I wouldn't have known about this if it weren't for the invaluable Comics Curmudgeon who reads the funnies so I don't have to. It seems that the moribund and utterly unreadable soaper strip Mary Worth has kicked off a little tale about a "fat" woman who must improve herself (diet) for fear of losing her looks and her control freak husband who insists on telling her that she looks fine the way she is (gasp!) and shoving forkfuls of greyish-yellow food substances towards her face (ick!). I think we all know where this is heading. The husband is one of those vile caricatures straight out of early 70s classroom films that comes with a laundry list of "warning signs" permanently superimposed over him. The biases and assumptions inherent in the strip's writing would be laughable if they weren't held by 85% of the American public. Almost as worrying is the notion that two people are earning a good living writing and drawing a strip wherein more than a week's worth of installments feature three people sitting around a table emitting brief bursts of empty, hackneyed dialogue.
The strip is being archived at the Wasington Post site. Read it and weep.
