# Hallelujah: Cathy comic strip to be retired in October **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 12, 2010, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hallelujah-cathy-comic-strip-to-be-retired-in-october/550081 "2010-08-12T20:15:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![D.Fenestrator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aca169/32.png) [@D.Fenestrator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D.Fenestrator)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2010, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hallelujah-cathy-comic-strip-to-be-retired-in-october/550081/21 "2010-08-13T00:38:35Z")
Our local paper dropped Cathy a while ago, too (before the marriage, IIRC), but we’re stuck with that dratted For Better or For Worse “reboot” thing. I’d almost rather have Cathy. ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2010, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hallelujah-cathy-comic-strip-to-be-retired-in-october/550081/22 "2010-08-13T01:21:57Z")
> [@Ponch8](#): > > The local paper in every city I’ve lived in dumped Cathy several years ago except for the comics-deficient Chicago Tribune. The Journal Star in Peoria, IL got rid of it when I was living there; the Gainesville (FL) Sun dumped it when I lived there, and the Washington Post got rid of it when I lived there… You are my hero. Can you start moving around and working on Funky Winkerdepressionbean? For the record: I’d be willing to start a brilliant comic strip if I could be assured it’ll replace Prince Valiant in every paper it’s infecting with Medieval Bad Hair Boredom. ---
**Author:** ![straight\_man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/straight_man/32/3027_2.png) [@straight\_man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/straight_man)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2010, 4:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hallelujah-cathy-comic-strip-to-be-retired-in-october/550081/23 "2010-08-13T04:10:47Z")
Read her interview about retirement [here](http://images.gocomics.com/images/gocomics/news/Cathy_QnA.pdf), as linked to by the [Comics Curmudgeon](http://joshreads.com/). She was almost making me sympathetic, up until she got to the men-just-can’t-understand-this section. I haven’t met any women who like her comics, either! And all the things she says men can’t understand… we experience too, sometimes. But she plainly had a bit of a one-track mind. Anyway… she’s leaving! Hoorah! ---
**Author:** ![Markxxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5daacb/32.png) [@Markxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Markxxx)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2010, 5:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hallelujah-cathy-comic-strip-to-be-retired-in-october/550081/24 "2010-08-13T05:34:29Z")
I found a lot to relate to Cathy when I was in my 30s. Lynn Bodoni summed up the problem perfectly, and I second everything she said. If you read old Cathy book, you will laugh. Some of her stuff was really funny. When Cathy dates guys who weren’t Irving it was funny. When Cathy had new job issues, it was funny. The marriage to Iriving was the end for me. You never felt like Cathy really loved Irving, but only tolerated him till something better came along. Conflict is the key to funny. And when Cathy settled down (not only in marriage but all areas like work) it became unfunny. It also lost a lot when the militant femminist Andrea got married and put on the back burner of the character list. ---
**Author:** ![markdash](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba8739/32.png) [@markdash](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/markdash)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2010, 6:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hallelujah-cathy-comic-strip-to-be-retired-in-october/550081/25 "2010-08-13T06:21:51Z")
The Comic Strip Doctor has never been more relevant: [http://wondermark.com/the-comic-strip-doctor-cathy/](http://wondermark.com/the-comic-strip-doctor-cathy/) In fact, this entire website is awesome, and I highly recommend reading all of it. ---
**Author:** ![amarinth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3be4f8/32.png) [@amarinth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amarinth)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2010, 6:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hallelujah-cathy-comic-strip-to-be-retired-in-october/550081/26 "2010-08-13T06:30:20Z")
> [@Markxxx](#): > > Conflict is the key to funny. And when Cathy settled down (not only in marriage but all areas like work) it became unfunny. It also lost a lot when the militant femminist Andrea got married and put on the back burner of the character list. Andrea’s wedding & Zenith’s birth were pretty funny. Lynn’s right. Once upon a time, the strip was pretty good, but it got stale. She should have either quit or made some changes years ago. ---
