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                Welcome to my Cathy Shrine!Who Is Cathy?Cathy is a newspaper comic strip that ran from 1976 - 2010, The strip follows the misadventures of Cathy, a working woman torn between the values she was raised with by her mother, and the values of the modern (at the time) feminist values shared by many of her liberated friends. Cathy was made by a woman of the same name: Cathy Guisewite, a working woman herself at the time, Guisewite based many of her strips on memories and past experiences.
Working at an office and having an active social life means there are plenty of side characters, the most plentiful of these being Cathy's friends Andrea and Charlene, her mother Mrs Andrews, her boss Mr Pinkley, and whoever she happens to be dating that week, usually Irving. Andrea and Charlene would get married and start families of their own throughout the series, and Cathy has watched more than one of her ex-boyfriends get married...one even married her best friend!
Most strips depict Cathy struggling with one or more of the "four basic guilt groups"; food, love, work, and mom. These guilt groups can be viewed as a reflection of Cathy's values, she cares deeply for her family, prioritizes her career and love life, and is almost always fussing over her weight, which isn't really a value, but that entire catagory is something else entirely, its telling of just how much conflict Cathy undergoes on a daily basis, when something as simple as food can cause such a profound inner conflict.
So, why do I like her so much?You can read more about why I like her in the little box to the right, but TLDR is: She is relatable, funny, and nostalgic, and I think some people can be too harsh on her. Cathy is someone to laugh at, and maybe see a little bit of yourself in.
                    
                  Style Evolution
                  
                One of Cathy's "beta" drawings. Originally drawn as a fun way to communicate her latest misadventures to her family without having to pen lengthy letters, Guisewite was later pressured by her mother to submit these "humiliating drawings of my miserable love life" (guisewite's words!) to a comics syndicate. Despite the amateur nature of these first drawings, Cathy was quickly picked up by people who saw a spark in her. If only it was that easy these days, eh?
                  
                Cathy's first syndicated strip! Published November 22 of 1976. Fun fact: Cathy named her comic after herself at the suggestion of her publishers, though many strips pull from Guisewite's life, she has stated that Cathy and herself are two distinct characters.
                 
                By early 1977, Cathy had developed what I'd describe as a square and stout style, many characters, including Andrea and Irving, had this dot-eyed, line-nosed facial style, note the scribbly style as Guisewite tries to find her stylistic footing, this also seems to mark the begining of Cathy's iconic heart on her shirt.
                  
                This comic from summer of 1977 shows off a style Guisewite felt comfortable enough to use for several years going foreward, this style is coherent, but the hands are still stumpy, like little clouds. Irving also still has his single line nose.
                
                Many of these comics are very indicative of their times, some comics show Cathy going to the disco, but I chose to show you this strip from 1979 because of the way it showcases common attitudes toward women in the workplace. Note how Cathy's bangs don't meet at the center of her head as Cathy's face takes on a more square shape.
                
                This 1981 strip is another indication of it's era, this time reflecting the values and mindset of a freshly liberated woman. In addition to this, the strip also shows off Cathy's increasing skill at drawing hands, less cloudlike and more articulated this timer around. You can also see Irving's more defined nose.
                
                By 1982, Cathy had developed a more "greeting card"-esque design, in this strip you can see Guisewite being more confident in her ability to add extra little "flairs" to Cathy's face, the most important of these for her design are the little lines around her eyes, as well as the little eyeliner wings and eyelashes.
                
                This 1990 strip shows Irving with an even larger nose (and his new haircut that lasted a week), if we were to speak on exponential growth, by the time we get to 2020 it'll be the only thing that can fit in the strip panels. But for now lets focus on the emphasized opne-mouthed "bleah" face. Guisewite really loves to use this one, and her usage seems to ramp up in the 90s.
                
                TBW
                
                TBW
                
                TBW
                
Television Specials and CommercialsThrough the mid and late 80s, Universal Press Syndicate produced a handful of Cathy television specials which aired on CBS, as well as some commercials, mostly for a mix of junk and diet food, which is pretty in-character for Cathy.
Click on a gif to see a special!
            Cathy (1987)

             Cathy's Last Resort (1988)
             
             Cathy's Valentine (1989)
             
             Assorted Commercials, 1986 - 1998

Click here to see a compilation of Cathy merch!

"Why do you like Cathy so much?"My first memory of Cathy is stumbling upon "A mouthful of breath mints and no one to kiss" at a local library around the tender age of eight. I had already read Garfield and was saving a small collection of newspaper comics via my grandmother.
Being a big fan of both reading and comics, I selected the treasury to add to my stack of picture and fact books. Despite many of the jokes being geared towards adults, I took joy in observing Cathy's many outfits, dates, and other misadventures.
One comic I vividly recall is the first strip in the book, where Cathy comments on the evolution of Valentine gifts. Being a chubby kid, my insecure self took solace in Cathy's worries about body image. This solace remained with me through the years as I grew and found myself relating to her woes regarding money, romance, and the constant ironic unfairness of the world around me.
Now at the age of 22, I see Guisewite and her character as personal heroes to me, and I hope to one day create my own comic inspired by her works. But not everyone who read Cathy had the same reaction as me.
Discourse, of course:There are some that say Cathy is an unfeminist cartoon because of the fact that she's obsessed with shoes and chocolate and fashion and boys, I disagree. These may not be any of my personal interests....I stand corrected, chocolate is a huge interest of mine, but I think that women can be interested in whatever they want without it being a critique on their entire gender.
Plus, nobody ever seems to mention that Cathy is a relatively successful woman who was ambitious enough to want to "have it all" during the peak of the women's movement and actually succeeded. I guess its just easier to point out the parts you don't like.
Many complain Cathy is repetitive because all she ever does is try on clothes and complain, but is that not what comics are supposed to be about, to a degree? I see comics, especially daily newspaper strips, to be a great way of autobiographically cataloging inconvenience, injustice and just plain bad luck.
Who among us hasn't had a weird date that we just had to tell our friends about, or binged on baked goods? Who among us hasn't struggled to fit into their pants after Christmas with the family, or spent a little too much at the shopping center? Cathy represents the part of us that is able to see the humor in situations, messed up as they may be.
Final Notes:On a deeper note, Cathy encapsulates a deeper part of my life. I struggle a lot with expressing specific feelings, and sometimes Cathy will do or say something in her strip that tells me "hey! I'm not alone in this!" I'll put a strip-specific example somewhere in here if I come across a good example, but it really feels like Guisewite is making jokes that she grabbed straight from the folds of my brain.
This almost feels intentional due to the fact that many of Cathy's comics are autobiographic in nature, especially the "pilot" drawings originally submitted to her publisher.
Nowadays, I see myself as something of a Cathy fanatic, and I doubt I'd be making this webpage if I was anything but. I have a collection of Cathy books, and hope to write Ms Guisewite a letter one day soon expressing my appreciation. These comics have become so important to me, and if you've reached the end of this small manifesto and have somehow never read a Cathy comic, I implore you to check out her work via annasarchive or gocomics.

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