hand along with everyone else but he had a pencil up his nose. In the second, Nate says he is a horrible project partner because he is usually 'digging for gold'. He makes his first major appearance in the fifth book as the main antagonist. He steals a camera that Nate borrowed from Mrs. Godfrey, which results in Francis getting in trouble. Nick says he stole the camera just because he wanted to see Nate and Francis fight. Dee Dee records the conversation and Nick gets suspended from school for a week. Nick is also a known liar. He has never appeared in a comic strip.
• Francis Butthurst Pope: First appeared on January 17, 1991. Nate's number #1 friend, Francis is very intelligent, and this upsets his friends from time to time. Nate and Francis frequently make fun of each other, but he states that this is how they operate. Contrary to Nate's feelings for them, Francis is friendly with both Mrs. Godfrey and Artur. Francis participates in the band Enslave the Mollusk and dates Sheila.
• Teddy Ortiz : First appeared on January 27, 1994. Nate's number "1A" best friend, Teddy is a comedic character who frequently cracks jokes and annoys Nate. Like Francis, Teddy likes Artur and is a member of Enslave the Mollusk. His middle name is the square root symbol since his parents are math teachers. In Big Nate: Flips Out, it is revealed that he speaks Spanish.
• Gina Hemphill-Toms: One of Nate's schoolmates and rivals. Gina is a nerd. She weighs 56 kg as result of no exercise. Gina spends 18hrs a day studying and wears nerdy,thick glasses. Gina always gets A plus,but sometimes she gets them because the teachers like her.
• Chad Applewhite: Chad is one of Nate's good friends. He is a chubby kid with red hair and freckles. He is obsessed with eating and food. In Big Nate: In a Class By Himself; Nate mistakes him for Todd. He is willing to help Nate with all his schemes. When he is selling things with Nate, because he is so cute, the customers end up buying all the things he is selling. Chad has appeared in the comics around 2009.
• Kim Cressly: A very big girl who at one point decided Nate was her boyfriend and refused to take "no" for an answer. Nate spent much of his time trying to avoid her before she started dating Chester. When Nate's team was unable to find a sponsor, he family's bakery became the sponsor, giving the name the Cream Puffs, much to Nate's horror. She then joined and "dated" Nate, though he attempted to object many times. This was before she dated Chester, but she continued on the team anyway.
• Marcus Goode: Marcus is "the popular kid" in school, though it is difficult to understand why. He is a narcissistic bully. Two members of his gang are Andy and Dennis. In Big Nate: Say Good-Bye To Dork City, Nate joins his posse, but then realizes that it isn't that fun. After Marcus teases Artur, Nate reaches his breaking point and quits, earning a black eye when standing up to him when he used Francis' dumb technique of only saying "I'm not afraid of you" He is the main antagonist of the sixth book.
• Gertrude, "Trudy": Nate's most recent girlfriend, who first appeared on 7/13/15 on a ride with Nate at the state fair, on which Nate develops a crush for Trudy. Nate couldn't find her after the ride, and tries to find her. Eventually, he finds her at the same school as him. She is in 7th grade, while Nate is in the 6th grade. After an initial misunderstanding, they started dating in October 2015. They dated from October 15, 2015 to March 25, 2016.
• Sheila Stapleton: Is a friend of Nate, Francis, Teddy, and Jenny. She goes out with Francis. In the older comics, it states that she is the captain of the cheerleaders and is Jenny's best friend.
• Kayla MacIntyre: The editor of the Weekly Bugle, the school newspaper.
• Angie: Nate's first girlfriend. They dated from July 30, 1997 to February 12, 1998. She appeared twice more: once at the school dance, where Nate consoles her, and again when she runs against Nate for school president. Nate and Angie met at summer school.
• T.J.: Jenny's boyfriend from January 9, 1997 to March 23, 1998
• Ronnie Dwyer: Jenny's boyfriend from March 31, 2000 to March 25, 2002
• Greg Proxmire: Jenny's boyfriend from April 13, 2002 to November 29, 2004
• Paige: Teddy's girlfriend from April 18, 2011 to November 2, 2016
• Ruby Dinsmore: Ruby is Nate's latest crush in Big Nate Blasts Off. Randy also has a crush on her. She kissed Nate when she found out he wasn't moving. She was Nate's teammate on P.S. 38's Mud Bowl team.
• Daisy: Nate's girlfriend from March 18, 2017 to April 1, 2017. They met after Nate gave her a valentine and she thanked him for that. They went on their first date on March 20, 2017. On their date they found out they weren't good for each other and broke up.
• Lee Ann Pfister: Girl who gets detention in Big Nate On A Roll. She had broken the rule that students cannot wear shirts that do not cover their belly button.
• Abby Wilson: Nate's girlfriend for 5 minutes and 10 seconds on 4/24/97.
• Becca: Student that Nate can never remember her name. She is seen to like unicorns and hates boys (saying that they're smelly) and super heroes.
• Madeline: Minor character whose first appearance was 1 October 2013 and her last was 5 October 2013. She goes out with Joe Tarbox.
• Joe Tarbox: Boy that, although has never been seen, goes out with a girl called Madeline.