**Author:** ![Rilchiam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/2bfe46/32.png) [@Rilchiam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rilchiam)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2010, 6:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hallelujah-cathy-comic-strip-to-be-retired-in-october/550081/27 "2010-08-13T06:33:02Z")
Was Andrea on the back burner after she got married, though? I remember her getting pregnant and becoming a helicopter parent before we had the term. ---
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2010, 8:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hallelujah-cathy-comic-strip-to-be-retired-in-october/550081/28 "2010-08-13T08:51:31Z")
I’ve now read a couple of articles about the retirement…the artist, who is 60, says that she wants to focus more on her daughter, who is 18 and going in her last year of high school. Guess what? It’s too damn late now. By the time your child is 18 (which would make Guisewite 42 when she had her), your job as a parent is essentially OVER. Or at least it should be over. Yeah, you can still give some support and advice, but the time to really spend a lot of time with your child is when the child is a CHILD. An 18 year old is legally an adult, and if you didn’t spend a lot of time with her when she was a baby and toddler and gradeschooler, you can’t make it up now when it’s convenient to you. OK, so that minirant doesn’t really have anything to do with the comic, but I do think that it says something about Guisewite and her priorities. ---
**Author:** ![asterion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/4da419/32.png) [@asterion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asterion)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2010, 11:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hallelujah-cathy-comic-strip-to-be-retired-in-october/550081/29 "2010-08-13T11:51:25Z")
I think the real question is who will Stephen Pastis have to make fun of now. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2010, 12:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hallelujah-cathy-comic-strip-to-be-retired-in-october/550081/30 "2010-08-13T12:31:53Z")
> [@asterion](#): > > I think the real question is who will Stephen Pastis have to make fun of now. It’s not like dumb, stale comics are an endangered species. There’s plenty of fodder for Rat on the funny page(s). ---
**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:** [August 13, 2010, 1:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hallelujah-cathy-comic-strip-to-be-retired-in-october/550081/31 "2010-08-13T13:08:18Z")
Besides the very repetitive and limited material, Guisewite can’t draw worth a crap. 99% of the time, all characters are seen head on. She can’t draw a profile to save her soul, and she as far as I know has never tried to draw an oblique view. You’d think if you were in a profession for 30+ years, you’d bother to learn how to draw. ---
**Author:** ![gaffa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e68b1a/32.png) [@gaffa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaffa)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2010, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hallelujah-cathy-comic-strip-to-be-retired-in-october/550081/32 "2010-08-13T14:29:40Z")
> [@Lynn\_Bodoni](#): > > I’ve now read a couple of articles about the retirement…the artist, who is 60, says that she wants to focus more on her daughter, who is 18 and going in her last year of high school. Guess what? It’s too damn late now. By the time your child is 18 (which would make Guisewite 42 when she had her), your job as a parent is essentially OVER. Or at least it should be over. Yeah, you can still give some support and advice, but the time to really spend a lot of time with your child is when the child is a CHILD. An 18 year old is legally an adult, and if you didn’t spend a lot of time with her when she was a baby and toddler and gradeschooler, you can’t make it up now when it’s convenient to you. Her child is 18? Sounds like the situation with Lawrence Fishburne’s daughter. ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2010, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hallelujah-cathy-comic-strip-to-be-retired-in-october/550081/33 "2010-08-13T14:50:14Z")
