Comics Kingdom | Sally Forth by Francesco Marciuliano; drawn by Jim Keefe

Francesco Marciuliano; drawn by Jim Keefe

About

When Sally Forth first appeared on the comics pages, not many newspaper readers suspected its creator was a man (and they certainly never suspected creator Greg Howard was a lawyer-turned-cartoonist).

Over the years, Sally Forth has made a consistent impressive growth in popularity. Why? Because it's every working mother's story! And because, as one reader wrote to her newspaper, it's about "a nuclear family whose trials and tribulations my husband and I repeatedly could relate to. We enjoyed sharing many strips with our children since we felt the strips depicted values we hope to instill in them." The National Women's Political Caucus presented Howard with its "Good Guy" Award for his "sensitive and humorous portrayal of the conflicts and victories that touch the lives of working women." As one newspaper editor said, "It's one of our top strips in every age bracket. It's amazing. Our readers have a real personal attachment to Sally."

Cartoonist Greg Howard created Sally Forth in 1982 and wrote and drew the strip for nearly 10 years until professional cartoonist, Craig Macintosh began drawing. Howard continued writing the strip until 1999, when he decided to pursue other creative interests. The talented Francesco Marciuliano now writes the popular strip with artist Jim Keefe.

Today, Sally Forth appears in nearly 700 newspapers some as far away as Iceland! In 1999, the comic strip gained nearly 80 new newspaper clients, and its popularity continues to rise.

Characters

Sally Forth

Sally juggles the daily challenges of excelling at her middle-management career, keeping her marriage intact, and finding enough quality time to raise her child. She only suffers an occasional twinge of guilt that she's not quite the mother and wife her traditional upbringing tells her she ought to be. But somehow, through it all, she manages to keep her sanity and her sense of humor!

Ted

Ted is sensitive and supportive. Like many husbands, he's an inveterate control freak with the TV-remote, a trait indicative, perhaps, of his continuing struggle to figure out his role in this modern world of the two-career family! While he keeps his wife and daughter in shape with the perfect blend of dry, witty barbs and loving, good-natured humor, he keeps himself balanced with his basketball in hand.

Hilary

A very precocious 10-year-old, Hilary is just old enough to goad her parents, and smart enough not to suffer any dire repercussions from her smart-aleck remarks. She plays soccer, softball and the piano (under duress). Like many kids, she might have a blue carpet underneath all the stuff in her room.

Ralph

Sally's somewhat grumpy boss. Ralph is the primary reason Sally's "in" box is always full - and why her office invariably comes home with her.

Marcie

Sally's secretary and her salvation at the office organization game. Marcie also manages to make Sally a bit envious at times by reminding her of what it was like to be single.

Alice

Like Sally, Alice is a middle manager, and although she works for a different boss, she and Sally have many common areas for commiseration. Alice is divorced and the mother of two boys.

Authors

Francesco Marciuliano

New Yorker Francesco Marciuliano attended Duke University, where he graduated in 1989 with a major in English literature and a minor panic attack.

He began his career as a copywriter at The New York Times. It is there that he began his storied copywriting career, which included stints with Random House, Scholastic, Disney Publications, Readers Digest, Harvard Business Review and The Economist. He eventually landed the position of copy supervisor at BusinessWeek Magazine to the apparent shock of every single person he knew.

All the while, Francesco never gave up on his childhood dream of one day doing a syndicated comic strip – a dream that finally came true the day King Features' editor-in-chief called him up and said with great fanfare, We just received your latest submission. I'm afraid we can't publish it. What began as a seemingly cruel conversation concluded with an incredible job offer to assume writing responsibilities for the beloved Sally Forth. And the rest, as they say, is a historical footnote.

Check out Francesco's website at http://www.drinkatwork.com, that offers weekly career advice for the professionally disinclined.

Jim Keefe

A graduate of the Kubert School of Cartoon and Graphic art, Jim Keefe started his career in the King Features Syndicate comic art department coloring such world-renowned comic strips as Blondie, Beetle Bailey and Hagar the Horrible. While on staff, he began a seven-year run as both writer and artist of the Flash Gordon newspaper strip as well as his tenure doing fashion illustrations for Sew Simple.

Work experience over the years has also included coloring Disney’s Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin and Lion King holiday comic strips, lettering Yu-Gi-Oh, Whistle and Dragon Drive for Viz Media, illustrations for the Actionopolis chapter book Dragonblood and cover illustrations for Comics Revue published by Manuscript Press.

Keefe has also taught and guest lectured at area schools on the east coast, including the School of Visual Arts in Manhattan, Malloy College and Hofstra’s UCCE Youth Programs in Long Island. Since moving from New York to Minnesota he can be found as Adjunct Faculty at the Minneapolis College of Art and Design.

In 2011 Jim connected with Minneapolis area cartoonist Craig MacIntosh and began work as his assistant inking and coloring the Sally Forth Sunday pages. When Craig decided to retire, Keefe worked up samples under Craig’s tutelage and watchful eye - and the rest, as they say, is history.

Jim Keefe can be found online at his website and blog, www.jimkeefe.com.

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