*AACK!* Cathy Guisewite will retire her comic strip 'CATHY' in October [UPDATED]

By Michael Cavna

Note: This item was originally posted at 4 p.m. Aug. 11.

The rumors are true: Cathy Guisewite, the Emmy- and Reuben Award-winning creator of the acclaimed comic strip "Cathy," has decided to retire her feature as of October.

"She's decided to end the comic on Oct. 3," Universal Press Syndicate executive John Glynn tells Comic Riffs. "She is deeply appreciative of all the relationships and all the fans, but after 34 years, she feels it is time to hang it up."

Guisewite, an Ohio native who turns 60 next month, launched "Cathy" in 1976. Guisewite became one of the very few women creating a daily syndicated comic, and her strip quickly won a devoted following as her career-woman title character spoke at length about her angst in the workplace, in personal relationships, at the mall and on the bathroom scale.

Guisewite won the industry's Reuben Award in 1993 and won an Emmy Award for a "Cathy" special in 1987.

So now that her decision has gone public, how does Guisewite feel?

"Right now? It feels hideous," the cartoonist tells Comic Riffs with her trademark wry, honest humor. "I'm sure it will feel better later, but it's still sort of shocking."

Another Guisewite trademark is her humble appreciation:

"I have loved doing this job and feel blessed to have done this for a living," she says. "To be able to last this long and to be paid to turn every [personal] 'disaster' into money [is special]. To turn every bathing suit disaster ... and every calorie blunder and shopping blunder into a [comic strip] -- it's been great."

Guisewite tells Comic Riffs she has especially appreciated her connection with women readers.

"I liked feeling able to connect with millions of women on a very deep level," the cartoonist says. "It felt special that women especially would cut out my strip and place it on a refrigerator. It"s been very moving and I feel lucky to be able to connect that way."

So will Guisewite end Cathy's 34-year run with a dramatic or nostalgic flourish?

"I have no idea," Guisewite tells Comic Riffs."After all these years, I still can't think more than two weeks ahead. Deadline has always been a combination of creativity and panic. 'Sparky' (Schulz, the "Peanuts" creator) always used to call it running from in front of a train.

"I'm only in a good mood for nine minutes each week," she continues wryly. "It's always right after I send in (the strips) on Thursday afternoon. Then it all begins again. . . . Even now, I've known for several months that the end of the strip was in the works and instead of working ahead so I could be nice and contemplative, I'm just clawing (to the finish) to meet the deadlines."

PHOTOS: See photos of "Cathy" cartoons throughout the years here.

CONNECT ON TWITTER: Hey readers, sum up 34 years of Cathy in a single Tweet. We'll round up our favorites and repost them here.

FROM OUR ARCHIVES:

The Rant: When 'Cathy' haters are staler than the gag (Comic Riffs, Sep. 2008)

Cathy and Irving, the honeymoon is way over (Feb. 9, 2005)

Giving a swirley, right there in the comics (Feb. 27, 1993)



Cathy comic strip archive (washingtonpost.com)