Let’s get some facts straight before we continue this discussion: > **[Cathy Guisewite](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cathy_Guisewite)** > > Cathy Lee Guisewite (born September 5, 1950) is an American cartoonist who created the comic strip Cathy, which had a 34-year run. The strip focused on a career woman facing the issues and challenges of eating, work, relationships, and having a mother—or as the character put it in one strip, "the four basic guilt groups." > Guisewite was born in Dayton, Ohio to William L. and Anne Guisewite. She was raised in Midland, Michigan with older sister Mary Anne Nagy and younger sister Mickey. Guisewite g... > **[Answers - The Most Trusted Place for Answering Life's Questions](https://www.answers.com/redirectSearch?query=cathy-guisewite)** > > Answers is the place to go to get the answers you need and to ask the questions you want [http://www.avidcruiser.com/2009/10/travels-with-cathy/](http://www.avidcruiser.com/2009/10/travels-with-cathy/) Guisewite is 59. She adopted her daughter five years before marrying her husband. She has a stepson from her husband’s first marriage. ---
**Author:** ![descamisado](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e480ec/32.png) [@descamisado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/descamisado)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2010, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hallelujah-cathy-comic-strip-to-be-retired-in-october/550081/34 "2010-08-13T14:51:51Z")
[hijack] I’m just not getting where saying “I want to focus on my 18-year-old daughter” automatically means she neglected her up until now. Maybe it just means she wants to focus on her _more_, at a crucial point where she’s about to lauch into adulthood, to magnify and sum up all the work work she’s done up to now (or it’s just a stock phrase that’s used by a lot a public figures when it’s actually something else going on). I don’t necessarily think most anyone would be take the approach described above, even if the above were true, but her statement doesn’t automatically mean she’s done little or nothing up to now. [/hijack] ---
**Author:** ![Monstera\_deliciosa](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monstera_deliciosa/32/109_2.png) [@Monstera\_deliciosa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monstera_deliciosa)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2010, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hallelujah-cathy-comic-strip-to-be-retired-in-october/550081/35 "2010-08-13T15:10:53Z")
> [@Wendell\_Wagner](#): > > Let’s get some facts straight before we continue this discussion: > > [Cathy Guisewite - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cathy_Guisewite) > > [Answers - The Most Trusted Place for Answering Life's Questions](http://www.answers.com/topic/cathy-guisewite) > > [http://www.avidcruiser.com/2009/10/travels-with-cathy/](http://www.avidcruiser.com/2009/10/travels-with-cathy/) > > Guisewite is 59. She adopted her daughter five years before marrying her husband. She has a stepson from her husband’s first marriage. Her 60th birthday is on September 5th, 23 days from now. I’d hardly consider referring to her as 60 now an error worth noting. She’s not an infant whose development is measured in weeks or months. And it doesn’t matter how she acquired her daughter, (especially since she adopted the child in 1992, the year Guisewite would have turned 42, so there is no significant factual error there, either.) It is perfectly valid to wonder why someone would suddenly wish to devote more time to an 18 year old “child” (not to say that there aren’t good reasons, as **descamisado** noted) so I don’t see how these facts are vital to the advancement or improvement of this discussion. ---
**Author:** ![Monstera\_deliciosa](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monstera_deliciosa/32/109_2.png) [@Monstera\_deliciosa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monstera_deliciosa)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2010, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hallelujah-cathy-comic-strip-to-be-retired-in-october/550081/36 "2010-08-13T15:23:10Z")
To be more on topic, I haven’t read the strip in about 25 years. It just seemed to reinforce a view of women that I found tiresome, especially the self-hating obsession with weight, and her general lack of self-confidence. ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2010, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hallelujah-cathy-comic-strip-to-be-retired-in-october/550081/37 "2010-08-13T17:00:18Z")
