Meta Forth

Sally Forth started out as a comic strip about the domestic foibles of a working mom. It's humor was gentle, along the lines of For Better or Worse. Then something started to happen when the original writer Greg Howard turned the strip over to Francesco Marciuliano. The character quirks became quirkier, the situations more comically exaggerated, and the strip's humor became much more sophisticated.

Then this Sunday's strip was published.(click on image below to enlarge)

The characters are fully aware that they're in a comic strip. Now that's novel.

And all of the references Sally and her co-worker Faye discuss are true. Ralph, the evil boss turned future brother-in-law has come and gone throughout the story lines as they said. Ditto with the new VP who was a major antagonist for Sally and then... gone. I especially like the reference to the background. Many artists fill in backgrounds with room details and people we never see again -- but this is the only time I'm aware that the fact has been acknowledged.

Congrats to Sally Forth creative team: Francesco Marciuliano (writer) and Craig MacIntosh (artist). Treats like this are the reason I always start with the funnies when I read the Sunday paper.