Early PS.38 Characters

• Mrs. Ohrback: Was the only teacher for the whole 6th grade at P.S 38.
• Ms. Brodie: Ms. Brodie was Martin Wright's 6th grade homeroom teacher when he was Nate's age.
• Martha: Student at P.S. 38. At one point, Walter Leddy dipped one of her braids in his ink. This angered Edna Birkdale, who drew a comic about it.
• Walter Leddy: Boy who attended P.S. 38 around the same time as Edna Birkdale. At one point, Birkdale drew a comic of him dipping Martha's braid in his inkwell. He is a scoundrel, according to Edna.
• Edna Birkdale: Character mentioned in "Big Nate Lives It Up." She is a girl who went to school at P.S. 38 over 100 years ago. She draws comics and enjoys writing as seen in the book.
• George: Bully who lived over 100 years ago when the school was still young. He is seen in Edna Birkdale's comic recovered a century later.
• Mildred: One of Edna Birkdale's best friends. He is described as "Cleverly Terrible". In one of Edna's comics he gets the dunce hat put on his head by Mrs. Ohrback.
• Gertrude: One of Edna Birkdale's best friends. She is described as "Terribly Clever".
• Mindy Glickstein: Student at P.S. 38, who eventually graduated. She used to be in a relationship with Martin Earl Wright. The two dated at least three times.

