Strip’s creator mum on ‘Cathy’ proposal

updated 3:32 p.m. ET Feb. 4, 2004

KANSAS CITY, Mo. - For 27 years, funny page fans in more than 1,400 newspapers have read along as “Cathy,” of the same-named strip, navigated her life as a single career woman.

Will Valentine’s Day put her in the married ranks?

Universal Press Syndicate, which distributes the strip, announced Wednesday that the Feb. 14 edition of the cartoon will feature a proposal from Cathy’s on-again, off-again boyfriend, Irving.

The strip’s creator, Cathy Guisewite, hasn’t said if Cathy will accept. But a press release from Universal Press promises “a comic and societal milestone.”

“Cathy” was one of the first strips in mainstream newspapers to be drawn by a woman and feature a single working woman as its main character.