Sally Forth

I used to read the comics in newspapers religiously. I adored the newer strips like Bloom County and Dilbert that took the daily funnies to a new level, and also loved the old has-beens like Peanuts for their genuine charm and the nostalgia of reading the Sunday paper together with my father when I was still young enough to fit on his lap.

And there are a ton of great comics out there today. I just don't read them like I used to on account of things like, oh, print media being dead, growing up... lame stuff like that. I still have funny videos my friend Mike sent me I haven't watched yet, I don't have time for Funky Winkerbean!

But today I happened to read the Sunday comics, and I was really taken aback by Sally Forth. As you probably know, Sally is a pretty plain comic about a whitebread normal family. It does a great job of balancing traditional family entertainment with a winking sarcasm enjoyed by intelligent adults. Now, I've been out of the loop for awhile, but I know that the comic has tackled some issues over the years like unemployment and the sports team you coach or play in always losing (subjects I can relate to). But today's strip struck me as... pretty out there.

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The second panel hits pretty hard. Undistinguished career? Financial woes? Dude, I think Ted might have cancer! I can seriously relate to the first two concerns, but the man really needs to get that mole looked at.

And the bit about the guidance counselor? Does anyone really say that to someone?! That is simply cruel. And Ted may be a bit of a goofball, but was he retarded in high school or something? He just never gave me that gang-member-as-a-kid feeling. Granted, in my career guidance session in high school I was advised to be a janitor, but it was a computer program that said that, going off of cold hard logic.

"Let's rearrange our furniture and lives to look directly at it." This is perhaps the funniest bit for me. It is absolutely something I would say. For the first time ever, Sally Forth has made me feel that I'm not totally alone and unique in the world.

And then an unexpected bonus: A Gollum reference! From the lips of a lady who was in her forties thirty years ago! Sally is still hip! Then the strip wraps up with the one-two-three burial-100 years-invicibility punchline. Man. There were plenty of clever comics today, but Sally Forth really nailed it with some good old fashioned shock'n'awe.

ADDENDUM 1: In the process of writing this blog, the east coast hit midnight and the strip rolled over to Monday on the web. I had to select 'yesterday' to access the Sunday strip I was writing about. But I won't retro my references to "today's strip" since it's still Sunday for me.

ADDENDUM 2: An older SF strip I stumbled upon that I really loved. I never thought Sally Forth would sucker-punch me in the gut with the two best comics I read in one day!