P.S. 38 school staff

• Mrs. Clara Godfrey: First appeared January 28, 1991. Nate's ultimate hated teacher, his social studies teacher. Nate spends much of his time trying to avoid her outside of class and antagonizing her in class, making up several nicknames for her, like Venus de Silo, Godzilla, Dark Side Of the Moon, etc.. Nate has been known to exaggerate her physical features in his comics. Additionally, he frequently draws her as a parody of The Devil. Nate also thinks that 6th grade would have been much easier for him if his older sister Ellen had not been there first. The relations between Mrs. Godfrey and Nate are not entirely negative, though. She allows Nate to create reports in cartoon form, giving him an outlet for his creativity and energy. She has two kids, and her maiden name is Lessard.
• Mr. Ken Rosa: First appeared January 24, 1991. Nate's art teacher, Mr. Rosa is a soft-spoken and mild-mannered man but somewhat overworked and embittered about his career. As a result, Nate enjoys a lot of freedom in art class. He also enjoys sketching pictures of his teachers. Mr. Rosa has a master's degree, but he has to work at an ice cream shop called Sweet Licks all summer long to make ends meet.
• Principal Wesley Nichols: The principal of P.S. 38. Nate and the other students are very friendly towards him, but do not really treat him as an authority figure; he is bewildered by the students. On the rare occasion he goes out of his office, he soon retreats. He is sometimes snappy to Nate and Nate is taken aback by this, but of all the teachers (besides Mr. Rosa, Mrs. Shipulski, and Mrs. Czerwicki) he is probably the one Nate gets along best with; he sometimes helps the cartooning club and treats Nate's antics with good humor most of the time. He has a niece named Noelle, who is one of Nate's classmates and never gets in trouble. His first name was revealed when he was interviewed on the news in Big Nate Lives it Up. He is usually the victim in the worst prank on each Prank Day.
• Mrs. Geraldine Shipulski: Principal Nichols' secretary. She prides herself on her 18.5 BMI. Nate flatters her by calling her a "cougar," among other things. She has 22 million Twitter followers as shown in the recent comics in which one of them revealed her first name. It is mentioned that she is 62. Nate once gave her a box of Snowcaps on Secretary's Day.
• Mrs. Czerwicki: She is a school volunteer who supervises the students in detention. She is friendly with Nate. She reads romance novels while sitting in detention. In one strip it is revealed that she wears a wig and was once an actress. She first appeared on February 16, 1997.
• Mr. Galvin: Nate's science teacher. He has a crush on Greta Van Susteren. He has almost no visible sense of humor and conducts a very boring class.
• "School Picture Guy": Not only showing up every year as the school picture photographer, this character often shows up in unexpected places doing odd jobs such as a birthday clown, DJ or a school board meeting reporter. "School Picture Guy" often has some amusing nuggets of wisdom about the job he is doing, or for whatever is on Nate's mind at the moment. He is known to be a fan of Star Trek. His actual name has never been revealed.
• Coach Calhoun: Nate's main PE teacher. He is also Nate's friends' baseball, soccer, and basketball coach.
• Coach John: He is a substitute of Coach Calhoun. He is a soccer coach of Nate. He is a former coach (now substitute coach) who is known to use "tough love" speech tactics with his pupils and likes to make them do wind sprints, even when they are in a classroom. In Big Nate Flips Out, it is revealed that Coach John wears a toupee. In Big Nate Flips Out, it shows Coach John's toupee blow off in the wind. He is bad with names (although he knows Nate's last name well). He usually comes up with nicknames for Nate like "Porcupine," "Speedy," and "Cactus Head". First appeared on July 5, 2001.
• Mr. Staples: The math teacher. He likes to tell corny knock-knock jokes. First appeared on January 5, 1997.
• Mrs. Clarke: Nate's English teacher who first appeared on September 12, 1991. Nate stated that Mrs. Clarke is his 2nd favorite teacher behind Mr. Rosa and gave her a 9 on teacher rating list. It was mentioned that Mrs. Godfrey and Mrs. Clarke are good friends.
• Mrs. "Hickey" Hickson: The school librarian. She is a middle-aged woman who does not tolerate insolence from anyone. She is the first person to ever send Gina Hemphill-Toms to detention in Big Nate: Strikes Again.
• Ms. La Chance: Nate's French teacher.
• Mrs. Lumley: A cafeteria worker who is mostly very unfriendly.
• Mrs. Corzini: A lunch aide.
• Mrs. Colletti: Appears in Big Nate Blasts Off and appears as a mean lunch aide. Nate describes her as "Coach John but with hairier legs".
• Mrs. Brindle: The Life skills teacher. In 'Big Nate In the Zone', Nate describes her as "the nicest teacher in the whole school."
• Mr. Aldridge: The Computer Lab teacher. He has only appeared in a teacher rating comic strip drawn by Nate.
• Mrs. Albert: The School Nurse
• Mrs. Dunphy: The School Guidance Counselor
• Mrs. Benbow: Lunch Lady
• Mrs. Bigbee: Nates's first grade teacher who he nicknamed Mrs. Big Butt.

Pets

• Spitsy: The neighborhood dog owned by Mr. Eustis, who lives next door to Nate. Nate likes to hang out with Spitsy. He is "the ultimate dog nerd", for he is afraid of mailmen and he had to go to the vet when he swallowed a tennis ball to get his stomach pumped. He has a crush on Francis' cat Pickles, went to a cat tea party, and even knitted a sweater like his own bone once for a cat. He likes figure skating as much as Ellen, and gets his tongue stuck on metal poles in the winter frequently. He also gets bullied by squirrels, as shown in Big Nate On A Roll.
• Ghengis: Mrs. Godfrey's blonde puppy. Only appeared once when Francis and Nate were having an argument that every single dog likes Nate, until Ghengis nearly attacked him.
• Pickles: Francis' cat. Pickles is an outdoor cat and usually hangs out on the driveway. She also has a crush on Spitsy, the neighborhood dog.
• Ken Rosa's Dog: Owned by Mr. Rosa but not much is known about him since no one mentions him. He is seen at Mr. Rosa's house when Nate asks Rosa for ideas of a competition against Jefferson Middle School.
• Cinnamon: Cat who attacked Nate at the age of 4, which gave Nate ailurophobia, the fear of cats.
• Poco: Trudy's cat.

