# 'Sally Forth', please stop because I can't **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 22, 2007, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sally-forth-please-stop-because-i-cant/423600 "2007-10-22T18:29:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Sitnam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Sitnam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sitnam)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2007, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sally-forth-please-stop-because-i-cant/423600/1 "2007-10-22T18:29:45Z")
I read [Sally Forth](http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/comics/sforth.html) religiously because throughout all these years and throughout mountains of newspapers I have never laughed once, not once. Yet I feel compelled to read it every time I open the Comics anyway for the same reason people play the Powerball, because today might be the day. But it never is. Does anyone else do this with this or any other cartoon? Does anyone out there think Sally Forth is funny? ---
**Author:** ![Borborygmi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/borborygmi/32/217_2.png) [@Borborygmi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Borborygmi)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2007, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sally-forth-please-stop-because-i-cant/423600/2 "2007-10-22T18:38:04Z")
[QUOTE=Sitnam] Does anyone else do this with this or any other cartoon? [/QUOTE] I sure do. I read every strip – excluding drama strips – in our local paper. Every day. Still waiting for the first funny Marmaduke. FWIW, I often enjoy Sally Forth, although I get SF only on Sundays. ---
**Author:** ![OneCentStamp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/13edae/32.png) [@OneCentStamp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OneCentStamp)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2007, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sally-forth-please-stop-because-i-cant/423600/3 "2007-10-22T18:41:37Z")
[QUOTE=Sitnam] Does anyone else do this with this or any other cartoon? [/QUOTE] Arrgggh, I hate that strip. Even the title makes me groan, which makes the comic itself even unfunnier, because I’m already grouchy when I read it. I can’t remember ever laughing at _Cathy_ - being chubby and unable to get a date just isn’t all that hot a premise - but I don’t read it religiously either. ---
**Author:** ![Max\_Torque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Max\_Torque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_Torque)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2007, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sally-forth-please-stop-because-i-cant/423600/4 "2007-10-22T19:02:40Z")
**Sally Forth** rubs me the wrong way because there’s just something about the artistic style that makes all the characters seem like they’re always smirking. I just want to slap the smirks off their flat papery faces. As for “unfunny but read anyway”, that pretty much applies to the entire comics page. Somehow I’m compelled to read the whole thing. ---
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2007, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sally-forth-please-stop-because-i-cant/423600/5 "2007-10-22T19:06:20Z")
SF is not in the paper I get regularly, but it is in the other daily. Never impressed me as funny when I saw it, tho I could imagine the smartass kid getting in a decent line once a decade or 2. I read all the (25 or so) comics in our daily paper except Cathy, Sylvia, and some newer strip about kids at a predominately black college. Strip’s gotta really suck if it ranks below Brenda Starr IMO. ---
**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:** [October 22, 2007, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sally-forth-please-stop-because-i-cant/423600/6 "2007-10-22T19:07:30Z")
You want to know the dark secret of _Sally Forth_? Here it is: _Sally Forth_ is the Bob Saget of the comic pages. Seriously, Francesco Marciulano, the artist, has a wicked and distubing sense of humor that he assidiously prevents from ever appearing in the formulaic pap of _Sally Forth_. But he lets it shine in other places. For example, [here’s](http://www.drinkatwork.com/2006/01/looking-for-work-in-all-wrong-places.html) an excerpt from his blog, where he describes girly-man Ted Forth’s attempts to find other venues of employment. Unfortunetly, his webcomic, _Medium Large_, appears to be defunct. ---
**Author:** ![gazpacho](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/6f9a4e/32.png) [@gazpacho](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gazpacho)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2007, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sally-forth-please-stop-because-i-cant/423600/7 "2007-10-22T19:09:33Z")
[QUOTE=Borborygmi] I sure do. I read every strip – excluding drama strips – in our local paper. Every day. Still waiting for the first funny Marmaduke. FWIW, I often enjoy Sally Forth, although I get SF only on Sundays. [/QUOTE] After reading the comics curmudgeon at [www.joshreads.com](http://www.joshreads.com) I am totally into the drama strips stories. ---
**Author:** ![OneCentStamp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/13edae/32.png) [@OneCentStamp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OneCentStamp)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2007, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sally-forth-please-stop-because-i-cant/423600/8 "2007-10-22T19:11:23Z")
I also can’t ever recall laughing at _Mary Worth_ or _Apartment 3-G_. Not once. You must have to be a regular reader to get all the jokes. ---
**Author:** ![Defensive\_Indifference](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/defensive_indifference/32/6502_2.png) [@Defensive\_Indifference](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Defensive_Indifference)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2007, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sally-forth-please-stop-because-i-cant/423600/9 "2007-10-22T19:26:33Z")
Sally Forth provokes a smile on my face now and again. I only read it when I’m at my parents’ house, which is not that often (I’m not a bad son, but they live in a different city). It’s not the funniest thing around, but it’s not awful. The only strip I read regularly is Get Fuzzy, which I check online every morning. I find it pretty funny. To answer to OP’s question, I don’t give comics too many chances before I stop reading them. But then, my expectations are not too high. If there’s a paper in front of me, I’ll read Beetle Bailey, the Wizard if Id, all the corny standbys. It’s a minor investment of time. But I draw the line at Marmaduke. I mean, really, WTF? I have some standards. ---
