The character first appears in January 1976, in a law library.
Joanie Caucus becomes attracted to him before Lippincott says he is
gay. (His statement of orientation caused several papers to not run the strip for the week.) Joanie is heartbroken, and takes some time to recover. Lippincott contributes position papers to Virginia Slade's failed run for
Congress in 1976. He disappears from the strip for a few years after this storyline. In 1982, the character reappears as an organizer for the Bay Area Gay Alliance, and contributes to the congressional re-election of
Lacey Davenport. In 1989 he returns to the strip again when he is diagnosed with
AIDS. Over the course of the next year, Lippincott's battles with the disease, and eventual death from it, helped bring the AIDS crisis into popular culture. Ultimately, he is shown dying to the sound of the
Beach Boys' song "
Wouldn't It Be Nice", finally fulfilling his wish to hear the (then newly released) CD version of their album
Pet Sounds. Shortly thereafter, Andy made posthumous appearances in the strip, making several days of appearances in a self-made video shown during his memorial service. He later appears in the dreams of Joanie and
Mark Slackmeyer, helping the latter come to terms with his own homosexuality. ==Significance==