# Cathy (comic strip) Books **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 25, 2009, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cathy-comic-strip-books/511574 "2009-09-25T21:06:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Markxxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5daacb/32.png) [@Markxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Markxxx)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2009, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cathy-comic-strip-books/511574/1 "2009-09-25T21:06:23Z")
I was just cleaing up my flat, and was going through my books, now I have always like the comic “[Cathy](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cathy_(comic_strip))” and I have the available books which chronical her daily strips. But the last book I have is from 2000 and I checked Wikipedia and Amazon and it seems that a book of daily strips hasn’t been available since 2000 Any ideas why? I am assuming there is no demand so “that’s that.” I think the strip has gone down in quality but so have lots of others. Just wondering? ---
**Author:** ![Intergalactic\_Gladiator](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/intergalactic_gladiator/32/112_2.png) [@Intergalactic\_Gladiator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Intergalactic_Gladiator)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2009, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cathy-comic-strip-books/511574/2 "2009-09-25T21:40:39Z")
Cathy the comic strip? Ack! ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2009, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cathy-comic-strip-books/511574/3 "2009-09-25T22:26:09Z")
It may have gone down in quality but even at its best it was subpar. Guisewite cannot draw a profile to save her soul and the strip has about 3 plot lines. Cathy has a hard time with diets. Ha ha ha. Cathy likes to shop and gets taken in by this generic salesgirl figure. ha ha ha. Cathy has (or had) troubles with a relationship. ha ha ha. Really, there is not 20 years of material there. ---
**Author:** ![Malthus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Malthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malthus)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2009, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cathy-comic-strip-books/511574/4 "2009-09-25T22:32:35Z")
> [@BobLibDem](#): > > It may have gone down in quality but even at its best it was subpar. Guisewite cannot draw a profile to save her soul and the strip has about 3 plot lines. Cathy has a hard time with diets. Ha ha ha. Cathy likes to shop and gets taken in by this generic salesgirl figure. ha ha ha. Cathy has (or had) troubles with a relationship. ha ha ha. Really, there is not 20 years of material there. The “Cathy sacrificed to Cthulhu” story arc was a bit of a departure. ---
**Author:** ![troubledwater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f4b2a3/32.png) [@troubledwater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/troubledwater)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2009, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cathy-comic-strip-books/511574/5 "2009-09-26T00:12:29Z")
A few years ago I emailed the publisher wondering why no new books. The response I got was along the lines of “Ms. Guisewite has a lot going on and is too busy right now.” Given the boilerplate nature of the answer, I did not write back to point out that anyone who had access to the material could assemble one of these books in about 15 minutes. ---
**Author:** ![Markxxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5daacb/32.png) [@Markxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Markxxx)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2009, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cathy-comic-strip-books/511574/6 "2009-09-26T00:34:54Z")
Cathy can be repetative but so what? So is _Peanuts_, _Dilbert_, _Garfield_ etc etc. One thing I found is as I got older a lot of it becomes funny. Obviously if you’re 20 years old you’re not goig to find things about a 35 year old as funny. But I agree all one needs is an editor to put the strips in a book. Since they go day by day it isn’t even editorial in nature. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2009, 2:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cathy-comic-strip-books/511574/7 "2009-09-26T02:51:12Z")
> [@Markxxx](#): > > Cathy can be repetative but so what? So is _Peanuts_, _Dilbert_, _Garfield_ etc etc. That’s not exactly the defense you seem to think it is. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2009, 3:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cathy-comic-strip-books/511574/8 "2009-09-26T03:57:51Z")
> [@Malthus](#): > > The “Cathy sacrificed to Cthulhu” story arc was a bit of a departure. As was that entire “Road Warrior” sequence. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2009, 4:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cathy-comic-strip-books/511574/9 "2009-09-26T04:37:50Z")
> [@Markxxx](#): > > Cathy can be repetative but so what? So is _Peanuts_, _Dilbert_, _Garfield_ etc etc. Except those comics are actually funny, or at the very least, don’t make you want to vomit. I’d rather read _Family Circus_ than _Cathy_. ---
**Author:** ![kiz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/7feea3/32.png) [@kiz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kiz)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2009, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cathy-comic-strip-books/511574/10 "2009-09-26T14:07:16Z")
There are – or were – a number of _Cathy_collections that came out a few years ago. I thought the strip ended. I haven’t seen a _Cathy_ comic in ages. ---