> [@Lynn\_Bodoni](#): > > I’ve now read a couple of articles about the retirement…the artist, who is 60, says that she wants to focus more on her daughter, who is 18 and going in her last year of high school. Guess what? It’s too damn late now. By the time your child is 18 (which would make Guisewite 42 when she had her), your job as a parent is essentially OVER. Or at least it should be over. Yeah, you can still give some support and advice, but the time to really spend a lot of time with your child is when the child is a CHILD. An 18 year old is legally an adult, and if you didn’t spend a lot of time with her when she was a baby and toddler and gradeschooler, you can’t make it up now when it’s convenient to you. > > OK, so that minirant doesn’t really have anything to do with the comic, but I do think that it says something about Guisewite and her priorities. From facebook (reprinted without permission): \*So you guys you have like GOTTTT to find my mom a hobby she’s all like Oooh, Zeeenith (yeah, that’s what she calls me, and she always pronounces it with this loooooong E) we’re going to have soooo much fun getting lattes together YEAH WELL HAVE YOU EVER SEEN ME ORDER A LATTE no, because that’s YOU ordering the froo-froo foamy whatthefuckaccino and then wondering why you’re not losing weight and secretly hoping the twenty something behind the counter will flirt with you. And you WONDER why you have Zero Self-Esteem? Well, you’re not suckin’ it off me! Hey, news: I HAVE FRIENDS that I already hang out with and I really don’t have time for some suddenly-out-of-work Lunch Lady. Oh, and those friends? They’re like My Own Age, so we can bitch about teachers and asshole jock douchbags and Oh, Yeah, our parents!!! Seriously, guys? Could you like get some editor somewhere to plead for “Cathy: The Retirement Home Years” or something? Or get her to teach cartooning classes in like Mankato. Or a drawing class… oh, that’s right. Never mind. Hey, get her to TAKE some drawing classes! That go all day long somewhere. My friends would totally pitch in.\* ---
**Author:** ![CaveMike](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cavemike/32/16379_2.png) [@CaveMike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CaveMike)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2010, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hallelujah-cathy-comic-strip-to-be-retired-in-october/550081/38 "2010-08-13T17:15:13Z")
> [@descamisado](#): > > (or it’s just a stock phrase that’s used by a lot a public figures when it’s actually something else going on). I agree. I think she just used it as the stock “I want to spend more time with my family” answer. Besides, we’re all complaining that Guisewite has been phoning it in for ages; she obviously hasn’t been spending all of her time on her career. I suspect given the level of success she already had at 42, that she was able to spend a lot of time with her daughter. ---
**Author:** ![Dag\_Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@Dag\_Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dag_Otto)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2010, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hallelujah-cathy-comic-strip-to-be-retired-in-october/550081/39 "2010-08-13T18:15:41Z")
> [@digs](#): > > From facebook (reprinted without permission): > > \*So you guys you have like GOTTTT to find my mom a hobby she’s all like Oooh, Zeeenith (yeah, that’s what she calls me, and she always pronounces it with this loooooong E) we’re going to have soooo much fun getting lattes together YEAH WELL HAVE YOU EVER SEEN ME ORDER A LATTE no, because that’s YOU ordering the froo-froo foamy whatthefuckaccino and then wondering why you’re not losing weight and secretly hoping the twenty something behind the counter will flirt with you. And you WONDER why you have Zero Self-Esteem? Well, you’re not suckin’ it off me! Hey, news: I HAVE FRIENDS that I already hang out with and I really don’t have time for some suddenly-out-of-work Lunch Lady. Oh, and those friends? They’re like My Own Age, so we can bitch about teachers and asshole jock douchbags and Oh, Yeah, our parents!!! > > Seriously, guys? Could you like get some editor somewhere to plead for “Cathy: The Retirement Home Years” or something? Or get her to teach cartooning classes in like Mankato. Or a drawing class… oh, that’s right. Never mind. Hey, get her to TAKE some drawing classes! That go all day long somewhere. My friends would totally pitch in.\* Finally - something funny that’s related to Cathy. ---
**Author:** ![Chessic\_Sense](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7c8e57/32.png) [@Chessic\_Sense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chessic_Sense)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2010, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hallelujah-cathy-comic-strip-to-be-retired-in-october/550081/40 "2010-08-13T19:41:06Z")
You know what I hate about Cathy? It’s not the weigh issues. It’s not the shopping. It’s not the Mom. It’s the sweat. The little beads of sweat that fly off of her when she rants about something. Her arms flail around, she spews some garbage rant about shopping these days, and a few barely noticeable pellets of liquid get propelled from her forehead. It’s the only comic strip that’s ever grossed me out on a regular basis. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hallelujah-cathy-comic-strip-to-be-retired-in-october/550081.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hallelujah-cathy-comic-strip-to-be-retired-in-october/550081.md?page=3)