Other characters

• Chief Meteorologist Wink Summers: He is never seen or heard from, but Nate constantly calls him and complains whenever any part of the weather is not to his liking or if Wink's forecast is wrong. He was replaced by Chip Cavendish and transferred to weekend meteorologist in August 2011. His real name is Dick Schipp. Has a blog called chipcavendishruinedmycareer.blogspot.com. In 2013, it has been revealed that Wink Summers came back as the chief meteorologist.
• Mr. Donald "Don" Eustis: Spitsy's owner, who is depicted as a heavy man and a bachelor, not to mention the next-door neighbor of the Wrights. Nate has an autumn job raking leaves for Mr. Eustis.
• Peter: A six-year-old boy who Nate sometimes babysits and serves as a 'Book Buddy.' He speaks with a lateral lisp, has an above-average IQ and reads at a college level. Nate tutors him by introducing him to Femme Fatality comics.
• Gordie: Ellen's boyfriend. He shares Nate's love for the comic book Femme Fatality, and works at a nearby comic shop at the mall called Klassic Komix. He has a boss named Wayne, who communicates by mumbling.
• Chief Meteorologist Chip Cavendish: The weatherman who replaced Wink Summers as chief meteorologist. He appeared on 05-03-2012 in a science class to talk to Nate and his classmates, where Nate accused him of ruining Wink Summers' career.
• Wayne: Gordie's boss, at Klassic Komix, a comic shop at the mall. Wayne communicates by mumbling.

Minor Characters

• Rusty Sienna: A character in the earlier years of Big Nate, host of Oil Painting with Rusty television show and Nate's inspiration to be an artist. A graduate of the Art Institute of P.O. Box 73, he is a parody of Bob Ross and his public television art show. Rusty Sienna returns in August 2, 2007, only to reveal that he died in May 7, 1996. Nate is devastated by the fact that his favorite artist had been "secretly dead" for eleven years. Only seen in Nate's comic May 25, 1991.
• Cap'n Salty: A fisherman who enjoys talking like a pirate. He catches lobsters under the sea. Cap'n Salty is a character Lincoln Peirce created exclusively for the children's website Poptropica.com, where Big Nate Island is one of the features. However, the only mention of Cap'n Salty in the strip itself is the restaurant Cap'n Salty's by the beach.
• Marla: The town mail deliverer.
• Bradley: One of Nate's enemies. He challenged Nate to 'Gas Giant', and was apparently a video game master but his mom, who reveals his name, takes him home after he was playing Gas Giant and was almost beating Nate's top score.^[4]
• Kenny Smithson:Big Nate character from 1991 - 1995. Kenny's first appearance was in November 1991, and Ellen Wright dumped him in June 1995. When Nate was around the mall with Francis, Nate said "I had hawk-vision eyes, and I saw Kenny Smithson with another girl!"
• Carol: Carol was one of Ellen's friends.
• Scoutmaster: Only appearance in Big Nate On a Roll. He announces the winners of the fundraisers and announces that the third prize goes to Josh Husky from Troop Seven. Then he announces that the two top prize winners (Nate and Artur) have a tie and to determine the winner, he flips a coin. The coin lands on heads (which Nate called) meaning that Artur won second prize and Nate won the first prize.

Enslave the Mollusk

Enslave the Mollusk (ETM) is a garage band featured in Big Nate. It features Nate as backing vocalist and drummer, with best friends Francis on electric guitar and Teddy on keyboard, as well as Arthur as lead vocalist. Chad is the band's roadie. Enslave the Mollusk had a big role in Big Nate the Musical. They performed twice: once during the In The Zone novel when P.S 38 was starting a fitness zone, and also at one of the school dances.