**Author:** ![salinqmind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3ec8ea/32.png) [@salinqmind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/salinqmind)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2009, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cathy-comic-strip-books/511574/11 "2009-09-26T15:00:19Z")
If the strip ended, you can be sure there would be Major Headlines about it, interviews with Guisewite on Larry King, and huge intellectual weighing-ins with feminists on just what “Cathy” meant to Modern Women. Shoes, lack of proper-fitting swimsuits, and tiresome talk about diet, not to mention Modern Men and the silly things they do to Modern Women. I’m dreading that day when it rolls around. ---
**Author:** ![Markxxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5daacb/32.png) [@Markxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Markxxx)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2009, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cathy-comic-strip-books/511574/12 "2009-09-26T19:08:38Z")
> [@kiz](#): > > There are – or were – a number of _Cathy_collections that came out a few years ago. > > I thought the strip ended. I haven’t seen a _Cathy_ comic in ages. Well I have all the books so far, (See link to Wikipedia in first post). I know Cathy married Irving which I wasn’t at all for, but that’s another topic I wonder how much it does cost to put a book of strips together. Seems to me it would be a matter of putting strips in a format of a book, and that format would be the same as the others. Then it would be a matter of figuring out who’d buy it and seeing if it’d offset the cost of the printing, distribution etc. ---
**Author:** ![Maserschmidt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maserschmidt/32/18829_2.png) [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2009, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cathy-comic-strip-books/511574/13 "2009-09-26T19:11:29Z")
> [@Bryan\_Ekers](#): > > As was that entire “Road Warrior” sequence. The ones where she drunk-dials other comic strip characters are great! ---
**Author:** ![Stan\_Shmenge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/94ad74/32.png) [@Stan\_Shmenge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stan_Shmenge)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2009, 6:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cathy-comic-strip-books/511574/14 "2009-09-28T06:14:22Z")
It is one of the few strips I skip over in the paper. I’m not picky, I’ll read Drabble and Blondie, they are good for a funny gag once in a while, but Cathy is just unreadable. ---
**Author:** ![amarinth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3be4f8/32.png) [@amarinth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amarinth)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2009, 7:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cathy-comic-strip-books/511574/15 "2009-09-28T07:07:22Z")
In the 70s and 80s there were some good sequences (I remember some of the strips around Zenith’s birth). But it has gotten repetitive over time. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2009, 1:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cathy-comic-strip-books/511574/16 "2009-09-28T13:15:47Z")
> [@kiz](#): > > I thought the strip ended. I haven’t seen a _Cathy_ comic in ages. My local paper dropped it years ago. I suspect that comic-strip-collection books are a lot less popular nowadays than they were couple of decades ago largely because so many comics are archived online. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2009, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cathy-comic-strip-books/511574/17 "2009-09-28T14:58:34Z")
> [@Stan\_Shmenge](#): > > It is one of the few strips I skip over in the paper. It’s still carried by the Chicago Tribune, but I stopped reading it years ago. Along with Dick Tracy (which suffers from glacial pacing these days), it’s among the few strips in the paper that I don’t read. ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2009, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cathy-comic-strip-books/511574/18 "2009-09-28T16:15:32Z")
> [@kiz](#): > > There are – or were – a number of _Cathy_collections that came out a few years ago. > > I thought the strip ended. I haven’t seen a _Cathy_ comic in ages. It’s still around. The only update is that she finally married Irving, and now their wacky dating hijinks are wacky marrieds hijinks, with little difference from before other than the addition of inlaws. ---
**Author:** ![teela\_brown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d9b06d/32.png) [@teela\_brown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/teela_brown)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2009, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cathy-comic-strip-books/511574/19 "2009-09-28T16:31:41Z")
> [@Markxxx](#): > > . . . I know Cathy married Irving which I wasn’t at all for, but that’s another topic. . . . I’ll tackle it. Why’d she marry that uber-jerk anyway? After all the crap he had pulled on her through the years, not the least of which was was getting her fired from her job through his consulting business? Anyone that got me fired is going to be on my shit-list for life! ---
**Author:** ![Runestar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/74df32/32.png) [@Runestar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Runestar)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2009, 1:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cathy-comic-strip-books/511574/20 "2009-09-29T13:27:42Z")
To be fair, he also got her re-hired a few months later. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cathy-comic-strip-books/511574.md?page=2)