"Binghamton alumna brings the ‘Mary Worth’ world to life"

Karen Moy has written the "Mary Worth" comic strip for the past two decades. Image Credit: Mike Jee.

 

Mary Worth writer Karen Moy is interviewed by her alma mater, the Binghamton University News, about her twenty years of writing the Mary Worth comic strip.  

"After working in medical advertising, Moy got a job as an assistant with Hearst Corporation, which owns King Features. She served as a comic strip ghostwriter when the need arose.

"'I said: ‘Yes, I can do it’ and submitted samples of my work,' she says. 'Based on those scripts, I was accepted as a temporary ghostwriter for other comic strips. When ‘Mary Worth’ needed a ghostwriter, I volunteered for that, too. I was already a fan of the ‘Mary Worth’ world, so it came easily to me and was a good fit.'

"In early 2004, Moy became the credited writer of the comic strip after John Saunders (son of original 'Mary Worth' writer Allen Saunders) died.

"Collaboration and inspiration

"Moy put her own touches on the strip after taking over the storytelling, introducing new characters and neighbors for Mary. For her first 12 years as writer, Moy worked with comic-book artist Joe Giella, a legendary illustrator who was an inker for DC Comics during the “Silver Age of Comic Books” in the late 1950s and 1960s. After retiring in 2016, Giella was replaced by June Brigman, who spent 16 years illustrating the “Brenda Starr, Reporter” comic strip (Brigman drew the 'Mary Worth'-style illustration on the cover of Binghamton University Magazine).

"'June has been doing this for so long that I have great faith in her,' Moy says. 'She has so much experience. Drawing ‘Brenda Starr,’ I knew she was familiar with a continuity strip, which requires more demands and details than a gag-a-day strip.'"