Femme Fatality

Femme Fatality^[5] is Nate's favorite super-hero comic. The images are never shown, but the character is highly suggestive, judging from the reaction of Nate and most of the other male characters. Some of the girls show exasperation over Nate's obsession with the comic, but Nate insists he only reads it for the stories. One of Nate's previous comic book crushes was Red Sonja.

PS.38

PS.38 is the school Nate and his friends attend and is where most of the comics are taken place. The school is over 100 years old and is very beaten up and dull.

Jefferson Middle School

Jefferson Middle School is a middle school near PS.38. The middle school is PS.38's rival who beat them in almost everything.

Jefferson Students

• Nolan: Bully to Nate and his friends.
• Dawn Michelle: Appeared in Big Nate Goes For Broke. She apparently has a posse of girls that follow her. She asks Nate if she can sign his cast. Nate allows her quickly because he thinks she is cute, but Dawn plays a dirty trick by writing "P.S.38 STINKS!" on his cast and teasing him with her friends. Nate describes her as turbo-cute.
• Emma: Member of Dawn Michelle's posse and it is likely that they are friends.

Nate's comic strip creations

Some earlier strips would show the weekly adventures of Nate's own comic strip creations, drawn on notebook paper in a more childlike drawing style. Few of these characters have appeared in more recent strips.Nate's characters include -

• Dr. Cesspool: an inept surgeon whose mistakes in the operating room tend to be either fatal or debilitating. He has an assisant named Maureen Biology, who also serves as Cesspool's love interest.
• Chip Chipson and Biff Biffwell: Two inept TV reporters who sometimes appear in other strips interviewing the characters. Nate also has them interview characters like Santa Claus, Mother Nature, the Sandman and sometimes Mrs. Godfrey or his own father.
• Ken Doolittle: A talent TV show host. Ellen is often drawn on his show failing at some activity or making a fool of herself.
• Dan Cupid: A cupid who sometimes neglects or messes up his job to bring happy couples together.
• Superdad: Nate's parody of his own father as 'The world's only balding superhero with a slight paunch,' who sometimes appears with Ellen as his 'dimwitted sidekick.' Superdad usually avoids fighting crime or facing danger, preferring to lie on the couch or delegate his job to 'Chore Boy' (Nate himself.)
• The Snuggles Family: A parody of a saccharine, wholesome middle-class family, consisting of husband Bob, wife Honey, son Timmy, daughter Punkin and dog Fluffy. Haven't been seen since 2001.
• Moe Mentum: A Hollywood stuntman stuck doing dangerous stunts in badly directed action or horror flicks.
• Slim Stubby: A country-western singer struggling with being a second-rate celebrity, who is a possible parody of Slim Dusty.
• The Pilgrims of Plymouth: These strips would appear the week of Thanksgiving. Instead of showing the traditional 'First Thanksgiving,' the strip would show the Pilgrims having a wild party, complete with dunk-tanks and bikini mud-wrestling. Haven't been seen since 2004
• Leo Tard: Dance Instructor for the totally hopeless. Series of strips mocking Nate's sister Ellen's dancing abilities.
• Ultra-Nate: Nate's parody of himself, but a superhero with super strength, flying, and super suction.
• Mega-Chad: Appears in Big Nate in the Zone and Big Nate Lives it Up as Ultra Nate's sidekick. This was never seen in a comic strip, and thus is not very well known.
• Action Cat: A comic about a cat getting run over by vehicles. There were a few Action Cat comics in 1993, but there haven't been any of them ever since, probably due to some complaints about those strips being too violent.
• Luke Warm, private eye: Nate's comic strip about a detective he made up. Luke is very clumsy, and not very efficient. His comic first appeared in January 2, 2013 in "Big Nate: Flips Out". The comic was later destroyed, because When Nate was hypnotized he could not make it neat enough.
• Stupendo Man: Although made by Principal Nichols, it's on this list. It's a fantasy comic about Principal Nichols being A hard working principal by day, an avenging crime-fighting force of nature by night.

