Karen Moy and Joe Giella Talk About Creating MARY WORTH

(Karen Moy and artist Joe Giella. Photo courtesy Tom Ward of Rattle and Hum Sports.)


"Meet the talented people behind the 'Mary Worth' comic strip" focuses on Karen Moy and Joe Giella, who have been creating the Mary Worth comic strip for newspapers worldwide. Tom Ward writes about the history and the behind the scenes goings on about Mary Worth.

Joe Giella:

“I started doing the strip with John Saunders about 23 years ago,” said Giella. “At that time Saunders was the writer on the strip, a former TV anchor man based in Chicago. When his father passed away he took over the writing of the strip. Prior to me starting the strip they gave me some references. I noticed that Mary had little round black eyes from the way the previous artist drew her. They looked like little raisins. I thought to myself that it just doesn’t look right. So I gave John Saunders a ring and asked him, ‘What’s the deal on the eyes? I was thinking of making her eyes blue.’ He said, ‘I’m glad you called me because my mother always had blue eyes.’ I said, ‘Your mother? What does she have to do with the strip?’ John said, ‘Well, that’s what the character was based on. My father’s wife.’

King Features staffer Karen Moy has been writing the strip, which originally debuted in 1938, for ten years.

“I knew Joe before I started writing ‘Mary Worth’,” said Moy. “He always struck me as a real gentlemen and I was also a fan of the ‘Mary Worth’ strip in general. I loved both the art and the stories. When the previous writer of ‘Mary Worth’, John Saunders, became ill, I tried out for the job, and based on my scripts, was hired by the editor as a temporary ghostwriter. After John Saunders’ death, it was a natural progression for me to continue to write the strip. I eventually received my own byline.”