**Author:** ![Catamount](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/catamount/32/2840_2.png) [@Catamount](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Catamount)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2007, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sally-forth-please-stop-because-i-cant/423600/10 "2007-10-22T19:44:09Z")
I used to read every single comic on the comics page. I felt guilty if I skipped one. I’d try to skim over the bad ones, but they were placed over the good ones so I’d catch a glimpse of dialogue and have to read it anyway. Ultimately, thank the gods for RSS feeds and My Comics Page. Now I only keep up with the comics I want to read and when I’m tired of one, I can just delete it and never think of it again… …until I discovered the Comics Curmudgeon. Now I occasionally get sucked into the bad strips again, but only for a week or two before I quit again. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2007, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sally-forth-please-stop-because-i-cant/423600/11 "2007-10-22T19:50:13Z")
Marciuliano’s [blog entry](http://francescoexplainsitall.blogspot.com/) for today, October 22, made me guffaw. Has something to do with Ted Forth and a hooker. ---
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2007, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sally-forth-please-stop-because-i-cant/423600/12 "2007-10-22T19:56:54Z")
It sounds like the OP is channelling the film **Go** : > [@](#): > > Claire: So what do you have against ‘The Family Circus?’ > > Todd: Okay you sit down to read the paper and you’re enjoying your entire two page comic spread, right, and then there’s the Family Fucking Circus, bottom right hand corner waiting to suck and that’s the last thing you read so it spoils everything you read before. > > Claire: You could just not read it. > > Todd: I hate it, yet I’m uncontrolably drawn to it. ---
**Author:** ![mobo85](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b19c9b/32.png) [@mobo85](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mobo85)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2007, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sally-forth-please-stop-because-i-cant/423600/13 "2007-10-22T19:58:03Z")
Mac used to do an online strip called _Medium Large_ that was extrememly un Sallyforthish and actually funny. ---
**Author:** ![DSYoungEsq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c6cbf5/32.png) [@DSYoungEsq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSYoungEsq)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2007, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sally-forth-please-stop-because-i-cant/423600/14 "2007-10-22T20:00:48Z")
“Sally Forth” is from time to time funny. I chuckle at it. It’s not intended to be knee-slap funny, but then very few are. And, No, I don’t read comics that I don’t find interesting or funny. Sometimes, based on old loyalty, I will read one past its prime (I hung on to Garfield well past when it was actually even cute), but sooner or later, it will get dropped. Also, when the comic is obviously being drawn by someone new (thus exists only to continue existing), I drop the comic. I dumped Hi and Lois for this reason a while back. ---
**Author:** ![DSYoungEsq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c6cbf5/32.png) [@DSYoungEsq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSYoungEsq)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2007, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sally-forth-please-stop-because-i-cant/423600/15 "2007-10-22T20:01:08Z")
“Sally Forth” is from time to time funny. I chuckle at it. It’s not intended to be knee-slap funny, but then very few are. And, No, I don’t read comics that I don’t find interesting or funny. Sometimes, based on old loyalty, I will read one past its prime (I hung on to Garfield well past when it was actually even cute), but sooner or later, it will get dropped. Also, when the comic is obviously being drawn by someone new (thus exists only to continue existing), I drop the comic. I dumped Hi and Lois for this reason a while back. ---
**Author:** ![detop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bcef8e/32.png) [@detop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/detop)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2007, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sally-forth-please-stop-because-i-cant/423600/16 "2007-10-22T21:15:53Z")
I tought it would ba about the [Wally Wood](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sally_Forth_%28Wally_Wood%29) strip ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2007, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sally-forth-please-stop-because-i-cant/423600/17 "2007-10-22T21:17:33Z")
[QUOTE=Sitnam] I read [Sally Forth](http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/comics/sforth.html) religiously because throughout all these years and throughout mountains of newspapers I have never laughed once, not once. Yet I feel compelled to read it every time I open the Comics anyway for the same reason people play the Powerball, because today might be the day. But it never is. Does anyone else do this with this or any other cartoon? Does anyone out there think Sally Forth is funny? [/QUOTE] ::raises hand sheepishly:: Does this mean I have to go back into exile? I hate the yearly chocolate-Easter-bunny-ears-theft joke. But otherwise, I read it every day entirely of my own volition. ---
**Author:** ![panamajack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/47e85d/32.png) [@panamajack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panamajack)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2007, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sally-forth-please-stop-because-i-cant/423600/18 "2007-10-22T22:18:49Z")
[QUOTE=mobo85] Mac used to do an online strip called _Medium Large_ that was extrememly un Sallyforthish and actually funny. [/QUOTE] Don’t know why I know this - “Mac” (Craig Mackintosh) does the drawing, and “Ces” (Francesco Marculiano) does the writing for Sally Forth. Ces was the one who made the fantastic _Medium Large_ (and he has done a few strips showing the Forths). _Sally Forth_ was of course originally done by Greg Howard. ---
**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:** [October 22, 2007, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sally-forth-please-stop-because-i-cant/423600/19 "2007-10-22T22:24:31Z")
[And Howard originally drew them as a family of freakish hydrocephalic dwarves.](http://francescoexplainsitall.blogspot.com/2007/09/thats-right-fm-doesnt-draw-fucking.html) ---
**Author:** ![Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/96bed5/32.png) [@Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Patty_O_Furniture)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2007, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sally-forth-please-stop-because-i-cant/423600/20 "2007-10-22T22:32:02Z")
I know somebody who hates SF so much that he only reads the first panel of the strip. I’m not sure how that is supposed to help matters. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sally-forth-please-stop-because-i-cant/423600.md?page=2)