Bibliography

Collections

32 print collections and novel books, and six activity books have been published. From the Top covered strips from August 28, 2006 to April 1, 2007; Out Loud ranged from April 2, 2007 to November 4; Big Nate and Friends covered strips about the titular character's many friends from 1997-2007; What Could Possibly Go Wrong? covered strips from November 5, 2007 to June 8, 2008; and Here Goes Nothing covered strips from June 9, 2008 to January 9, 2009. Big Nate Makes the Grade covered strips that are school-related. Big Nate: All Work and No Play covered strips that were all published in the Sunday comics from 1998-2000. Big Nate: Game On! covered strips that are about Nate playing sports (basketball, baseball, and soccer). Big Nate: Genius Mode covered strips from January 11, 2009 to August 9, 2009. Big Nate: I Can't Take It! covered strips that were all published in the Sunday comics from 2000-2004. Big Nate: Great Minds Think Alike covers Daily strips from 2002-2006 and only ten Sunday strips from 2008-2009. Big Nate: Greatest Hits covers every Big Nate strip published in 1997, including the strips from the three Big Nate eBooks. Big Nate: Mr. Popularity covers strips from August 10, 2009 to March 7, 2010. Big Nate: The Crowd Goes Wild! covered strips from March 8, 2010 to October 9, 2010. Big Nate: Say Goodbye to Dork City covers strips from October 10, 2010 to May 14, 2011. Big Nate: Welcome to My World covers strips from May 15, 2011 to October 30, 2011. Big Nate: Thunka Thunka Thunka covers strips from October 31, 2011 to April 21, 2012. Big Nate: Revenge of the Cream Puffs covers strips from April 22 to October 13, 2012. Epic Big Nate, a 25th anniversary special for the series, not only containing cartoons throughout the 25-year history of the comic strip, but also an exclusive Q&A with Diary of a Wimpy Kid author Jeff Kinney, behind-the-scenes looks at Big Nate: the Musical and its world record largest comic strip, and excerpts of Lincoln Peirce's sketchbook from childhood to the present day. Big Nate: What's a Little Noogie Between Friends? covers strips from October 14, 2012 to April 13, 2013. Big Nate: A Good Old Fashioned Wedgie will cover strips from April 21, 2013 to October 5, 2013, and the May 25, 2014 strip that the title and front cover is based on.

Book series

1. Big Nate: In a Class by Himself – March 23, 2010
2. Big Nate: Strikes Again – October 19, 2010
3. Big Nate: On a Roll – August 16, 2011
4. Big Nate: Goes for Broke – March 20, 2012
5. Big Nate: Flips Out – February 5, 2013
6. Big Nate: In the Zone – March 11, 2014
7. Big Nate: Lives It Up - March 10, 2015
8. Big Nate: Blasts Off - February 16, 2016

Activity books

1. Big Nate Boredom Buster: Super Scribbles, Cool Comix, and Lots of Laughs (April 12, 2011)
2. Big Nate Fun Blaster: Cheezy Doodles, Crazy Comix and Loads of Laughs (July 10, 2012)
3. Big Nate Doodlepalooza: Scribble Games, Secret Codes, and Nonstop Laughs (July 9, 2013)
4. Big Nate Laugh-O-Rama: Daring Drawings, Maze Madness, and Tons of Fun (July 9, 2014)
5. Big Nate Super Scribbler: Cheezy Doodles, Crazy Comix, and Epic Laughs (July 7, 2015)
6. Big Nate Puzzlemania: Super Scribbles, Goofy Games, and Tons of Fun (May 19, 2016)

Musical

In May 2013 a stage musical adaptation of the comic strip debuted at the Adventure Theatre MTC in Maryland.^[7] The production's story centers on Nate, who tries to enter his school's Battle of the Bands competition but must try to avoid accruing any more detentions, as too many would disqualify his band from competing. Critical reception for the musical has been positive.^[8][9]

References

External links

• Official website
• Official GoComics page
• The Evolution of BIG NATE From Comic strips to Novels to Musical: An interview with Lincoln Peirce Tiziano Thomas Dossena, L'Idea Magazine, 2014
• http://comics.roderickmann.org/Fetch.do?id=16
• http://www.bignatebooks.com/about-the-author