Sally Forth (syndicated strip)
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This article is about the syndicated comic strip created by Greg Howard. For the earlier comic strip character created by Wally Wood, see Sally Forth (Wally Wood).
| Sally Forth | |
|---|---|
| Author(s) | Greg Howard (art, 1982–1992; scripts, 1982–1999) Craig MacIntosh (art, 1992–present) Francesco Marciuliano, and Steve Alaniz (scripts, 1999–present) |
| Website | http://www.kingfeatures.com/features/comics/sforth/about.htm |
| Current status / schedule | Active |
| Launch date | January 4, 1982 |
| Syndicate(s) | King Features Syndicate |
| Genre(s) | Humor |
Sally Forth is a daily comic strip created by Greg Howard in 1982, focusing on the life of a white American middle-class mother at home and work. Sally's name is a play on words—"to sally forth" means to set out on an adventure.
Howard, after almost ten years, was joined by Craig MacIntosh, who began doing the drawing. In 1999, Howard quit writing as well and turned the strip over to Francesco Marciuliano. Marciuliano and MacIntosh continue publishing the series with King Features Syndicate distribution.
Contents |
[edit] Characters
[edit] Sally and her family
- Sally Forth (née Jansen) – Main character. Has a sarcastic personality, wryly commenting on the eccentric behavior of those around her. A forty-year-old marketing department manager with a husband and daughter.
- Ted Forth – Sally's hopelessly devoted husband, light-hearted with goofball tendencies. He is a professional working in strategic sourcing,[1] but he was unemployed from May 2007 to May 2008.[2]
- Hilary Forth – Sally and Ted's twelve year old daughter. She is currently in the seventh grade, along with her best friend, Faye. She is very interested in music and sports. From late June 2011 to late August 2011, she developed a relationship with Jon, who was visiting for the summer.
- Kitty – The Forths' cat, usually only seen in Hilary's room.
- Jackie – Sally's younger sister, prone to juvenile behavior and in general a flippant, impulsive contrast to Sally's responsible personality.
- Laura – Sally's mother, who is very critical of Sally, her family, and most other people. Her infrequent appearances are dreaded by all.
[edit] Sally's workplace
- Ralph – Sally's former boss in human resources, Ralph is a caricature of incompetent and self-centered business leadership. Ralph was eventually fired and reduced to working at a fast food restaurant, but in 2006 returned to co-manage the department with Sally. In 2009 he became the sole manager of human resources while Sally became manager of marketing, which was staffed by several lazy, whiny employees who constantly challenged Sally. Sally suffers further anguish from Ralph in 2010 when he starts dating her sister Jackie. In April 2011 it was announced simultaneously that the marketing department would be closed, Ralph would become a consultant so he and Jackie could start a business, and Sally would return to HR as its sole director.
- Alice – An employee in HR, and Sally's main confidante at work, Alice is sardonic, self-serving and romantically frustrated.
- Jeff – Sally's blandly competent current boss.
[edit] Other characters
- Faye – Hilary's best friend as of the start of middle school. She comes from a less ideal family than the Forths, cultivates a somewhat rebellious image, and is often blunt to the point of rudeness with adults. She and Hilary attempted to start a band once.
- Nona – Hilary and Faye's classmate. She comes from a rich family and has a recording studio, indoor theater, and a guesthouse at her house. She also has a Wii system that has high definition video, which currently doesn't exist with the real system. She writes songs and claims she can play every instrument.
- Aria – Ted's co-worker, referred to by Alice as his "office wife" [3] who seems to share Ted's enthusiasm for '70s and '80s pop culture, much to Sally's consternation.
- Jon - A boy visiting the area for the summer of 2011. He is from out of town and met Hilary at an Independence Day picnic. After getting to know each other, Jon and Hilary became a couple.
[edit] Recurring themes
- Sally has a quirky habit of eating the ears off of her daughter's chocolate Easter bunnies. Hilary annually schemes to hide her bunny but usually fails.
- The Forth family has long dreamed of taking a vacation in Paris and has been on the verge of departing several times, only to have some unexpected tragedies or complications stop them.
- Several strips in 2006 and 2007 alluded to the fact that no one really knew what Ted's job was, a metatextual reference to the often vague nature of comic characters' employment. After his layoff Hilary frets that they will never know the truth. On March 8, 2008, Ted mentions for the first time that his job was/is Strategic Sourcing.
- Ted coached Hilary's all-girls softball team, which is so bad that it rarely, if ever, wins a game. The team is so futile, Ted insanely made a promise of a Walt Disney World trip if it won the league championship and expected not to have to follow through with the promise. Though personally enthusiastic, Ted seemed to have fatalistically accepted the team's losing streak and took to giving pre-game pep talks made up of equal parts exasperation and stream-of-consciousness rambling. One talk featured a quote from The Godfather. Because of this, Ted was discouraged from coaching the team during the 2008 version of the storyline. In 2011, however, the team did win the championship for their league.
[edit] Books
"Sally Forth", by Fawcett Columbine, 1987. ISBN 0449902609
"I Gave at the Office", by Andrews McMeel, 1994. ISBN 0836217438
